I'd just use a damp rag with perhaps a mild solution of dish soap for the interiors. Maybe Windex on something stubborn. Be careful, if you have any surviving factory date stamps inside you can wash them away very easily.
I myself wouldn`t want any sheen inside on a wood finish. If those were mine, I`d keep the interiors they way they are, Ludwig was sloppy inside their drums, that`s what Ludwig guys look for too. I`d take off the sheen with denatured alcohol as many times as it takes, (wear gloves) after a day of drying I would use natural beeswax. one day one layer. polish only after five layers. It`s worth it cuz I do it to my Phonics. Polish only til it`s slippery with the cloth.
Great moisture protection and goes on to darken the wood and dries as if you never did it. Natural Beeswax only.
I`d like flat paint or flat sheen on natural finish. Of course if they were white, make them white again after the alcohol. Ben More oil, ceiling flat.(white)
.....76/#XK9207 Phonic Sound Machine D454/D-505 snares !i
Oh, the alcohol will strip the sheen off the linoleum wrap too. Don`t spill over and tape lug mount holes outside.
.....76/#XK9207 Phonic Sound Machine D454/D-505 snares !i
Tag `em repainted with date stamp cuz the alcohol with later-ize that too.
.....76/#XK9207 Phonic Sound Machine D454/D-505 snares !i
Every clear maple interior, wrapped 3 ply Ludwig I own or have examined closely has a mahogany exterior ply. Mahogany works great for this due to it's porous nature as it gives the wrap glue a better surface to stick to. However it seems nearly everyone believes these drums to be "maple". That includes Ludwig themselves who made their Legacy series like that. That's probably are more marketable layup today but sort of ignores the actuality. Of course the major part of any Ludwig 3 ply shell is made of poplar but the inner and outer plies varied over time depending on what wood Ludwig had in stock or could get the best deal on (one reason for the white painted interiors in the 60s was so regardless of whether a drum had a maple or mahogany interior it would match the others in a set). Certainly there are some Ludwig drums that have a maple ply under the wrap but it seems the majority do not. Ludwig did make a decision to stick with maple interiors exclusively from 1968ish on, about the same time they stopped applying the wrap to the plywood before bending it into a shell.The popularity of maple for drums makes it so everyone wants their vintage Ludwigs to be "maple" and I doubt my ranting will change that but if you start actually looking closely at the drums of that era you're probably going to find a mahogany ply under the wrap on most of them.
Interesting, I'm pretty sure our set of Super Classics with the pre serial keystone badges are mahogany/poplar/mahogany. Is that still a good assumption?
BosLover
Interesting, I'm pretty sure our set of Super Classics with the pre serial keystone badges are mahogany/poplar/mahogany. Is that still a good assumption?
I was referencing the late 60s early 70s wrapped drums with the clear maple interiors. Early 60s wrapped drums are almost always mahogany/poplar/mahogany, although there are exceptions with some early 60s drums (usually bass drums) with bare maple interiors. In the reso coat era (white painted interiors) most wrapped drums were still probably just mahogany and poplar but more maple likely got used too. Ludwig was doing whatever it took to keep up with huge demand during those "Beatle boom" years.
One thing to keep in mind is that drummers of these earlier eras paid very little attention to what their drums were made of. They were "wood" and that's about as far as anyone thought about it. The drum companies didn't really go out of their way to advertise their layups. This allowed them a certain amount of freedom to use whatever woods they wanted or, perhaps, could get at a better price. It wasn't until the late 70s that anyone really started to advertise layups (I think Rogers was the first to do so in a big way with their XP-8 shells) and wood types and in response to this advertising drummers began to think about the composition of their drum shells for really the first time.
I was referencing the late 60s early 70s wrapped drums with the clear maple interiors. Early 60s wrapped drums are almost always mahogany/poplar/mahogany, although there are exceptions with some early 60s drums (usually bass drums) with bare maple interiors. In the reso coat era (white painted interiors) most wrapped drums were still probably just mahogany and poplar but more maple likely got used too. Ludwig was doing whatever it took to keep up with huge demand during those "Beatle boom" years.One thing to keep in mind is that drummers of these earlier eras paid very little attention to what their drums were made of. They were "wood" and that's about as far as anyone thought about it. The drum companies didn't really go out of their way to advertise their layups. This allowed them a certain amount of freedom to use whatever woods they wanted or, perhaps, could get at a better price. It wasn't until the late 70s that anyone really started to advertise layups (I think Rogers was the first to do so in a big way with their XP-8 shells) and wood types and in response to this advertising drummers began to think about the composition of their drum shells for really the first time.
What about the granite painted interiors, would they be maple/poplar/maple? I've got 1976 Luddy 18" ft I'm working on and general forum consensus pointed at mahogany.
I haven't had that much experience with granitone painted drums but I'd suspect that the arrival of granitone signaled the use of mahogany on the inner plies again on some drums with the granitone functioning to hide that fact on sets where there were different layups mixed together.
Again, most wrapped drums of the 3 ply era had a mahogany exterior ply under the wrap, maple/poplar/maple wrapped drums are not too common (at least in my experience).
Even during the clear maple interior years it seems that a lot of 18" floor toms sold at that time still had mahogany interiors. I'm not sure what the reason may have been but one theory is that they had a backlog of older shells in that size that they were using up.
All of this and the rest of it above applies to WRAPPED shells. Lacquered and natural shells always had maple exterior plies (except for, obviously, natural mahogany finish drums).
Thanks K.O, great info there.
I think you got a good deal,congrats.Hard to put a value on the vintage vibe sometimes.
Did you get the bass drum cymbal mount or arm with it?
Anyway they should clean up nice and sound good.
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