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Ludwig Concert bass drum

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I just aquired a 70's/80's Ludwig with a 14x22" concert bass drum - no lugs on the front side. Looks like 6-ply maple shell. The concert tom sizes are 14x16, 9x13 and 8x12. Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Posted on 4 days ago
#1
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Here's some pics...

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Posted on 4 days ago
#2
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I think what you have is a very nice Ludwig single headed drum set.  I am no expert but it is probably from the early 1970's.  Single headed drums were very popular in the late 60's and early 70's.  You can call the single headed tom toms "concert toms" but a true concert bass drum would be much larger and have two heads.  Just as a historical note, large diameter single headed concert bass drums were popular in England at one time.  They were called "gong drums" and that term is still used for a large single headed drum set bass drum mounted on a stand to one side of a drum set and played with sticks instead of a pedal.

Posted on 3 days ago
#3
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I looked through all of the online Ludwig catalogs last night and couldn't see any single headed bass drums in any catalog. Given the rounded corner badges, your drum would be from around 1979 or a little later. Probably earlier rather than later because Ludwig started applying an aluminum strip around the bottom edge to protect the finish around 1980 or 81. The serial number bears this out, although Ludwig serial numbers are often problematic because they were very inconsistent on how they used them.  There are no aluminum strips in the '80 catalog, but all concert toms in the '81 catalog have the strips. The drum could have been rewrapped at some point which could explain the absence of the strip however, so if that's the case the date could be later. I kind of doubt that though because it has the correct badge grommet, which at one time were hard to find.  Could very well be a custom ordered bass drum to match the rest of the concert toms. Ludwig catalogs from that era show single headed floor toms as well as rack toms.  

I see a matching single headed floor tom in the background, although it has the aluminum trim rings. Did this come with the bass drum?

 

Do the concert toms you mention have the aluminum rings?

Posted on 3 days ago
#4
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The floor tom and rack toms have the aluminum ring. Another interesting aspect is that the reso side of the bass drum has a bearing edge - it's not a 90 degree cut. So it was cut to accommodate a head, but there are no lug holes drilled.

Cant find any examples of a bass like this in catalogs or google searches!

Posted on 3 days ago
#5
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That is not unusual. They cut bearing edges on all of the shells and put them into their stock awaiting an order from a customer or from the manufacturing office of what to build. When they had an order, they would pick up a matching set of shells from stock and make whatever was ordered. 

 

Also, the white wrap back then was a Cortex wrap. All of the cortex wraps were Formica like what was used on counter tops. It was a thinner version with the grain of the laminate running up and down so it could be bent around a drum shell. You can see what looks like the brown part of the Formica under the outer white part on that edge picture.  I doubt many people rewrapped drums with the the same Formica, they would just get a plastic wrap, so if your drum has the Formica wrap, that is more evidence that it came from the factory that way.

 

 

Posted on 3 days ago
#6
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Thanks, guys! Very helpful!

Posted on 2 days ago
#7
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