VIntage Corner: Leedy & Ludwig, 1950-1955

Leedy & Ludwig

In 1909, a pair of brothers opened up a drum shop in Chicago named Ludwig & Ludwig. Among their ventures, they acted as a distributor for Leedy products. However, they also began to manufacture their own products. By 1923, it grew to become among the largest drum companies in the world, rivaling the likes of Leedy. In late 1929, C. G. Conn acquired Ludwig & Ludwig, and similar to Leedy, moved their production to Elkhart.

Both Leedy and Ludwig drums were made in the same factory, only differing in their marketing and name. In 1950, Conn decided that it made financial sense to combine its two drum divisions to create Leedy & Ludwig. To promote this merger, George Way devised a new line of drums called Knob Tension drums. The idea was that the tension rods used for tightening the drumhead could be replaced with a series of knobs to forgo the use of a drum key. This line was pushed to the forefront of production, while the former flagship drums of both Leedy and Ludwig were relegated to secondary status. However, the drums proved unsuccessful, as owners found them hard to maintain and tune. After just a few years, the drums were pulled from the catalog and were seen as a commercial failure.

(Wikipedia)

*****

I've had a set of Leedy & Ludwig 3S (marching) sticks in my collection for awhile. The sticks are beautiful and well-balanced, with a hint of pedestaling and a nice high-gloss finish. I don't play them often but they are an especially nice example of marching sticks from the era.

Recently, I found a practice pad to go with them. Since anything labeled "Leedy & Ludwig" is from a small window of time, it can be hard to find some items in good condition. This pad, which I found from an online antiques dealer on sale, is a nice example of what was offered at the time, and in spite of some dents and paint fading, is in great, playable shape. The red rubber is still pretty bouncy and has the original tacks holding it in place.

The design is pretty simple, and likely a student level pad that would be easy to take home for practice. It's not a very stable design as it tends to bounce around on any accented note and/or with bigger sticks, but it has a nice response. The design is identical to other student pads of the day, a design which has been in production by multiple companies since the mid-1940s and continued to be made through the 1960s. (I have an older Ludwig pad from the 40s that is nearly identical in shape and size, with the only difference being the colors of the wood base and rubber playing surface. It's my experience that the black rubber in use at the time didn't retain its bounce for as long as the red rubber did, but as in so many things, Your Mileage May Vary.

I'm happy to add this pad to my stable.