1969 Ludwig Psychedelic Red Hollywood Drum Set

It's really warming up for us here in the deep south. I hope your Summer has begun well. I got out early this morning to photograph this drum set for my article and I am still sweating all over the drums as I set them up. I know this set is not mint, but they are a good example of this attractive and desirable finish. I have been writing for the magazine for a while and the reason they keep me around, I guess, is because I am just a regular collector like most of you. I am not a super rich man with unlimited funds to spend on drums. Boy if I were rich I would go wild at the drum shows and keep E-Bay and UPS very happy. Instead, I save for a while and look until I find a kit or snare that really turns me on. I have bought a few pieces every year for the past twenty years, and sold a few pieces now and then. I have sought to improve the collection as I go along. I will buy a set in a finish I like, and when the set in the same finish in better condition comes along, I'll buy it and sell mine. I really don't consider myself a hoarder. I don't have five matching drums in the same finish or anything like that. If I have an extra drum in a finish another collector wants I share up.

The set I am featuring this month is a beautiful Ludwig Hollywood set from 1969. The wrap is Ludwig's exclusive Psychedelic Red Pearl finish. The big drum companies of that day mostly shared the sparkle colors and pearl finishes on their drums, but no other drum company dared to offer this finish, so it was only on the Ludwig sets. Ludwig tried two other psychedelic finishes on their drums, but they were not as successful in sales compared to this awesome finish. I don't have the time nor words to describe what psychedelic means to us who were from the sixties, but suffice it to say we loved everything psychedelic during that period of our lives. The wild colors are a part of that movement, and these drums are very colorful. Someone described this finish as looking like a "frog in a blender." The badges are the Blue Olive parallelograms that replaced the Keystone badges that year. The interiors are natural maple that has been clear coated. The sizes are typical for the Hollywood sets. Bass drum 22"X14", floor tom 16"X16", mounted toms 13"X9", and 12"X8". The snare is a 14"X5" chrome Supraphonic. This was the type snare that went out with most of the sets sold.

This was one of the earliest sets I bought when I started my collection. When I was in high school, a friend got a double bass drum set of Ludwigs in this finish. When I saw those brand new Psychedelic red drums I couldn't believe how spectacular they looked. I never got over that, so I went looking to recapture that experience by owning a set like those. I told my good friend Bill Pace, who actually had a vintage drum store at that time, to let me know if he found a set I could buy. He called me one afternoon with the news that he had a set in his store if I wanted to see them. I took my son with me to share the excitement. We bought them and I have certainly enjoyed owning them ever since. They are not perfect, as I said, but if you get a chance to buy a set like this in almost any condition you should do it. The finish fades with time and light exposure. The green color is the first to go. Even faded they are still desirable.

I don't know if this will make the editors cut or not, but I also included a picture of a Ludwig factory Psychedelic wood shell Supraphonic re-issue snare drum Ludwig made for me just before they re-issued the color on sets fifteen years ago. I along with others had requested Ludwig re-issue the finish, and so I got one of if not the first one. The head was signed by Bill Pace who sold me the original kit and by the "Chief" Mr. Bill Ludwig.

1971 Ludwig Hollywood Mod Orange Set

Greetings vintage drum lovers and friends. I hope the Winter is on the way out and nicer warm weather is on the way in. I brought out a set out into the sunlight to show you that I try to keep in the dark as much as possible. It is a 1971 Ludwig Hollywood set covered with the rare Mod Orange wrap. The reason I keep them in the dark is to try to keep the color from fading even more than it already has. This color is one of the three Ludwig psychedelic wraps that caused quite a stir in the late 1960s and on into the 1970s. You have to be around 50 or older to understand why anything psychedelic was cool. The three psychedelic colors were, Psychedelic Red, Mod Orange, and Citrus Mod. These wraps are filled with color, but unfortunately they fade when exposed to sunlight. It is hard to find a set with these wraps on them that is not partially or severely faded.

My set is faded and has some cracks in the wrap and bumps and bruises. When you get a chance to own a Mod Orange set you will overlook a few flaws, because there are not that many sets out there to be had. The Reds are a little more plentiful. Ludwig did really well selling the Reds and then introduced the Oranges. The Oranges didn't sell as well as the Reds, even though John Densmore helped their sales by playing a set of Oranges with the Doors. The Doors were very cool, but you already know that. The Citrus Mods did even worse in sales than the Oranges and therefore they are even harder to find. A nice set of Citrus Mods will cost you big bucks.

The sizes of my Mod Orange kit is, bass drum 22"X14", the floor tom 16"X16", the toms are 13"X9" and 12"X8". The shells are three ply with reinforcement rings and clear coated inside. The white sealer paint inside the shells ended in the late 1960s. The toms have the rotary mute inside with the larger round handles outside the shell. The double tom mount is factory placed on the bass drum. There is a paper badge inside the shell that dates them to 1971. The Blue Olive badges are pointy on the corners which indicates early 1970s. The snare drum placed with the set is a 1970s 14"X5" chrome Supraphonic. It is very hard to find a wood shell Mod Orange snare. If you do you will pay a large ransom for it. Some Mod Orange snares have been recover jobs using a strip from a donor floor tom. Be careful when buying a Mod Orange snare drum.

Ludwig reintroduced the Mod Orange finish a few years back, but I think the results were about the same as the first time. I guess we will just have to say it's so ugly it's kinda pretty. You might still  be able to purchase a version of this wrap if you would like to have this finish on a restoration job. Some have found Mod Orange wrapped drums that have been painted over. Can you imagine buying a pawn shop white painted Ludwig set and finding Mod Orange wrap underneath the paint. It will be difficult to remove the paint and not damage the finish. Get a professional to help you with that. Until next time, use cases and stop scratching up those future vintage kits, and keep searching for that Mod Orange Jazz Festival in somebody's yard sale.

