Today, I had quite the nice surprise whilst searching for a new kit. Among the new kits at my local drum shop, there sat a Ludwig Standard 5-pc in Blue Mist wrap. The damage to the wrap was substantial..what looks to be sun damage on the top of the kick drum, some cracking/tearing on the floor tom, etc.
The shells themselves looked proper. They still retained the white/grey fleck coating on the inside of all the shells. All the hardware was in good shape but could use a nice polishing. The sound was amazing, warm and punchy with just the right amount of resonance...the best sounding kit amongst 50 modern kits in the store.
It came with an Acrolite snare which I switched out to a 1965 solid-shell Slingerland snare that was also on hand at the shop. Would have been nice to have the original Standard snare but I'll take the Slingerland any day. The original strainer on the Slingerland snare had been replaced by a Ludwig strainer but it shouldn't be hard to find an original Slingerland strainer. The snare was finished in White Pearl.
Anyway, there were some oddities that I came across. First, the kit had classic lugs, not standard ones. The shop owner said he suspected the previous owner refitted the kit with the classic lugs but they look far more worn than I would expect of new lugs so I'm thinking they were factory fit but is there a way to really tell for sure?
Also, the shop owner described the original wrap as "aqua mist" but I've since learned that per the Ludwig website that the color was called "blue mist". The Standard apparently didn't come with many color options. How possible would it be to find someone with a nice set of blue mist wraps? If it's too difficult or pricy, what's the general opinion regarding a full refinish of the shells?
Sorry for the book but wanted to give as much information as possible. Any feedback is greatly appreciated ;)
Cuttle
