Precision does make custom wrap on a per sheet basis and you can do designs or whatever. The stuff Ludwig offers is made in this way. It's silver sparkle wrap overlayed with a tinted sheet (as are all sparkle wraps) but with different colors arranged in bands with small black separation lines in between (imitating the shrinkage that occurred on the originals as the individual strips would shrink). Possibly Ludwig does have the exclusive on this but then again I'm not sure how they legally can restrict someone from doing their own version of bands of colors. I suppose that Ludwig could threaten not to buy any more if they made it for someone else but you could change it up just enough to skirt around that. If you could get the wrap made the trick would be figuring out the right width of each band so that they fit on a particular shell depth. Also you'd need to apply it perfectly straight which isn't that easy for the do-it-yourselfer. Back when they originally made the multi strip drums they were applying those strips to a flat board before they bent it into a shell so it would have been much easier to get on straight. The single piece would be easier than that but still you'd need the overlap seam to line up with itself.

Tricky business but worth it if it all comes together...

From what I have seen of the modern version, there must be (at least)two wrap prints, probably more. The width of the stripes varies according to the shell depth.. (Eg same number and order of stripes crammed on to a snare as there are on a BD).

Cheers

John

There are at least three variations of the width of the bands. The snares have the thinnest bands, smaller toms have another version, and then the bass and floor toms have the widest bands. If you were going to have Precision (or Drum Supply) custom make this (although I think it's Delmar that actually prints the custom wrap to order) you'd have to figure all this out prior to ordering it.

Word was that Ludwig had exhausted their supply of this stuff and that there wouldn't be any more of these sets made (although last time I looked on ebay several of these sets were still available for sale)...but then they have said the same thing about top hat and cane wrap more than once only to have more of it surface. Once the image file exists it's not that big of a deal to get more made up so who knows?

K.O.

Thanks for confirming how it's made. I had a feeling this was the way, but nice to confirm it.

-Mark

I would just sell your vintage BB and buy a new salesman kit.. They're popping up from time to time, as most novelty kits do after they've had their "trendy run".. Did you also know that Reverb. com has a reissue of the Butcher Block kit ? It's an exclusive special order kit to Chicago Music Exchange.. Looks real nice. Also, here is a Salesman kit for sale.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ludwig-Classic-Maple-Salesman-Sample-3pc-Drum-Set-/291634864498?hash=item43e6cae172:g:hMoAAOSw8-tWZ2qu

https://reverb.com/item/1564337-ludwig-classic-maple-13-16-18-24-4pc-kit-butcher-block

I have seen two versions of the salesman wrap. One with the bands diagonal, and one where the bands spiral. You could probably contact Ludwig and send them the ready to wrap shells. Have no idea of what it might cost.

The spiral version is excess stock of the floor tom/bass drum version of the striped wrap applied to a snare shell at an angle.

That's exactly where I saw it KO , on a snare shell. I see the salesman wrap kits for sale here and there. On eBay, different places. They are out there.

Don't know if this is a SS kit but seems a version of it possibly? Would love to have one like it. Sorry for the bad pics it's all I had.

Yeah they call it "Twisted Salesman". I haven't seen it on any other drums other than 6.5" snares although given the way I was told they make it (by a reputable source) they wouldn't be able to do it on deeper drum shells (apply the wrap at an angle). It should be possible to get wrap printed up with the angle already in it but that would make things even more complicated.

I originally almost bought one of the twisted snares at the Chicago drum show last year. I was telling a friend how close I came to getting one but couldn't pull the trigger on it because I wanted the more traditional version. He pointed me to one of those on ebay that I snagged. That was all I intended to buy was a snare but later in 2015 I had a bit of extra money come my way and was shopping for another snare drum. I was dealing with Steve from Russo Music (who, unfortunately is no longer there now) and just offhandedly mentioned that I liked those 12/14/20 Salesman kits and wondered what his price would be. The price he shot me was too good to ignore so I nixed the snare purchase and bought the set instead. I really love the look of it. After much internal debate I personalized it by installing a rail mount and cymbal bracket on the bass drum, IMO the perfect finishing touches for such a "retro" set. I've used it at 3 gigs so far and received more compliments on the look of these than on any of my other sets, most of which actually are vintage.