What Are You, New?

Submitted by Joe Gaskill...

What are you, new? It doesn’t take too long for men of certain tastes to show me their upturned nose.  It happens in any sub-sub culture, really – classic cars, baseball statistics, Pokemon.  When someone is new and alone, few people want to give you the time of day.  Sure, you might get a cursory “welcome to the forum, poonwrangler69”, but the second you confuse a Powertone with a Dynasonic, people tend to ignore you.  I’m not coughing up leprosy, here.  I’m just new.

Some (embarrassing) history:  Right after high school, I got me a job at Guitar Center.  And for 14 months, I was that guy.  Yeah, I had a side-snare on my zebra-striped DW kit.  Yeah, I had suspended floor toms.  Yeah, I had a china splash.  Two of them.  For me, DW made the best drums on the planet – and it wasn’t until years later that I realized that the only thing DW had over other drums was an enormous advertising budget.  And boy did I buy into it.  Looking back, I think I overpaid.

6 years ago, I was sound-checking a drummer’s vintage kit.  I dug into him.  “Why do you play these? What can these do that a modern company with zillions of dollars in R&D can’t?”  His reply wasted no time: “Hit ‘em!”

And hit ‘em I did.  The next week, I sold the Dee-Dubs at an enormous loss and paid too much for a 74 Ludwig Hollywood in peeling Black Diamond Pearl.  But that’s all it took – hitting two three-ply floor toms at once shook something deep inside me (besides my lower intestine) – everything I thought I knew about drums was wrong.  I was about to start a long, incredibly expensive journey into a world I knew little about – with no one to help me.

I picked up knowledge where I could.  After a few embarrassing incidences where I asked questions I could’ve found the answer to on Google, I realized that reading the conversations of other collectors on vintage forums was easier than risking looking stupid.  Suffering fools, I've learned, doesn't come easily to collectors of great means.

But I understand.  You didn't spend years building a knowledge of minutiae that rivals a sommelier’s just to baby-sit the new kid. Hell, I wouldn't want to talk to me either. (Is it the beard?  My mom tells me it looks distinguished!)  The reality shows about antiquing and picking and pawn-starring hasn't done much to stem the crimson tide of non-drumming craigslist speculators looking for a quick flip-buck, either. But before you hesitate to answer a Supraphonic question you've heard 1,000 times, try and remember – the more I learn, the bigger my passion for vintage drums grows – and the more I want to spend every free cent I have on them.  And you guys always have something for sale.

You using that bit of oyster pink wrap?

My JFK Drum Set

By Nelson Hawkins

Back in the day before our world was turned upside down by the events of 9/11, a commonly asked question was "Where were you when JFK was shot?” On November 22, 1963 I walked out of a music store in a small Kansas town where I had just picked up a brand new set of Ludwig drums that had been on back order for weeks. They were black oyster pearl which was a new and unique wrap to me but only a few months later Ringo appeared with the Beatles for their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show with a similar set up and color, and a classic was born. I commented to friends that he must have really good taste. HA!  In getting these new drums I was more excited than a kid on Christmas morning.

I carefully packed the drums into my car and walked next door to get change for a phone call (cell phones were way in the future). Entering the hotel I noticed a group of people gathered at the lobby desk listening intently to a small transistor radio. As I got closer a young woman turned to me with a shocked expression on her face and said, "The President has been shot! Someone shot JFK in Dallas!" What had begun as one of my happiest of days suddenly turned bittersweet.

Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated? “I was buying a drum set, of course!” 

I returned to my apartment and set up my new drums in front of our little television set. As I watched, the events unfolded -the swearing in of LBJ in the plane on the tarmac at the Dallas airport with Jackie Kennedy still wearing her blood splattered dress standing beside them and, later, Lee Harvey Oswald's capture and assassination by Jack Ruby, and then finally the sad funeral procession to the slow, somber beat of muffled drums, with the image of JFK’s son, little John John, saluting his fallen father as the caisson passed by.

This single event had the largest impact on the people of our country since the bombing of Pearl Harbor and everyone seemed to be dazed by it. I was taking a drawing class at the time and I decided to somehow depict the event in pen and ink. I incorporated President Kennedy's famous quote "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!" in a collage, along with quick sketches of JFK and little John John saluting. Ironically, I ran out of room when I was doing the lettering and had to spell "Your" as "Yor" to make it fit in the space.... and then repeated it.  I recently found the old drawing, now beginning to fade after 50 years. I framed it and hung it to commemorate the upcoming anniversary.

I have taken care of these drums and, as a result, have been able to continue playing them for many years.  Once I had to rent them out to pay the bills. I've stored them in friends' homes and even slept behind them on stage one night when we were stranded in a club during a snow storm. They have been great travelers and have been set up on many stages throughout the country. Along with helping me make an extra income through out the years, they have provided me with hours of fun and allowed me a way to express myself.

This Hollywood set up came with two 8 x 12 mounted toms, one of which I traded or sold many years ago. I found a beautiful 9 x13 BOP tom which I mounted and used for a time. I traded it and went back to playing the four piece set that I currently use: a 14 x 20 bass drum, the original 8 x 12 mounted tom and a 16 x 16 floor tom. Although I have owned many snare drums, this 5 x 14 Ludwig Supraphonic 400 is my favorite and has a good story. I bought it from a fellow who claimed to have won it in a poker game while he was working as a hand during a wheat harvest in western Kansas. My cymbals are Zildjian and, befitting the story, I use a “ghost” pedal.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Nelson Hawkins