My old snare comes back home!

[Wish]

I had given an old drum kit to a neighbor's kid about 9 years ago, before I got into recording...the drums had sat in my garage for years pretty much unused. I had bought the drums (Maxwin by Pearl) back in the mid-80's.

So the kid got some good use out of them over the years, but he graduated high school a year ago and is off to college....and my old drum set has been sitting out on my neighbor's covered patio for probably over a year.

I'm over at the neighbor's house yesterday for thanksgiving dinner...and I start poking around the drums. I'm kinda bummed that they are getting destroyed by being outside.

I ask my neighbor if I can "rescue" the snare and take it back....and he says sure. I tell him to let me know if his son ever needs it back, but I'd like to at least save the snare. I really didn't care about the rest of the kit, as I bought a set off of craigslist earlier this year, after finally getting sick of the sound of electronic drums.

The snare is a Ludwig and the date stamp is from 1967...I really didn't even remember what kind it was until I looked at it yesterday. It looks to be a Super Classic based on a 1967 Ludwig catalog I found online.

Anyways....I need to do some cleaning on it and I also need to get some new heads.

I'm kinda psyched about having another snare. After finding out it's a 40 year old snare, I don't think my neighbor's kid will ever see it again.


Here's a few pics.

 

[Wish]

A couple more....

 

[saads]

Cool, how does it sound?

 

[Wish]

I just got new heads put on today. Remo Sound Control on top and Remo Ambassador Hazy based on a recommendation from Greg. Thanks Greg!

After some initial tuning issues because I didn't know what I was doing, it sounds really good. It's a hell of a lot louder than my other snare.

I'll try to post a sound clip sometime this weekend.

But here's some pics after a good cleaning and new heads. It looks pretty sweet. There's a few condition problems like light rust on the rims, but I think it looks pretty sweet with the new heads.

 

[saads]

That's awesome. If the snare is that old, I'm assuming the rest of the kit is from the same year? Why not get the whole thing back? I'd easily choose a 30,40 year old Ludwig over most of the drums being made today.

 

[Wish]

I picked up the kit used back in the mid-80's...86 maybe? And the rest of the drums were Maxwin by Pearl...I think those were probably made in the 80's....but I guess they would almost be vintage by now. They were not high end by any means.

I bought another kit earlier this year off of craigslist, and I've got no room for another set...so those drums are just gonna sit on that patio for the time being.



I'm glad I was able to save the snare.

 

[RawDepth]

Hey! I have the other one in that catalog, the Acrolite. Only mine is a 1969 model with some slight differences. It is my best sounding snare out of four that I own.

I scored it a few years ago for about $50 with stand, case, practice mute pad, and beginners books. I wonder if these old snare drums will ever be worth much.

 

[saads]

I wonder if these old snare drums will ever be worth much.

I think they will/should be. Who wouldn't want a vintage snare, provided it's in good shape? Plus, snares are to drummers what shoes are to women.

 

[getuhgrip]

That is too friggin sweet! Lookin forward to hearing a clip.

 

[Wish]

Well I had good intentions of getting a clip up of the old Ludwig snare drum way back when....but work and life and the holidays kinda got in the way....so I never got it done. I banged on the thing every once in awhile....but never got a chance to get anything recorded.

So I got some time this week....actually tried to tune my toms...I think I like them better than when I started out, so that's a plus....give me your opinions on how the toms sound. I'm not sure the snare is tuned optimally...and there's kinda of a drone note on the bass drum that I'm not liking....I didn't try tuning the bass drum...maybe I need to. And that snare tuning might need a re-visit.

Anyways...here's that long awaited demo of this old vintage Ludwig. Here's some pics below of my set up. I'm recording in a little 11 x 13 foot bedroom....drums are crammed into a corner. No room treatment to speak of.

4 mic set up.....snare, kick, OH's in kinda recorderman set up. Radio Shack mic on snare, Audix F12 and homemade subkick mic on bass, and mxl 603's for OH's.

Mics are through a Behringer mixer and recorded on a Roland VS840.

Here's the mp3 demo....Let me know what you think....it's basically a faders up mix....no compression or any FX besides the tiniest bit of 'verb.

Drum Demo 013110

 

[drummerboy_04AP]

hey, toms sound really good! The snare definately has that rock n roll sound, so if thats what your goin for, I think your off to a good start. I personally like my snare to have a bit more of an open sound, with a little bit more ring, but drum tuning is so personal, gotta just find what you like...

 

[BeyondClarity]

Toms sound good. Are you playing the snare with an old cut-up head on top as muffling? It sounds fairly dead to be honest.

Snare cleaned up really nicely tho!

 

[Wish]

Yeah...the snare is too muffled....the snare has an internal muffler, and I had that cranked into the top head to minimize ring.....I didn't have the snare tuned right...and I didn't like the sound of it open...so muffled sounded better to me....so that's what the first clip was.

I got some time yesterday and re-tuned the drum...it's sounding pretty good...has a good ring.

I'll see if I can get another clip recorded this weekend of the new and improved tuning. Hopefully it won't take me 2 months to post another clip!!

 

[antichef]

sounds good to me - you can definitely hear the effect of the muffler. I'm currently experimenting with different pressures with the muffler in my snare - mostly trying to get rid of sympathetic ringing from the toms - I keep tuning my toms differently, that seems to be helping.

 

[Octava219]

Keystone

That's an old Keystone Badge Ludwig...sweet!!

 

[saads]

There's a paw sticking out of your snare in one of the pictures!

 

[Wish]

Hopefully it won't take me 2 months to post another clip!!

Well...two months late and another dollar short.....why doesn't that surprise me?

Anyways....here's the latest, recorded about 10 days ago. I still don't love the snare sound....I'm thinking I need to tune it a bit higher.

What do you think? Is it just a tuning issue on the snare? It's got a lot more ring now....but I'm just not digging it. I'm thinking it's tuned too low.

 

[Wish]

There's a paw sticking out of your snare in one of the pictures!

I had the special dog paw stand commisioned from a local artist.

I didn't realize how much the vet bill was going to be or else I wouldn't have done it.

 

[Wish]

But that's neither here or there anymore. Sadie gets around just fine on 3 legs and you couldn't ask for a more balanced snare stand.

So I'm good with it now. I think Sadie is too. You should see her try to catch a frisbee....it's hilarious....win/win/win.

Here's that drum demo again....which is really why I am here....to get some feedback.