John yours looks really nice too. Wonder if all of the ludalloy shells were made with the same exact materials/chemicals, you do see vintage supraphoinic snare drums in mint condition. Wonder why some (like mine) pit real bad and some dont. Could it be the way the drum ws cared for or the conditions it was stored in? My drum has a black ink stamp iside that is smudged and all I can make out is " reliable,, Something,, galvanim??? Is that the same as ludalloy?

Jeff C

Ludalloy was originally pitched as being a proprietary formula that would prevent pitting/flaking of the finish. As we all now know, it didn't work! I'm not a metallurgist, I'm not certain if environmental conditions (temp, humidity) contribute to, or accelerate the pitting process, all I know is, Ludalloy will not hold chrome plating well - at all. I haven't yet figured out why Ludwig, once the problem was revealed, did not simply stop plating the shells and just polished and over-coated the raw aluminum.

You do not need the chrome. All those steps, copper, nickel, chrome are completely unnecessary. Highly polished aluminum (and over-coated/clear-coated) is every bit as reflective/shiny as a chromed surface. Coated aluminum -will not pit or flake-.

Take your shells to a good plater. Tell him that you want the chrome stripped and that you want the shell highly polished and clear-coated. The drum will look great forever. No more pitting or flaking - ever. As I said in my previous post... why pay to make the same mistake twice? The chrome coating isn't going to fare any better the second time...

John

PS - Yes, all that Anti-Galvanic gobbledy-gook just means, Ludalloy.

I sure wish I had known that before I (please forgive me) sandblasted the little bit of chrome that was left off of mine, which ate into the aluminum. I was a dumb 19 year old at the time. I had to use body filler to smooth out the shell to be painted. I kick myself frequently when I think about what I did to that shell. My future mother-in-law put a nice metallic blue oyster-like paint job on it for me. So, it looks nice to me...and still sounds awesome regardless.

I will know what to do next time I get my hands on a pitted Supra, though. Thanks for the info, John!

Lynn

PS - Yes, all that Anti-Galvanic gobbledy-gook just means, Ludalloy.

Ok, thank you. Thanks for the tip!

Jeff - From Wikipedia:

Galvanic Response - Dissimilar metals and alloys have different electrode potentials and when two or more come into contact in an electrolyte a galvanic couple is set up, one metal acting as anode and the other as cathode. The potential difference between the dissimilar metals is the driving force for the accelerated attack on the anode member of the galvanic couple.

Anti-Galvanic only means that the Ludalloy shells are made to prevent the galvanic response; ie: rejection of the chrome (metal/anode) by the aluminum (alloy/cathode). Anode and cathode only refer to the electrical properties of the metal. It never worked. Ludwig should have stopped chrome plating Ludalloy decades ago.

John

Today we soda blasted some finiish on a piece of antique furniture. It really ate into the wood... ahhhhhh wellllll

I gathered up all my supras I have aquired over the years and here they are. I have about decided to just restore the supersensitive and customize another supra.

During the process of me hauling all these into the kitchen I noticed one of the supras was significantly heavier than the rest. Im a little excitied about that. I went to get some hardwood at home depot today to repair a 100 yr old chase lounge frame, I noticed poplar isnt near as heavy as red oak. I got red oak and a splinter... lol Is heavier better? Brass vs alloy............

That is a great looking drum. Love the look of the P86 strainer with the tube lug hardware. Much better strainer as well. Very nice.

Yes it looks very nice, dont forget the after pics of the new one. Good job!

Jeff C