It's great to welcome Bill Ludwig III back to the NSMD writing staff. Of course, most drummers know that "B3" is the grandson of Ludwig Drum Company founder, Wm. F. Ludwig Senior. He was the artist relations person for the company during the late seventies and eighties. His dad sold that company to Conn Selmer during the eighties. Bill was also the owner and publisher of Not So Modern Drummer during the 2000s. I have been after him for years to write a column and now was a good time for him to start.
Read moreBuying Custom: Are custom drums right for you?
I’m not here to say that everyone should have custom drums. It’s a very personal choice and it really depends largely on your priorities and expectations. If you’re considering going the custom route – now or at some time in the future – check off the pros and cons as they relate to you personally.
Read moreLudwig & Ludwig 1930s bass drum w painted scene head.
.....he wrapped it in cardboard and put a few pounds of tape around it and put it on the Greyhound bus bound for a nearby town that still had a bus station. So the drum rode the Greyhound all the way to Georgia.
Read moreCirca 1930 Ludwig 4x14 brass "mystery" silver flake snare drum
In the end, I did not find a rare silver Stipelgold Ludwig snare drum. Indeed, what I received was an even rarer gift, a beautiful circa 1930 brass Ludwig drum that was passionately played by a war hero and kind friend to many.
Read moreWho had this pedal at the 2013 Chicago Drum Show?
Reader looking for this pedal that was at the Chicago Drum Show
Read moreBlown Glass Drum Heads? Beautiful drum lamps by Vancouver artist
My brother , Darrell Cadieux (above) who is an accomplished jazz drummer and art collector should be floored by this piece I had made for him by a world class glass blower. The heads are hand blown glass in the artist's famous tortoise shell design. An LED light was mounted inside and gives the piece a beautiful radiance. The piece was made by Jeff Burnette of Vancouver B.C.
Read moreBill Ludwig kicks off funding campaign for WFL III Drums
What is this?
What is this?!
Read moreCaptain's Log; 10/15 Old dog learning new tricks
This blog is taking the place of the old editorial column that was in the print magazines and the email newsletters. There won't be an editorial in the newsletter anymore. The monthly periodical format isn't working for NSMD so I'm going to post whatever is on my mind whenever it's on my mind! Here! Personal, business, gigs, music, past articles on a variety of subjects, fleeting thoughts and floating molecules, whatever, I'm going to be writing it here.
What's going on? I just finished two months submersed in the bowels of this new website and new newsletter. I have never built a website before or composed a digital newsletter. Thank the Great Pumpkin for Squarespace.com, a web building and hosting site, and the Constant Contact email service which have it all dumbed down to where even I can do it. You may have noticed there was no September 2015 issue of the newsletter. That was due to delays in building the new site and delays in switching over from the old site to the new site.
I bought Not So Modern Drummer magazine in 2008 with the intent of "modernizing" it. Well, three websites, two newsletters, three webmasters, and three business overhauls later, I'm flying solo and I'm on a mission to come up with my "final answer". I put everything on hold this year (2015): the Nashville Drum Show, the Snare Drum Olympics, while I figured out the new direction for Not So Modern Drummer. (Yeah, yeah, you've done this before, yawn). Well not to this extent. I realized this year that in order for Not So Modern Drummer to best serve the drumming community, I needed to immerse myself 24/7 in the process of running it, building it, promoting it, growing it, etc. And I've done just that!
I've been in hyper focus mode for weeks on end, many hours a day, just figuring out what NSMD is so a new direction and mission could be defined for it. NSMD is not a magazine anymore, obviously. We quit printing the paper magazine in 2012. It's not the email newsletter which replaced the paper magazine. It's not this website either. The old periodical format is not effective for it anymore. I finally figured out that NSMD is the 27 years of content that has been contributed to it, and the people who contributed it. So, I started a new mission to make that evident to everyone: To store/document/publish all the content since 1988 on this site and make it available to all for free. Long term project, I know, but it's off and running. I'm daily adding old content from the first typed newsletters, the old print magazines, and the three different websites and newsletter formats we've had.
The other part of the mission for 2016 is to re institute the buying and selling of vintage, custom, used and new gear by its readers that was the bread and butter of the original Not So Modern Drummer. It was originally a classified ad rag for drummers! Well Ebay did that in, but I've seen the need for a more vetted venue where buyers and sellers must use their real names and establish trust. So I've added a new forum that has a classifieds section in it. I thought that forums were passe since Facebook took over, but I think people are growing weary of Facebook. It's too much to keep up with and no one really owns their pages or groups. It could blow up at any day now when the next new online thing comes along. Forums can be more focused and niched, ..... and owned! I've noticed since I launched the new site that the page with the biggest number of hits is the Classifieds, so that's a good sign. If you have gear to sell, or or looking for specific items, please help me get this Classified forum jump started by posting there.
Captain logging off.
1960s E.W. Kent set
My latest drum set acquisition is a beautiful Black Diamond Pearl 1960s E.W. Kent kit. Many young drummers received a set of Kent drums for their first set.
Read moreIt's a Poor Workman Who Blames His Tools
Shortly after I bought a set of budget tabla, I came across an important bit of advice: Do not buy cheap tabla; it's too hard to get a sound and you will be quickly discouraged. OK, there are other reasons my tabla playing is serious limited, but the sound quality of the cheap drums dampened my enthusiasm. Still, we ought not to blame our tools for a job poorly done.
