I’m not sure why I love the sound of the Ludwig Supraphonic snare drum. It’s likely because of growing up in the 1960’s and listening to AM radio every day. I heard all the hits on our local Toronto radio station CHUM AM (1957 – 1986) and picked up their Top 40 CHUM Chart every week at a local record store. I have since learned that the Wrecking Crew played on most of the hits back then. A drummer by the name of Hal Blaine was the drummer in the Wrecking Crew and he played a Ludwig Supra. Once I was a bit older and started playing drums, I was given a set of Ludwig drums by some friends, including a Ludwig Supra snare. Learning to play drums, I looked up to John Bonham, Ian Paice, Mitch Mitchell and Carmine Appice who all played a Ludwig kit and chose a Supra as their snare drum of choice. Needless to say, that was a big influence on me.
When I started collecting Ludwig snare drums, I learned about the early 60’s Supras which I thought were all made of brass. Little did I know that some of the early Supras were made from steel and aluminum. I bought Rob Cook’s book (2003) “The Ludwig Book” which became my most informative resource for all things Ludwig. Rob says in his book that “In response to rising brass prices, Ludwig in 1961 began searching for an alternative material, although hoops would remain made of brass until 1964. A very few Supra Ludwigs were made of steel. I have never come across one, but after that the steel shells were followed by the one piece spun aluminum shell. The aluminum shell did not flange back toward the shell like the earlier brass shells did. The first few aluminum shells had the same type of crimped deep snare beds. Shortly after this shell went into production in 1961, however, the snare beds were so widened and reduced that they appear non-existent. The new snare beds exact specs are a closely guarded secret.”
I recently bought a 1961 5” x 14” aluminum model Ludwig Super Sensitive. They are pretty rare drums to come across. Sure enough, the snare beds are crimped, the hoops are COB and there is a baseball bat red muffler on it. It also has a pre-serial badge on it. The Imperial lugs are a bit bigger but much lighter in weight. The drum weighs in at 8 lbs. This drum sounds great and not much different than the COB early 60’s Super Sensitive that I also have. I have included pictures of both the aluminum snare, with a baseball bat muffler, and the COB, with a small round knob muffler, that I currently own. I owned the Standard model aluminum shell about 10 years ago but foolishly traded it away. Live and learn …
Danny Bilan - Our Man in Canada
*** Information for this article was taken from “The Ludwig Book” by Rob Cook (2003)