I can't believe it's already November. Where has this year gone? It seems like time goes faster the older I get. There's no slowing it down, so we must make the most of it. As you well know, I enjoy collecting vintage drums. It's a great hobby, and one that is safe and fun. It's not always safe unless I clear all my purchases with my wife. She usually sees things my way, although she sometimes doesn't understand why I want a particular drum. She will sometimes protest the purchase of a drum that needs some love and attention. She doesn't always see the potential beauty of a dirty, crusty brass snare with broken heads, or an old painted bass drum. I always assure her it's a diamond in the ruff.

The 1930s Ludwig and Ludwig bass drum I am featuring this month was in horrible condition the first time I saw it on E-Bay. The beautiful hand painted head looked to be in good condition, so I started bidding on it. I figured the bass drum itself would not be worth saving, but I really wanted the painting. The hand painted heads were offered by Ludwig from the late 1920s until the early 1940s. These heads were truly works of art and are very collectible. The factory employed artists to do the oil paintings on calf heads. The cost would be an extra $10.00 for the painting. Ludwig offered a variety of choices, and each painting was unique. The painting on my drum was called "Mountain and Lake" in the catalog. I have seen other versions of "Mountain and Lake" and there were slight differences. The catalog illustrations appeared only in black and white, although the oil paintings were in full color.

The drum is 28"X14" with thumb screw single tension rods and claws. Ludwig single tension thumb screw rods were offered in the 1920s and 1930s. They were replaced by the "baseball bat" style rods and the more modern looking Ludwig claws in the 1930s. When I first saw the drum on E-Bay it was completely painted white with the rims and hardware painted also. The paint had been textured like a ceiling with a mop. It was a very poor job. The drum looked terrible. When I bought it I was really only after the head. After I bought it, one of my friends took the shell, rims and hardware and stripped off all the nasty paint, and restored the beautiful birds eye maple finish. The light fixture inside the drum was a factory install. I have colored lights that blink inside that adds the magic to the drum in the dark.

When I won the bidding on the drum, I contacted the owner about shipping it from New York where he lived. He didn't have any idea about how he was going to get that big bass drum to me in Georgia. He wrapped it in cardboard and put a few pounds of tape around it and put it on the Greyhound bus bound for a nearby town that still had a bus station. So the drum rode the Greyhound all the way to Georgia. When I got the drum home I tore into the tape and cardboard until the white monster started to emerge. As I began to examine the painting I was suddenly shocked to see it had a smooth shiny finish. I thought for an instant, "Oh no, this is a fake painting." Upon further inspection I realized it was a plastic covering on the painting. Someone years earlier had cut out a nice round plastic covering and put it over the painting. The covering still looks clear and I decided to leave it on there. It's been there for a long time and looks good. I figure it helps protect the painting still.

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