Vintage Corner: Ludwig Pioneer snare drum, ca. 1960?

Earlier in the week, I saw this drum at a local music shop. I picked it up, grabbed a stick from the demo bucket and tapped the head, and fell in love. I returned the following day with an old guitar to trade in and negotiated the best trade I could get.

It's a Ludwig Pioneer snare drum, a student model from around 1960. There's no date stamp on the inside (as there often is with vintage Ludwig drums of this era). Late-model WFL snares sometimes came from the factory with new Ludwig badges on them, while the rest of the hardware was old WFL stuff they were trying to use up. These earlier Ludwig badges had no serial numbers, meaning the drums would date between the late 50s and into the early 1960s. By around 1960, the inside of the shell was painted white, a finish Ludwig called Reso-Coat. It did little or nothing to improve the sound of the drum, and Ludwig used it primarily to hide flaws in the wood. It was basically just oil-based white paint, nothing more. By the late 60s, Ludwig had begun using maple shells on their drums and stopped painting the insides white so that they could let people see the higher-quality maple they were using. During the Reso-Coat period, wood shells could have been made of a variety of different woods, veneers, or plywoods. While the trainsition from WFL to the bigger and better Ludwig Drum Company was happening -- a process that took several years -- drums and accessories were manufactured using a less-standardized set of component parts. By the mid to late 1960s, Ludwig badges began using serial numbers and a more standardized set of component parts. But the period between the end of WFL (1955) and the final merging of WFL with Ludwig took several years and was a little like the wild west while things got sorted out.

The drum after I got it home:

Left: The Ludwig badge without serial number. This and the white interior date the drum to somewhere between 1960 and around 1963 or 64.

Earlier versions might still use a WFL badge or a "transitional" badge with blue Ludwig logo printed on a brass plate.

Below: Part of the original "baseball bat" muffler. I'm looking for the felt-covered top to complete the mechanism.

 

 

Above and left: this drum had been owned by a school district, and the ID had been stamped directly into the shell of the drum on two sides. On the side nearest the butt plate, the stamp wasn't as deep, but the finish had been worn away. On the side nearest to the throw-off, someone had stamped the wood very hard and layers of plywood had fallen off, either at the time of being stamped or more likely over time with the use and abuse typically seen with school instruments. 

I took the drum most of the way apart. The inner bolts holding the lugs to the shell were very corroded, so I decided against trying to remove them; on a nearly 70-year-old drum there was the risk of stripping or breaking a bolt off inside a lug and not being able to salvage either. So I applied a drop of oil to each bolt, let it soak in, and then very carefully tried to snug it down. If it didn't move, I didn't force it. If it moved, I only nudged it a tiny bit. 

Since I couldn't remove the lugs, I decided the best way to shine them up a little was to use some Nevr-Dull wadding to gently polish them. I also used this on the throw-off and butt plate and the rims. Comparing my drum with photos of drums in better condition, I was able to determine that my hardware is all original. The rims and lugs are in pretty nice shape; the snare mechanism less so because of a little rust and wearing off of the nickel plating, but still perfectly functional.

Ludwig used date stamping on the inside of their wood shells from around 1960 until 1971, when they switched to glueing paper labels inside the shells. Between 1960 and 1963 they used red ink for the date stamp, ad after that switched to black or dark purple. Not every shell was stamped, though it seems most were. Sadly, I could not find a date stamp on the inside of my shell -- and I looked hard. My best guess is that my drum was made between 1960 and 1963. 

After asking other vintage drum enthusiasts for their thoughts and considering my options, my abilities and the purpose of this drum, I decided to go ahead and use some wood hardener to stabilize and fill in the worst of the gouges in the shell, mostly caused by the school district stamping and years of wear and tear. Predictably, my hands got a little shaky during the application and I ended up spreading it in places I didn't really need to, but since it's a clear liquid and this drum's too ugly to be anything but a player I decided not to fret about it. I set it to dry overnight in the shed.

I've found a new Remo coated Ambassador head in my stash, which will be ideal for my uses. the Ambassador snare-side head is used, still in decent shape.

The next day, after everything had dried and the smell faded, I brought the shell back into the house and reassembled the drum with a new batter head. I did not reinstall the incomplete muffler, but decided I’d see how it sounded without any muffling at all. Being mindful that with only six tuning nodes I couldn’t go crazy, I carefully reassembled everything and reinstalled the snares that had come with the drum. This is the first of what will likely be a few attempts at getting a decent sound out of the drum.

After my initial testing, it’s clear that:

A. The drum needs at least some muffling. I put a Snareweight leather muffler on the top, which soaked up some but not all of the excessive ring. 

B. I tightened the snares a few times, and decided that the drum needed better, newer snares. A newer throw-off would help too, but for now I really want to use the original and see if I can’t make it work more smoothly.

