Nice drum...especially with the interior badge around the grommet! Should you decide to install a muffler, instead of just screws, the new mufflers from Ludwig use a nylon washer between the round metal muffler disc and the spring steel and will not rattle!
-Mark
Thanks guys. BTW when I got it I spotted the initials BR behind the strainer and just for a moment thought I might have lucked into Buddy Rich's snare. Dream on. Just saw elsewhere on this forum that it apparently stands for brass.
There may even be a date stamp in there somewhere. I want to say the BB came back around 1993. I could be wrong though...
Been having some fun researching the archive to find out what the BR stamp behind the strainer means. Some say it stands for brass; others say B stands for brass and BZ stands for bronze. One guy says brass shells are magnetic while another says they aren't. One says the bronze shells had a black satin finish while another says all BBs were glossy. (Mine has a BR, is glossy, with a Monroe keystone Badge). Anyway, I'm beginning to gather that all of the above has been true at some point, as the company hasn't been particularly fussy about such details over the years. Mr. WFL must be having a chuckle. Anyways, the drum sounds terrific.
Nice drum...especially with the interior badge around the grommet! Should you decide to install a muffler, instead of just screws, the new mufflers from Ludwig use a nylon washer between the round metal muffler disc and the spring steel and will not rattle! -Mark
Thanks Mark. Found one on Amazon. Good to know they addressed the rattle issue. Joe
Been having some fun researching the archive to find out what the BR stamp behind the strainer means. Some say it stands for brass; others say B stands for brass and BZ stands for bronze. .
I think they used all three notations to identify shell material over the course of time. First they used a "B" stamp by the muffler to denote a brass shell and then later, when they produced both brass and bronze shells, they switched to the "BZ" and "BR" notations to differentiate between the two B metals. A brass Monroe shell would have BR since they also were making bronze shells at that time.
The early bronze shells didn't have a stamp, apparently since they had dropped brass and didn't plate any bronze shells so it was obvious that they were bronze.
And to make things even more confusing, when the Black Beauties first came out in '77, they were brass shells and no stamp at the muffler at all.
And to make things even more confusing, when the Black Beauties first came out in '77, they were brass shells and no stamp at the muffler at all.
I think the B stamp was just used on those early chromed brass shells since it would be harder to distinguish the material after the plating. Then when the BB came out there was no need since they were all black nickel plated and it was obvious what they were (no chrome versions in brass...at least not officially). Then when the bronze shells came out they didn't really need it either because, again, it was obvious what they were since they didn't plate them. Once they brought back the BB in brass and were making bronze shells at the same time they probably needed a way to keep everything straight. A theory anyway.
