Old 09-21-2015, 08:02 PM
#1
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Talking Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
Hi. After searching a lot for a Ludwig drumkit in my country, I finally found the remains of a Vistalite kit.
I always wanted a wood Ludwig kit but is hard to find near to me, and this is better than nothing. Let me tell you the story.

I saw a drumkit for sale (bass drum, 2 toms, snare and some hardware) and when I was checking the bad quality photos didn't noticed what it realy was until I saw the swirl transparent/red stripes. I instantly recognized that acrylic finish and made an apointment with the seller.

When I arrived, I noticed that the bass drum was bigger than it looked like in the photos. It was a Ludwig vistalite , transparent/red C pattern, 24"x14" bass drum with 13" and 14" rack toms.
Resumed: The shells had scratches, bass drum was cracked, rusty chrome, bass drum hoop broken, missing tom hoops, missing spur, etc.
I made the deal for 80 euro (~90 USD) and took home this kit with a made in a Japan Tama Swingstar steel snare (black badge), two bass drum pedals, snare stand, cymbal stand and a cracked cymbal.

The snare has some issues in the strainer and needs to be repaired, cleaned, polished and put new heads.
One of the bass drum pedals is a 70's Tama strap drive, tension spring is missing.
The other bass drum pedal is unknow for me. It is heavy, has curved footboard with glued rubber at top and the tension spring system is inside the pedal. It has a "direct drive" system and seems to be very good.
The snare stand has a sticker with "made in japan", seems to be "Mercury". It needs to be fixed.
The cymbal stand is a Honsuy boom stand.
All this drums and hardware are rusty and in bad condition.

I want to restore the Ludwig kit and make it look as good as possible and playable. Any kind of info/help is much appreciated. Check the photos bellow.
Thank You
Old 09-21-2015, 08:32 PM
#2
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C











Last edited by JohnBonham; 09-21-2015 at 08:59 PM.
Old 09-21-2015, 08:48 PM
#3
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C











Last edited by JohnBonham; 09-21-2015 at 08:59 PM.
Old 09-21-2015, 08:52 PM
#4
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C











Last edited by JohnBonham; 09-21-2015 at 09:00 PM.
Old 09-21-2015, 08:58 PM
#5
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C











Last edited by JohnBonham; 09-21-2015 at 09:00 PM.
Old 09-21-2015, 09:05 PM
#6
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
This is how it's supposed to be:

Old 09-21-2015, 09:43 PM
#7
redneckdrum redneckdrum is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
You got your work cut out for you.
Old 09-21-2015, 10:12 PM
#8
jerrysterken jerrysterken is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
It will be a lot of work but if you take your time and do it right you can make a good looking players kit out of it. There are a couple of Vista light websites that give good info on cleaning, polishing and crack repair.
Old 09-21-2015, 11:09 PM
#9
human71 human71 is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
What a travesty.. I wept while looking at the pics get worse. Lol !
Get operating on that ol' girl, STAT ! On a side note, that pedal looks like you'd need Elf shoes to play it
Old 09-19-2017, 07:20 PM
#10
JohnBonham JohnBonham is offline
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Default Re: Ludwig Vistalite Pattern C
First of all I'm sorry for the broken image URLs. Now I always submit pictures directly to the VDF to guarrantee they are available in future.

For those who followed this thread, you can follow the kit restoration here: http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/show...531#post418531
 

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ludwig , red , swirl , transparent , vistalite

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