It certainly looks real to me. It's getting harder to tell these days. The badge looks a tad low to me but that might be where Ludwig put it that day. The grommet hole is usually centered with a keystone badge.

It all looks like it's never been touched. The grommet is sort of blue/greenish now. And you are right Kurt, it is harder to tell these days hence this post. Thanks for weighing in.

Hey Mark

It looks good to me, tough to re-wrap and get the new wrap into the scarf joint without messing up the interior paint and it would be so much work that I don't see anyone doing it. I agree with Kurt, I have seen badge locations "float" a good 1/2" depending on the given day of the week or who was at the drill gun on any given day. The grommet looks original and the color looks right on to me. I am sure our other Ludwig Gurus like Mike Layton will chime in.

Good luck with it, and if your looking to part ways with it, keep me in mind !

Michael

I agree that just looking at the wrap alone made me scratch my head a bit. But you guys have covered all the bases from what I can see. It looks legit to me as well. Must have been kept out of the sun and extreme temps. Nice find Mark!

Looks real to me. No one has ever quite accurately duplicated that wrap. People do harvest original wrap off old bass drums so it is possible to get a piece. And I have heard tell of people opening up the scarf joint to put the wrap inside (Sounds pretty difficult and risky but I assume it could be done if the potential payout made it worthwhile)...however, looking at it a different way, someone would have to be pretty stupid to go to all that effort and then build out a Pioneer. Not to slight the Pioneer but an OBP Pioneer is worth half to a quarter of what an OBP Jazz Festival is. Consider the context. If you had a suitable piece of authentic vintage wrap plus the knowledge and ability to fake such a drum you'd build one just like Ringo's (5.5" deep, badge next to the throw, etc.) and have a drum you could sell for multiple thousands more.

and as far as it just being a "run of the mill" rewrap in a batch of new OBP wrap...nope. They just don't look like that (I have one I did myself...and one Ludwig did a few years ago, and an original 60's Pioneer...and an original 60's Jazz Fest).

Rest assured...It's real and it's spectacular.

The second you see the wrap going into the scarf joint you know you're looking at the real deal. There's only one way to do that and it's when the original shell layup happens. That sucker looks out-of-the-box new! Great little score amigo. You always buy well...

John

Thanks everyone for chiming in. I appreciate it! I played this drum Friday night and it sounded FAT with a good ol reliable Pioneer crack! Hence why I did not bring to the Hollywood Drum Show yesterday. It's a keeper.

The original reso head still on there & new coated Ambassador on top. The case & 60s stand were included too. I'm pretty stoked. Now I need to find a OBP Club Date kit :)

This is the first 60's snare I can recall where the wrap doesn't go all the way to the top of the shell? Or is it just the photos that are "fooling" me?