This month I will highlight 6 of the Ludwig & WFL wood snare drums in my collection of nearly 50 snare drums. People often ask me why I need so many snare drums. The answer quite simply is that they all look different and have their own unique sound. For this reason, I will continue on my infinite quest for more snares.
1966 4 x 14 Black Diamond Pearl Ludwig Downbeat Snare (in production 1959 – 1970) This drum was part of the “Downbeat” set which consisted of a 4 x 14 snare, 8 x 12 rack tom, 14 x 14 floor tom and a 14 x 20 bass drum. The snare drum originally had chrome over brass hoops but those were changed in 1964 to chrome over steel, as seen on my snare. It has a 3 ply shell (mahogany/poplar/mahogany), white resocoat paint on the inside and 8 lugs. The snare has a small Pioneer strainer known as a P-84 which was a redesign of the 338 strainer. It also has a baseball bat muffler with a white pad. The earlier Downbeat snares had a red pad that was changed to white in 1964 as well. I love the sound of Ludwig snare drums in general but I really like using this drum in any setting. It is a very recordable drum too and I have used it in the studio many times. Producers love this drum and often request it during recording sessions. It’s woody crack is very appealing.
1967 5 x 14 Silver Sparkle Ludwig Pioneer (in production 1960 – 1974)
This Ludwig Pioneer snare is a very special drum that I like to call a veritable time piece. I couldn’t believe this drum was made in 1967 when I saw it on the shelf at Soul Drums, a well known drum store inToronto. It looks like it is brand new out of the box! This snare made its debut in 1960 and came in 2 sizes of 5 x 14 and 6.5 x 14. It is a 3 ply shell (mahogany/poplar/mahogany) with white resocoat paint on the inside. It is a 6 lug drum so it has a fairly low tuning range but sounds great if used in the right song. Many studio drummers keep a Pioneer snare in their arsenal of recording drums for such occasions. Steve Jordan says he loves his Ludwig Pioneer and so do I!
1956 3 x 13 Black Diamond Pearl WFL Be-Bop Snare (in production 1949 – 1956)
This little drum is a very unique snare drum. It has chrome over brass hoops and the WFL Be-Bop Combo strainer (aka Beer Tap strainer) that can be adjusted from both sides. This strainer was only seen on this snare and the WFL 4 x 14 Compacto snare from 1949 – 1956. Most Be-Bops came with the older style solid chunks of tapped steel lugs that were prone to stripping. As a result, in 1955 they were replaced with steel Piccolo lugs, as seen on my 1956 Be-Bop. This drum sounds great played with brushes or at a gig where you need to keep the volume down.
1966 5.5 x 14 Black Oyster Pearl Jazz Festival Snare Drum (in production 1960 – 1970)
This is the same finish and size of snare drum that Ringo Starr used for many years with the Beatles. Ringo made this snare drum sing on those Beatles’ records. His snare sound caught my ear immediately when I was introduced to his playing in February 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show. Things totally changed in my life once I saw Ringo up there smiling in front of 70 million viewers that Sunday night. I will highlight my Ringo Beatles kit in a future article. When WF Ludwig bought back his Ludwig Drum Company in 1955, he continued to make this 5.5 x 14 snare but also introduced a 5 x 14 Jazz Festival snare drum. This has made it very confusing for current day collectors.
1956 5.5 x 13 Red Sparkle WFL Classic Porto-Pak Snare Drum (in production 1953 – 1956)
This snare drum was only made from 1953 - 1956 so it is quite rare. I bought this drum from a store in England after seeing it advertised on the buy and sell online site Reverb. This is a 3 ply (mahogany/poplar/mahogany) shell that is unfinished inside and has chrome over brass hoops. It has the Classic strainer which has a screw on one end of the snare wires and a strap on the other end. This makes is very difficult to find these snare wires. It has 6 lugs but the tuning range is quite high due to the 13” shell. This snare drum sounds amazing for funk material.
1956 – 1960 5.5 x 14 White Marine Pearl Barrett Deems Snare Drum
This snare drum was made from 1956 – 1960 but I am unable to identify the exact year mine was made as there is no date stamp inside. Once again, this drum is a 3 ply (mahogany/poplar/mahogany) shell that is unfinished on the inside. It has 8 lugs, chrome over brass hoops and a 1 st generation P-83 strainer which was made from 1953 – 1958. It also has an aftermarket heating unit for calf skin heads to keep it from going out of tune in cold temperatures. This drum is virtually the same drum as the Jazz Festival. It was called the Barrett Deems model as Barrett Deems was a great jazz drummer and a good friend of Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. He well deserved to have his name on a WFL drum.
Stay tuned for future articles on more of my wood snare drum collection.
Danny Bilan
Our Man in Canada