vintage sticks: ludwig and slingerland

Last year, I expanded my interest in vintage drum pads to include the occasional pair of vintage sticks. I had an opportunity to buy an old pair of Slingerland 3S marching sticks that dated from the early 1960s (meaning they're as old as I am. Go ahead, I don't mind). They were in great shape, so I bit.

That began the side-interest of looking for sticks from the years when I began drumming, and if anything older than that turned up, well, that was fine with me as well.

Last month, I found another pair of vintage marching sticks. They cost a fair amount for me -- over twenty bucks plus shipping, which is rather rich for my budget -- but I love Ludwig stuff and had to buy these as well.

Both pairs are really fat, and feel substantial without being too heavy.

Below: Ludwig "Burns Moore" 3S Model, ca. 1950s (top) and Slingerland "Marching" 3S model (bottom).

Slingerland's marching sticks, though labeled "3S", feel thicker than a standard 3S stick. In fact, these sticks won't fit through the holes in my wall-mounted stick display. (Note to self: get busy and make that second display unit, and drill larger holes.)
The challenge with vintage sticks is that years of exposure to the elements -- temperature and humidity changes -- plus the impact of years of playing can lead to warping. (Sticks made in this era could also come warped from the factory due to less stringent quality control and treating, so finding straight sticks from this time period can sometimes be hard.)
Finally, sticks in this era weren't pitch-matched consistently, the way many companies do today; so even if the sticks came straight out of the factory, it could be hard finding a pair that matched in pitch. This is why, when I was a kid, the way we looked for sticks at the music store was to empty the entire slot of one make and size from the stick display, lay the sticks on the glass counter, roll them to find the straightest ones, then tap them gently on the glass to match up a pair by pitch to take home.
Eventually, companies began pitch-matching at the factory, I suppose because retailers were tired of cleaning up after slobs who didn't always put the unwanted sticks back in the slot.

This pair of Slingerland sticks is neither truly straight, nor pitch-matched. Still, for five bucks it was a good bargain.

The Ludwig sticks came in much nicer condition, and are more closely matched in pitch. One of the sticks is beginning to show a tiny bit of warping but they've hardly been played.

This model is named for (and possibly designed in conjunction with) the great champion drummer and drum instructor J. Burns Moore, one of the original founding members of NARD (National Association of Rudimental Drummers, founded in 1933, folded in 1977 and reactivated in 2008).

(Below: J. Burns Moore, in a WFL advertisement. WFL eventually became Ludwig Drum Company.)

I'm guessing that the Ludwig stucks date from the early to mid 1950s, perhaps as a tribute to Moore who had died in 1951. I don't know how long his name would have carried cache in the drumming scene after his death, so it's hard to know when or why these sticks would bear his name. If they're older than 1950, they're in beautiful shape for their age.

I'm going to do some more research and see what I can find out.