C. The original snare-side head will do. I applied some tape strips across the part of the outer edges where the snare wires cross to reduce over-ring. Aquarian offers a commercially-made version of this concept using adhesive woven material but Scotch tape works almost as well in a pinch.

D. I think that ultimately, I’m going to have to repair or replace the baseball bat muffler. I’m leaning towards the Canopus replica, which allows for four different ways to set the muffler and afford greater flexibility. But fifty bucks is more than I can really afford at this point. I’ll call Revival Drum Shop after Yom Kippur and see if they have enough parts for me to rebuild the original muffler.

It’s a great snare drum with a nice, warm sound. The finish is still gouged and scraped, but at least the wood hardener has stabilized the plywood visible in the gouges so I can really play the drum now. I look forward to bringing it to my next Klezmer jam in October.

Petrellas from Rohema: UPDATE

The Rohema Petrella sticks arrived.

After hanging out with both models for a little while, I can tell you they’re good.

I don’t know what wood they laminated, and the packaging doesn’t say. (Neither do the listings at Steve Weiss.)

The Petrella 10s, my favorite stick from Cooperman, have a slightly fatter taper than the Rohemas. The lamination adds a little weight to the sticks, so I assume that the narrower taper helped to keep the Rohema version within the same weight range. Both pairs shown here weigh 71g.

The only thing I noticed is that these laminated sticks have a tiny bit less shock absorption than solid hickory sticks do. It becomes apparent a minute into playing with them, but it’s a small thing and doesn’t prevent me from liking the way these play.

They’re awfully nice to play with. Well balanced, feel great in the hands, and they’re available now. Assuming that Cooperman won’t make the Petrella sticks anymore — and there’s no word from Cooperman about the future of their sticks in general — you can get these and not be disappointed at all.

Available at Steve Weiss, Percussion Source and other higher-end retailers. 

Vintage Corner: The original Quiet Tone mute, by Henry Adler

I had the amazing opportunity to purchase two of the first-generation, original Quiet Tone pads, designed and distributed by Henry Adler. They arrived today, and I am fascinated.

I purchased both from the same fellow, a 14-inch Snare Mute and a 13-inch Tom-Tom Mute. The pads were originally designed not as practice pads, but as drum mutes designed to be placed atop drums for quieter practice. These mutes came with coil springs with hooks on each end, that allowed you to attach a mute to the top of a drum and keep it in place during indoor practice. 

The fiber base is the same as that found on the next generation of Quiet Tone pads that came with tension rods and replaceable heads. However, this original version bears a label that says “Pat. pending,” placing these in the late 1960s.

Also, the legs on this earliest model are screwed into a sliding nut on the underside of the two vertical rods. Sliding the nut allows you to place the legs where you want, and tightening the threaded leg into the nut (finger tight) keeps it where you set it.

Sticks are shown in one of the photos with the 13-inch mute to show scale. I’ve places small pieces of folded paper between the horizontal rod and the two vertical rods, to reduce the rattle of metal-on-metal. 

This first generation came pre-tensioned, and could not be adjusted. The pitch is lower than that found on later versions of the pad, and has a lower tension that more closely resembles jazz drums of the 1960s. 

These are photos of the 13-inch Tom-Tom mute. 

As you can see in the video, the head sits lower from the top of the rim than on later versions of the Quiet Tone. This earliest version was probably not designed to be taken apart by the player; the rods connect to the rim with rivets. Subsequent revisions would allow for tuning adjustment and head replacement, a thicker fiber base and eventually the addition of a foam rubber layer to strengthen the construction and allow it to be used as a real practice pad.

These earliest examples of the Quiet Tone have their limits and would probably not withstand the demands of the modern drummer, but they are a significant piece of practice pad history and are extremely rare in complete condition. I am very glad to have them, and honored to be their next caretaker.

Vintage Corner: More Remo pad love

Remo’s first practice pads, circa 1960-62, were not tunable, and consisted of a round piece of Mylar set into a frame made of thin plywood. Foam underneath allowed for a quieter sound, though on every one of these I’ve found the foam has literally disintegrated with time. The result was not stellar by modern standards, but it was real departure from the rubber-on-wood pads common at the time. These earliest versions were built atop a thin, hollow frame that gave it some tilt and a resenting chamber.

What I’d never seen before was a 10-inch size that came without a resonating platform. I didn’t know these existed. But I just found one to add to my historic collection, and I’m thrilled to share it with you.

Product review: Percoustique practice pad

Percoustique was a company that, according to the little research I was able to do online, made drums and drum-adjacent equipment that was largely for the OEM or stencil market, and mostly supplied instrument rental facilities rather than being steered to direct sales.

