Love the Ludwig Pioneer snares!I have an example of all of the 60's sparkles plus a couple of ducos a WMP and a BDP.Probably missed a couple too.Oh,a mahogany one too.None of mine have that strainer,however.Interesting.

The basic shell they used for the Pioneers, is the same shell they used to make Jazzfest snares. The one I sent to Jeff is a 50's WFL Pioneer and it had the same strainer on it as yours does.

Jeff - That's an -aged- 3-ply mahogany shell I sent you. It's from an era when Ludwig was at its peak in terms of producing high quality drums. I 'suggested' that you fill the 6 lug hole sets and set it up for 8 Bowtie lugs. That shell will make one sweet Jazzfest after you get through with it. Wood-City tone-wise.

If you leave it as-is, 6-lugs, you'll have a great, raunchy, raw sounding snare drum with lots of growl. Great drum either way.

John

Congrats on the great deal!

Maybe a green question here, but is tonal sophistication by way of tuning with additional lugs the difference between 6, 8, and 10 lug snares...or is it just more difficult to get the tone you're looking for?

Thanks,

Brian

great info and insights lads. I can't wait to get it. The seller has shipped it already.

Brian - It's more a question of 'rawness' of the sound opposed to the 'tone' of the drum. Less lugs makes a drum sound more open/raw/wetter, the more lugs you add to the drum, the drier and tighter/more -focused- the sound is. It is easier to tune an 8 or 10 lug drum as opposed to a 6, but, given nominal conditions, they all tune up. 6-luggers always sound better tuned low to medium with a bit of a 'splashy' sound for the snares. That's when 6-luggers shine. They 'growl' down in the low registers, a raw and open sound. Buzz rolls are fun to play on them. I fool around with a lot of Nee-Awlins second line drum rhythms and 6-luggers are perfect for that FAT, wet, open, clangy rim-shot sounds they can produce.

Fayray - you're going to have fun with it once you get it dialed in for your own tastes. Enjoy!

John

It was fun just reading that post, John, thanks! I'll mess with lower tunings and see what I get. It sounded great tonight at band practice.

I think you'll have fun with your Pioneer, Fayray, if it sounds anything like mine:)

Brian

Really depends on what you're looking to get out of them. I enjoy Pioneers, but they are kind of a one-trick-pony sound-wise. They sound like they sound and it's tough to get any other sounds out of it. Not a huge 'sweet-spot' range. But for stuff like Rock-a-Billy, Blues, or Second Line, it's hard to find a more appropriate sounding snare. It is a bit limited in what it can do though.

John

Ok, so the pioneer arrived and it looks nice. However, when I took the heads off I noticed the snare beds seem deep and not exactly precisely placed. The drum has the feel of one that has never been disassembled and the heads seem to be probably original. Was it common for these drums to have beds like this? It is date stamped Jan 26 1960.

Yup. That's about my experience. Cool drums; specific applications (for me)

Fayray - Deep and wide snare beds, that's how they made them! The bed is slightly off-center under the strainer, but it will not affect the proper operation of the snares, or the sound. Just don't use those real wide snares on it. Normal 20 or 16 strand snares will be just fine.

Tip: Crank the bottom/snare head. Tune the top/batter somewhere between low to mid-range. Slack off the snares until they rattle and then -slowly- tension them up until you get a good even response out of them. If a buzzroll -plays itself- when you try it out... you dialed it in just right! It should be real tone-y/clangy out on the rims and give you a mighty Pop dead center. When tuned right, they are very forgiving of any technical mistakes, the wash from the snares is a thing of beauty.

If you can dial in that sweet open sound, here is a little video that shows just one style that is custom made for the open sound/tuning of a Pioneer. (Different snare drum used in the video, but same open sound, I'm talking about.) There are just certain styles of drumming that Pioneers are made for. As Troutstudio said; specific applications.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0zJKf6tA5c[/ame]

Enjoy!

John