After collecting many 1920’s Ludwig brass snare drums, the obvious next step was to go in search of some 1930’s models. In 2015, I came across a 1935 Silver Anniversary standard 6.5 x 14 snare drum at a vintage drum store in Toronto. What a beauty! I had to have this drum but had a very limited budget at the time. I rounded up a number of old Leedy snare drums that I had collected over the years, along with a 1930’s Ludwig bass drum. The bass drum had been cut down from a 28” to a 24” size. I had purchased it with a custom made, hand painted bass drum head. This increased the trade value of the bass drum and, along with the other snare drums, was accepted as a fair trade for the anniversary snare.
There is one notable anomaly on the drum I purchased. The Standard 1935 anniversary snare drum came with the 338 Professional strainer. The drum that I purchased had a 339 strainer that wasn’t catalogued until 1939. This must have been the original strainer, however, as there were no other holes indicating it originally had a Professional strainer on it. This was a great looking drum that sounded amazing and I was very happy with my trade.
This past summer, the 1935 Silver Anniversary Super Ludwig showed up at Olympic Drums in Portland. I have built a trusting relationship with my buddies Bill and Scott at Olympic Drums and was confident that their appraisal of this anniversary snare was honest and I had no trouble purchasing it sight unseen. I now own both the Standard and Super Ludwig models of this amazing snare drum.
From “The Ludwig Book” by Rob Cook:
“The Silver Anniversary drum introduced in 1935 was totally re-engineered:
- The strainer guard no longer attached to tension rods.
- The metal shell featured a “hex” bead instead of the curved bead.
- There were eight Imperial lugs rather than ten tube lugs. (Note there were no inserts; tension rods threaded directly into the lugs. By 1937 there were inserts.)
- The extension arm was discontinued, replaced by a cast pivot arm.”
Both drums are nickel over brass finish and weigh around 10 lbs. The Super is a bit heavier due to the extra hardware on the drum.
Danny Bilan
Our Man in Canada