The more I look into these drums the more I like what I see.

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Nice drums indeed, I had a Ludwig kit in the mid 80's and still regret selling them.
At the time I decided to go with Tama Drums instead, they were huge at the time and I decided to go that way.

But lately, Ludwig has been looking very impressive, even though the Ludwig family doesn't own it anymore,
they managed to maintain the quality and even improve the drums.
Their prices are very reasonable as well, if you price the individual drums, you will be surprised how reasonable they are.

Great Dums indeed!

I've owned many vintage Ludwig drums, and They do have a unique sound unto themselves. They offer the Legacy series which is an updated take on the vintage stuff, and they're quality is top notch. Joey Kramer from aerosmith recently switched to Ludwig from DW
as are many top players in rock and Metal as well.

I don't think you can go wrong with Ludwig. I have even owned the low line Accent series, and they sounded great too.
The finishes are sweet on those pictured.

Ludwig was aquired by the Selmer Co. in 1981.

Yeah, Ludwigs were THE drums back in the day as far as
I was concerned. I wouldn't play anything else, Ludwigs
or nothing. Then their quality control took a SHARP nose
dive. I remember getting a very nice set of drums from
them back in the late 70's, early 80's. It was a natural
maple 12pc double bass kit. They were the first (to my
recollection) to come out with the 16" deep bass drums.
they had the forward facing curved bass drum spurs like
the 4th picture from the top, only there were 4 spurs per
drum, two in the back and two in the front. Very unique.

But getting back to the quality control, the 6" tom that came
with that kit had a badly warped top hoop that I noticed as
soon as I pulled it out of the box. I doubt it happpend in
transit because the drums were packaged extremely well, so
if dropped it would not have really hurt anything. Plus there
were no damages to any of the boxes. But you know, I loved
them anyway and the drums sounded really good and would
have sounded even better had I had more knowledge of tuning
and dampining. I used to do stupid stuff like put really large
pillows in the kicks that would just totally kill the sound. In
retrospect I had no idea what I was thinking!!!!??
Also, I would cut up old drum heads and make my own double
wide "Richie rings".... Sigh, Ahhh, the ignorance of youth...

Like a dummy I practically gave those drums away. I also had
an 8X14" Maple Coliseum snare with the 3/4 split in the middle
that I literally GAVE away. I'm still trying to get my foot out of
my behind for that move.

Okay, one last quality control story: Check out the youtube clip
below.... In this clip, Billy is playing Ludwig Vistalites. Here is the
story behind these very drums for this very event as told to me
directly from Billy:

"Bill Ludwig brought the drums to the studio for me brand new,
still in the boxes. We set them up and when I started playing
them, the toms literally started falling off the mounts because the
screws had not been tightened. It was to be the beginning of an
edorsement deal with them but after that, I had them take the
drums back with them after the shoot and that was the end of that."

Needless to say I had a good laugh at that one!

4 or 5 years ago I remember Ludwig being dropped by the major
instrument stores and relegated to the mom and pop music stores.
I was seeing them in places where you'd go to buy or rent your kid a
clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, violin or tuba for music lessons or to play
in the elementary school band. A sad sight indeed and an ugly addition
to Ludwig's wonderful past legacy.

Seems the Ludwig company is back, and I for one am very happy about
that.

Oh, and Dave, it's not just the rock guys. Vinnie Colaiuta is onboard as
well! That has to be a nice booster shot in their keester.... GO LUDWIG!

omg, that video is some of the best I've ever seen; jawdropping. I actually lived less than a half mile from that location at the time in Chicago.

The drums might have been a pain, but the playing is choice.

One of the coolest versions of LL I've ever heard. Wow. Players from my three favorite fusion groups. Are there other recordings of this group, or was this just a one night gig?

Don, Ludwig caught my ear listening to all the drum videos the Memphis Drum Shop puts up on youtube. They are as as good or better than anything else out there.

Downbeat used to have a concert featuring the winners of their music polls which would be broadcast on PBS. It made for some interesting pairings. Two of the best ones are for the years 1975 and 1976 , which was of course during the height of the fusion era. these were one shot deals. If you look on you tube you can probably find clips or complete shows from both years in varying quality. Unfortunately, Downbeat stopped doing these shows - I'm not sure when but I don't remember seeing any from the 80's. Too bad, they were great !


Here's a version of Spain from the 1975 show with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Hubert Laws, George Benson and Bill Watrous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RHzCQIvMyo



Peace, TED

This is a nice example of Ludwig Drums, Patrick Keeler playing with Jack White and the Raconteurs.
He plays a gold sparkle Ludwig kit with 26" & 18" bass drums and a 12"tom & 14"/16" floor toms..check it out.

A veryyyyyyyyyy dynamic Lopsy Lu!

I've been playing the same set of Ludwig drums for the last 42 years...LOL!!!

It would be difficult to tell without any recordings, but I wonder, Woody, if you notice any difference in the sound of the drums after 4 decades. Ludwig used to say drums get sweeter with time as the wood ages and gets harder.

I can't say that I notice any difference of sound over the years but I do know that they still sound good. Maple shells that I have taken care of by always keeping them in their cases when not being used. If you take care of your equipment it will take care of you!!!

LIke Woody, I still play my 1968 Ludwig's and they still sound good to me.


Peace, TED

I must say I find it remarkable to see players owning and using the same sets for 40 years. That's an amazing marriage of humans to their musical instruments.

I often wish I didn't sell my Ludwigs back in '79, but I had no choice at the time.

I had a choice... It was just a bad one.