I didn’t go looking for a story when I bought this drum kit. At the time, I thought I was simply stepping into vintage drums more intentionally than I ever had before.
Read more1928-1930 Ludwig & Ludwig Peacock Pearl Super-Ludwig Snare Drum
“In my humble view, this century young visual and sonic masterpiece features one of the most beautiful finishes to ever adorn a drum”
Read moreGretsch Mystery Wrap - Stumped
But what makes me curious (and has stumped a good few people more in the know than I am) is the wrap. It is (now considerably yellowed) WMP but it has these gold & silver strands running through it.
Read moreYan Bass Drum Pedal Restoration
An often-overlooked part of a Vintage MIJ kit is the Bass Drum Pedal. Most Japanese pedals back then had no name or markings and were pretty generic looking, but Pearl had their “SPEED PEDAL”, no doubt inspired by the Ludwig Speed King and Star had their “PRO PEDAL”, and there is even a “TOP PEDAL” out there. Not to be outdone Gracy via Yan Drum had their “FOOT PEDAL”
Read moreGracy Snare Drum
For me this drum is a keeper, it has so many of the things I look for in a snare drum, thin shell, solid lugs, stick-saver hoops, a reliable strainer, and a stunning wrap. If you find a Gracy like this one out there, I highly recommend!
Read moreCarlow Classics Vintage Drum Hardware
Presenting the most durable and authentic looking replacements for missing or cracked/broken factory original Rim Clips, Tube Lugs and Tension Rods.
Designed and precision manufactured to meet the specification tolerance and appearance requirements for factory original fittings on 1920’s and 30’s Ludwig & Ludwig snare drums in both Deluxe (new or aged) and Bright Nickel finishes.
Read moreThe Wish Book Stencils
Sears not only owned the Sears brand name, but they also owned the Silvertone name which they used for musical instruments and their electronics, but they were also okay with not branding their instruments at all. In fact, most of the drums that came through Sears had no branding at all.
Read moreEdward Tucker’s Catalog Corner - 1955 WFL Catalogs, two of a kind!
955 WFL Black & White and Colorized versions of the 1955 catalog with a few big differences.
Read moreUncatalogued 1945 Blue Marine Pearl Slingerland Radio King Snare
The color is so vibrant and bright it was shocking once I cleaned all the dirt off.
Read more1929 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5x14 ROSE PEARL STANDARD-SENSITIVE MODEL
This is a very rare snare drum. Of the 3 dance/band Sensitive models introduced in 1929 I feel that the Standard-Sensitive is the rarest although I would not argue if the New-Era Sensitive was also thought of as the rarest.
Read moreFrom The Editor - Consignments and Brokerage
Want to sell your gear the old fashioned way? Advertise in NSMD. Also you can let NSMD handle the whole sale on a consignment basis.
Read moreRestoration of a Ludwigold Snare Drum – Against All Odds
I first applied a high solids filling primer to completely fill in the wood grain, followed by a commercial textured coating to effect the irregular surface feature of this finish. The intermediate and final colour coats were achieved with an antique brass lacquer finish, onto which I sprinkled brass metal flakes. I then repeated this application sequence a few more times to add depth of finish, before applying a clear lacquer to produce the final ‘satin smooth’ appearance and feel. Additionally, each piece of the copper re-plated hardware was then treated with my ‘aged patina’ process to simulate almost 100-year-old Deluxe finish.
Read moreRefurbished 1975 Slingerland Drum Kit
In 1975 I purchased a chrome over wood Slingerland kit that I travelled extensively with over the next 11 years. This was a monster kit with a 28x14 bass drum,
Read moreEdward Tucker’s “Catalog Corner” 1927 1st Edition Ludwig
It has some beautiful graphics inside, including color pictures of the Black Beauty “Ludwig Deluxe Model” and the “New Ludwigold Irridescent Display Finish”
Read moreChris Partridge; Stencil Drum Hero
Now what got me here was my habit of always being on the lookout for drums, especially the stencils, and there were several drum sets that were used on the show, each season this poor struggling family found a way to get a different drum kit.
Read more1960s Rogers Wine Red Ripple Swingtime Set
This Wine Red Ripple 1960s Rogers Swingtime set I am featuring came up for sale a while back and I quickly jumped on it. I was not going to let them get away from me.
Read more1924-25 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 4x14 10 LUG/SCROLL DeLUXE
This one is a bit of a transitional oddity, nothing earthshaking but a little quirky.
Read moreA Rare 1940s Ludwig & Ludwig World War II U.S. Navy Snare Drum
Only six tubular lugs were installed, probably to conserve metal because eight or ten lugs were typical for 15” snare drums before the war.
Read moreFor Sale - 1980s Tama Imperialstar 5" x 14" Powerline 8065 seamless shell snare
This drum is in excellent ++ working order. The seamless Powerline metal shell drums sound great and punchy whether tuned low and fat or tight and crisp
Read more1928-32 LUDWIG 5 x 14 MOTTLED SEPIA STANDARD MODEL
We have to go to the Ludwig Drummer Magazines of that time or to dealer flyers to learn of the special “Hotsy-Totsy" and "Mottled Sepia" finishes offered in 1928.
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