Review of a Vintage Ludwig Marching Snare Before Re-Furbishing
So I was recently in a local music shop, and picked up a vintage (I believe it’s from the 60′s) Ludwig marching snare in Orange Sparkle. the tone of it is amazing, and I am going to deem this post the “before,” and later I’ll do an “after” post when I’m done refurbishing it. I’m obviously planning on using it on a drum set and not as a marching snare. I want to use it mainly for studio situations, to obtain that highly sought after dirty, fat, beautiful snare drum tone that so many guys try to get these days. It’s becoming increasingly popular, even on the biggest pop records, and drummers obtain it in many different ways. To fatten and flatten the sound of your snare you can do anything from putting duct tape on the batter and/or resonant heads, to going crazy and covering the batter head with cardboard, and other muffling materials. Below is a picture of the drum in it’s current condition. I have not altered it in any way since I bought it, and I payed exactly $100 for it.
Ludwig Marching Snare
So the dimensions of this drum are obviously not typical to a snare that is commonly used in a drum set situation. A typical snare drum is 14″ in diameter, and anywhere from 3 to 7 or more inches deep. This drum has a 15″ diameter, and is 12″ deep. It is, however, a marching snare though, meaning its typically tuned very high to create that machine gun effect. I have never re-furbished a snare like this before, but I’m excited to play around with the different tones I can get out of it!
I’m gonna start the process by replacing the batter hoop, as it’s bent and warped in multiple places. I am also going to replace both the batter and resonant heads, and the snares as well. All of the lugs and screws are in seemingly good condition, a the throwoff works fine. Below I have recorded a sample of what the drum sounds like in it’s un-altered state.
It actually doesn’t sound that bad for having no changes made to it, but I’m excited to explore the possibilities with this new drum! Check back in a week or so, and see how it sounds. Thanks for reading!