Read moreDrum Dictionary
The Drum Yoda's Totally Awewome Dictionary of Drum Terms - compiled by Richard Best.
What I wanted to offer was not curt definitions but reasonable explanations
Reflections on Shelly Manne, Part 2
NSMD’s David Barsalou asked internationally recognized drummers Bill Goodwin, Gordy Knudtson, Gregg Potter, John JR Robinson, Terry Silverlight, Todd Sucherman, and Paul Wertico to share their ideas and opinions on the following quote attributed to Shelly Manne.
Shelly Manne said...
"The ride beat is the easiest and the most difficult thing a drummer will ever play".
Read moreDorado by Gretsch - Made in Japan
This was sent to me by my drum nerd buddy Jay in Knoxville TN. He is the administrator of the Facebook group "Knoxville Drummers Union". He goes by the code name Jay Options over there. I think he is hiding from someone. You have to know the secret password to join that group and they are a shifty bunch :-) . Dorado Drums were added to the Gretsch Dorado catalog in 1973. They were cheap Japanese stencil sets; imports and didn't hang around too long. That's about all I know about them. I would put that particular set of Jay's in the $200 category just because they are in good shape. If the floor tom and snare drum were there they might be worth $300 to $350 - George Lawrence
Here is a quote from author Mike Jones about Dorado guitars. Some of this may be applicable to Dorado Drums.
" I love the Dorado myself and have the same model 12 string as you. I also have 2- Model 5985 solid-body electrics. They are extremely well made and very playable. I am including information about them in a chapter of my book "Gretsch's Lost Weekend; The Guitars of Booneville and The Hagner Musical Instrument Company, 1970-1981" I am not going to be devoting much to the acoustic models but here's what I can tell you.
The Dorado guitars were made by Matsumoko of Japan between 1971 and 1973. The most intersting thing is, other than minor cosmetic differences, Matsumoko made the exact same guitar for Epiphone, Aria, Conrad, Granada and Lyle, though less so, their acoustic guitars. The ones that were marketed by the other companies were manufactured between 1970 and 1976. The Headstock design seem to be the only real variable on all of the models. As to why they were distributed by Gretsch, there was a long standing rumor that the Dorado was imported by Gretsch/Baldwin to make up for the lack of inventory after the Booneville factory fire in January 1973 destroyed the Gretsch production facility. While a plausable theory, It doesn't work with the time line. It appears to be more of a deal worked out by Fred Gretsch (still on the Gretsch/Baldwin Board of Directors) and Bill Hagner to work with Japanese suppliers. Gene Haugh told me that the decision to import was made in the spring of 1972 by Baldwin and Fred Gretsch. The first catalogs with Gretsch's name appeared in the fall of the same year and offered only acoustic models. In the 1973 catalog they offered an electric 6 string solid-body as well as a solid-body 4 string bass. Your 12 string model was one of two 12 string models offered in the 1973 catalog. Interstingly they also offered drums that year. A little known fact that you might enjoy. Gene told me that Fred brought a Dorado acoustic to Booneville one day in early 1972. According to Gene, Fred had put some masking tape over the logo, came into Gene's office and asked him to try it out. Gene played around with it for a few minutes then Fred asked him how he thought it played and what he thought it was. Gene said it played great and thought it was a Gibson. Fred peeled the tape off to expose the Dorado logo and said "That's what I thought too. Were gonna start distributing these." Gene told me he didn't care much for the electric solid body model's finish but the acoustics were as good as anything anyone was making during those days. Dorado had 3 logos. Plain Gold screen in fat block letters, Gold silk screen normal block letters in 1971-72 and in 1973 they introduced a Stylish in-laid mother of pearl logo. Yours is a 1973. I'll see if I can find some acoustic pics of the Aria, Epiphone, Conrad, Lyle acoustics so you can see they are all the same. For now, here's how the Dorado solid-body electric compares with all the other Matsumoko solid-body electric guitars. I hope this helps.
Mike Jones
Custom Drum of the Month -Furcinitti French Oak Wine Barrel snare
This is a 15x7 stave snare drum. The wood is French oak. The boards were originally white but were used to season wine for 18 months and then dried for a year. They smelled wonderful when I cut into them. I only added a topcoat. No stain at all. Enjoy!
Read moreRestoration Tips - Fixing Bent Rims
With wrench in hand and the aid of this article, you can remove unsightly bends and restore a rim to its original contour.
Read moreAndy White's Beatles drum set
This is the 1956 mahogany shell Ludwig Super Classic finished in black diamond pearl that was used by Andy White on the very first Beatles record
Read moreMike Clark: Words of Wisdom - Part 7
Best Drummer In The World? Who can orchestrate and swing like Elvin Jones? – Nobody. Who changed everything for everybody and came up with a new way of looking at things like Tony Williams? –Nobody.
Read more
F. Baron snare drum, circa 1930s
F. BARON was a music store located in Paris, which existed in the 30/40 years. Very little information exists, but they created a brand "CONTINENTAL Paris New York", drums and snare drum which are so rare.
Read moreSeimatone Chromatic Snare Drum -@1948
with this snare, only two tuning knobs are necessary to adjust the tension, one by a head ! The internal chromatic system is very complex but works perfectly, and allows you to change tone while playing
Read more