Where to begin about the creation of this set. Introducing my 1970/2024 Ludwig and what may be the worlds first Solid Stainless Steel Ludwig Be-Bop Set like it. 18” Bass, 14” Floor, 12” Tom, 14” Supra all Blue & Olive Pointy Badge.
I started to conceptualize this many years ago following a glimpse of a SS Ludwig Timp-Tom trio set.
After making a trade with a fellow drummer and friend for a beautiful original set of Timps recently in 14”, 16” & 18” I got to work, fully immersing myself in the project till completion like a crazed maniac.
Note: I don’t suggest working with Stainless unless you possess the proper tools to do so, it’s an extremely hard metal and totally unforgiving. Even with a full shop of the required tools this project was very tedious and nerve racking, one mistake in planning, measuring, machining or drilling and it was over.
I started with ordering all the necessary parts that I did not have in stock, new bass spurs and mounts, new floor legs and mounts, new claws and T-Rods, new tom mount, new heads, new hoops and rims, stainless polish…, you get the idea. I ordered the 18” wood hoops first because I knew they would take the longest to arrive. They are made to original Ludwig specs, painted gloss black with sparkling silver inlay just as it would be on vintage SS sets. To my great surprise and astonishment they arrived in two days!
I disassembled all drums, soaked, scrubbed, cleaned and polished all parts I was reusing. Next, polishing the shells, this entailed a ton of elbow grease with an orbital polisher followed by an extreme amount of hand buffing and terry towel changes over, and over, and over again. Some metal work to vanish a few small dents.
Now it was to the exacting standards of planning, measuring and drilling small and large holes.
Remember, these were single headed drums with no existing mounts, and with 44 holes to be drilled, precision was the word of the day. After all that was finished it was time to de-burr all the holes. More cleaning and polishing.
The 12” tom arrived and that was just a matter of disassembly, dents removed, soak, clean, polish, buff buff buff, new matching mount, new heads. Assembly time! My favorite time in the process and when everything comes together as planned. I dressed the toms with Remo Coated Ambassadors batter and resonant with a Powerstroke 3 on the bass batter.
Out of all my custom drum builds, restorations and conservations this is now by far my favorite one to date.
I am going to seriously enjoy this set, mainly, because the bass sounds SO GOOD, as do the toms.
If you read the story this far, as always I thank you, I hope you enjoyed it and the photos of the set!
Stay tuned…
Edward Tucker
Studio 3T
1970s Ludwig Stainless Steel Set Built in 2024!
