Green is a nice Summer color, so I brought out my green Vistalite set to show you this month. I have always had a special place in my heart for green drums. It goes without saying that green is by far my favorite color, so I have a lot of green drums in my collection. I don't understand why green was not a very popular color among the Vistalites produced by Ludwig in the 1970s. Some collectors claim, that Mr. Bill Ludwig said, there were only about fifty green sets made in the 1970s. I have my doubts about that number, but we know there are a lot fewer green sets than clear or blue. The darker green and red sets just didn't sell as well as the clear and lighter colors. The amber color got a big boost from John Bonham's using them on tour with Led Zeppelin.
My set is a Big Beat configuration with 22X14 bass drum, 16X16 floor tom, 13X9 and 12X8 toms. The Big Beat sets were the most popular of the Vistalite kits Ludwig produced. I have placed a 14X6.5 1970s Supraphonic snare with the set. Matching snares were available in 5" and 6.5" depths. The toms have large classic lugs. The earlier Vistalite sets have small classic lugs on the 12" tom. The drums have Blue and Olive badges with sharp corners. These corners were rounded of by Ludwig later. It was easy to catch the edge of this badge with a cloth while cleaning the drums. Once the edge bends upward, it is hard to get it back flat. This set has the improved seams which were better than the flat ones on the older kits. The knob style tom mutes have the improved three screws mounts. Everything that could be done to minimize cracking and "spider webbing" of these fragile shells was done by Ludwig. A sticker was placed on some Vistalites to warn against over tightening the tension rods.
You either love plastic drums or you don't. I do like them very much, and saw John Bonham play the "Moby Dick" drum solo on the Amber set. Man, that was historic. I started my collection with a clear set many moons ago. I bought this set on Reverb. It was the first experience I had with them, but the purchase turned out fine. I had been looking for a green set for a while, and whenever a set would come up for sale the price was too high. They are rare and anything rare is going to cost you, unless you get very lucky. The price on this set was fair, so I started watching it. In a few days the seller lowered the price. I could tell he was motivated to sell, so I offered him a little less. He took my offer and here they are. I think they are one of my favorite sets in my collection. If you have a green Vistalite set, leave a comment.