60'sOldLudwigs!...See the cymbals in my Avatar pic up top... FLAT!... and they HAVE felts too! LOL!! Buddy freak that I am.. well .. never cared for the "cymbal snaps" as they always seem to break in the "gig zone" over time. I used them a LOT in the early/mid 70's. I DO use very thin felts though. They let the cymbals move FREELY with zero restriction. Works well! Regarding the "towel table" :I saw BR 5 times between 1973 and 1978.. ( Slingerland to Ludwig for endorsements ) .. and yes indeed, he always had his towel on the back 16X16. However!, for the first 35 years or so, Buddy actually USED that 2nd 16X16. From Slingerland to WFL to Rogers, he played that 2nd 16X16! What I discovered through tons of research/study over the years was that he STOPPED using that drum in 1968, the first year of his second Slingerland endorsement. I have an EARLY unpublished private picture of Buddy in 1968 during a sound check at the London Palladium with his NEW Slingerland set. So NEW that the Set-O-Matic tom holder wasn't even out yet... his tom holder was the rail consolette. Anyway, there's his back 16X16 with a towel and a pair of sticks on it! And so it began... in 1968. As to why... no one seems to know. You know, I met with him one on one in his dressing room in 1973. I should have asked him then! LOL!! Course none of us really thought about it... then. Indeed!Tommyp
Cool story. Felts or no felts, towel or no towel, Buddy was awesome. :)