I just acquired what appears to be a Percoustique practice pad, designed along the lines of the Quiet Tone pad, from an eBay auction where I was the only bidder. The pad arrived this morning and I quickly set about seeing what I’d gotten.

The pad is similar to a Quiet Tone in that it’s a 14” drum head with a real rim and tuning bolts — eight instead of the six on a Quiet Tone — and it sits on a molded plastic base with a very slight degree of built-in tilt.

Playing this pad and comparing it to the Quiet Tone shows that the Percoustique is, well, hollow.

Taking apart the pad revealed that the molded plastic base is hollow and contains a cotton fiber insert. The depth of the insert is shallower than the depth of the space in the molded plastic base, lending to the hollow sound. I don’t know if the fiber insert was originally thicker and became compressed, or if there was additional material inside the base with this fiber insert.

I’d used up the yoga mat material I’d had in previous projects, so I turned to what I had on hand. In this case, two layers of large bubble wrap, cut to size and laid one on another with the fiber layer on top. 

Reassembling and tensioning the pad removed the hollow sound. The large bubble wrap meant the tone would be lower than desired, and the response softer. At some future point I’ll look for a different material to use as an insert and see what happens.

There is another Percoustique pad available right now on Reverb, though at a price I think is rather high. You could watch it and wait for the price to come down. Or just save up and buy a Quiet Tone, which is clearly a better pad.

Cooperman Sticks: Gone for good?

Cooperman Drum Company has been out of sticks for months, with no expected resupply date.

So today, I was surprised to learn that Nick Petrella, whose concert models have been made by Cooperman for years, is now having his sticks produced by Rohema of Germany. 

Cooperman previously offered Petrella's signature sticks, models 5 and 10, in persimmon and hickory, and very occasionally in rosewood. They were popular with concert percussionists. (The Cooperman #10 has long been one of my favorite concert sticks; I currently own three sets in hickory.)
Rosewood production ended with CITES restrictions on harvesting and importing rosewood.
Persimmon sticks ceased being available when cured persimmon stocks became scarce; Cooperman and Reamer both switched to offering their models in hickory only over a year ago. Now, Cooperman doesn't appear able to keep making even hickory sticks because of issues in sourcing quality hickory stocks, an issue that may grow with the acceleration of climate change.

Enter Rohema, a German company that has been making drum sticks for a long time. Their sticks were mostly available in Europe, with limited importing to the US. Steve Weiss announced this week that they now stock the new Nick Petrella signature models from Rohema, modified versions of his old Cooperman models # 5 and 10, in "laminated wood". Rohema hasn't revealed what wood is being laminated to produce its sticks. Birch has long been a choice for lamination, but produced much heavier sticks. 

Comparing the Coopermans with the new Rohemas, there are some interesting modifications. Read the dimensions offered for each maker and each model, and you'll see that the new Model NP5 is actually offered in a slightly larger diameter than the Cooperman version, while the new Model NP10 comes with a longer taper, a narrower neck and a slightly larger tip than found on the Cooperman version.

Cooperman Nick Petrella #5

 

 

 

 

 

Rohema Nick Petrella NP5

 

 

 

 

 

Cooperman Nick Petrella Model 10

Rohema Nick Petrella NP10

First-quality Cooperman sticks last sold for $39/pair. The new Rohema versions are selling at Steve Weiss for $28-29/pair. I was flush from some recent pad sales and so intrigued by this development that I took a chance and ordered one pair each of the new sticks. They should be here next week.

Vintage Corner: Quiet Tone practice pads, from the early days

According to verbal history, Henry Adler designed the Quiet Tone practice in the 1960s as a way to practice drumming quietly.
It could rest on a tabletop or on top of a drum, and worked as advertised. 
The earliest version featured a plain Mylar plastic head and rim laid over a muting base (made of some kind of fiberboard that, contrary to rumor did not contain any asbestos). The earliest version of the QT pad had very primitive tension that was difficult to work with and did not offer much of a tuning range. 

The patent for the design was actually awarded to Merton Glick and Joseph Mancari in 1969. I am still researching the Henry Adler connection to see if he was involved in any way, but so far I can find nothing.

Below: drawings from the patent application:

The earliest versions of the QT pad, before the patent was awarded, are extremely scarce and very hard to find today. So imagine my surprise when I found listings for two of them, at a surprisingly low price for each. Of course, I snapped them both up.

14" pad, meant to fit on top of a snare drum:

 

And the 13" size, meant to fit on top of a tom or a piccolo snare drum:

As you can see from the blow-ups below, the tensioning mechanism was far more primitive on this earliest version, which used a simple nut and bolt design. This would be replaced later by a drum tension rod, which provided more adjustability.

While this earliest tuning mechanism was too primitive for real world applications, having examples in my collection makes it easier for me to see and show the full development of an important piece of drum pad history, and I'm glad to have them.

Happy drumming.