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60's WMP Ludwig Superclassic restoration

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Hello guys.

It's been a long time since I bought a 60's Ludwig Superclassic kit, in white marine pearl (WMP) finish. With keystone badge and rail mount, I think it's from 1969 (transition period) since the snare bottom head and bass drum front head have the "new" Ludwig logo painted.

Now I got some free time, I will restore it.

I created a thread when this kit was for sale, to get some tips. You can check it out here: http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=53972 (Sorry for the bad url pictures. Now I use the VDF uploader)

My plan is to clean all the rust, dust and dirt and repair the wood issues. For now, I will keep the original paint on bass drum hoops to keep it the most original possible. I will clean and polish the wrap but

will keep the yellow vintage look too. I will use the Novus plastic polish, already used it before with great results.

Your tips are welcome. I am not sure what to do on bearing edges ply separations and dents. Feel free to share your wisdom.

Note: This kit came with a LM400 snare (aka 14"x5" Supraphonic). I will clean it after the rest of the kit, so keep tuned :)

Let's check some pictures

Posted on 7 years ago
#1
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The 13" tom has a hole from outside to inside. The broken wrap is still there and the interior ply is cracked and bent. I will try to make two curved wood pieces (one for inside other for outsite) to glue the wood back to the place. Is Patex wood glue recommended?

Posted on 7 years ago
#2
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The major problems I found on bearing edges. (At least the dents). Since the wrap is overlaped trough the wood, are these gaps normal? Maybe should glue them to prevent future damagea. Any tips to fix this?

Posted on 7 years ago
#3
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Major problems on bass drum hoops. After a cleanup I think they will look great.

Posted on 7 years ago
#4
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The bass drum heads that came with the kit. The resonant head has the Ludwig lettering painted in black. I think it is the stock head.

Note: the snare bottom head has this logo painted in black too. Will post photos later

Look at the internal foam ring. 70's high tech :D

Posted on 7 years ago
#5
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From JohnBonham

Hello guys.It's been a long time since I bought a 60's Ludwig Superclassic kit, in white marine pearl (WMP) finish. With keystone badge and rail mount, I think it's from 1969 (transition period) since the snare bottom head and bass drum front head had the "new" Ludwig logo painted.Now I got some free time, I will restore it.I created a thread when this kit was for sale, to get some tips. You can check it out here: http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=53972 (Sorry for the bad url pictures. Now I use the VDF uploader)My plan is to clean all the rust, dust and dirt and repair the wood issues. For now, I will keep the original paint on bass drum hoops to keep it the most original possible. I will clean and polish the wrap but will keep the yellow vintage look too. I will use the Novus plastic polish, already used it before with great results.Your tips are welcome. I am not sure what to do on bearing edges ply separations and dents. Feel free to share your wisdom.Note: This kit came with a LM400 snare (aka 14"x5" Supraphonic). I will clean it after the rest of the kit, so keep tuned :)Let's check some pictures

Don't think you can date them based on the heads alone which could have been replaced later. Can we see close ups of the badges? Do they have serial numbers? If so, what are the numbers? Additionally, the pictures in the link you provided are not visible.

Mark
BosLover
Posted on 7 years ago
#6
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@BosLover first of all, the thread I shared was created a long time ago and has broken images. I uploaded them to image sharing website and now they are not available. Now I always use the form uploader available here on VDF. Pictures will be always available in future, only for members.

About the Ludwig... It has maple interiors, round dampeners (same with the LM400 snare), no date stamps at all, modern brackets and gull wing spurs. The serial 667XXX points to '68-'69. I assume it is from '69 since it is the year when the Olive/Blue badge was introduced and both the resonant heads have the new logo. I don't think they were changed since the kit was in Europe and in my country the brand were not very common. If the heads were changed they would probably be Remo, like I found on other vintage kits I bought.

If there's other clues to identify it please tell me. Cheers.

Posted on 7 years ago
#7
Posts: 1525 Threads: 127
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On those bass drum hoops, you can get some Elmer's wood filler. It's sort of like putty. Take it on your fingers and fill in all the chewed up parts and dents. Then sand it even with the other wood. I have repaired several chewed up and dented hoops like that. Tape off the inlay strips and paint them. They will look great. Plus I would not,worry about sanding all the current paint on them. Just go over them with sandpaper to remove any loose paint.

Posted on 7 years ago
#8
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From JohnBonham

@BosLover first of all, the thread I shared was created a long time ago and has broken images. I uploaded them to image sharing website and now they are not available. Now I always use the form uploader available here on VDF. Pictures will be always available in future, only for members.About the Ludwig... It has maple interiors, round dampeners (same with the LM400 snare), no date stamps at all, modern brackets and gull wing spurs. The serial 667XXX points to '68-'69. I assume it is from '69 since it is the year when the Olive/Blue badge was introduced and both the resonant heads have the new logo. I don't think they were changed since the kit was in Europe and in my country the brand were not very common. If the heads were changed they would probably be Remo, like I found on other vintage kits I bought.If there's other clues to identify it please tell me. Cheers.

I have looked at a LOT of late 60's Ludwigs and I would guess based on your serial numbers that these could fall into the Dec 1968 time frame. I have a Dec 12th 1968 psych red rock duo and the serial numbers on all drum fall between 663XXX-667XXX. The logo on your set should look like the one pictured here. My mod orange set is dated March 26 1969 with serial numbers in the 697XXX-698XXX range.(the 14x14 is a 68 with no date stamp and was added later). Keep us posted on the progress as this looks like it will be a cool set. I would check really hard for a date stamp as these look like they have been used quite a bit and it's possible the date has faded over time. It's also certainly possible that there just never was one. Also check for a date in the supra and check how close the serial numbers in the supra are to the set. The wrapped drums were made in another area from the metal drums and when a set was finished a worker would just grab a supra from the pile already made up. Depending on how long the supra sat could help in determining the date if the supra in fact has a date and the serial number on it is relatively close to the set. My mod orange set also came with it's originally supra and the supra is dated march 20 1969(six days before the set) and has a serial number that is just a bit earlier than the set at 686965. Of course not everything works out this way and I'm quite certain that someone grabbing snare drums could care less about how far apart numbers and dates are. Still it may be able to help date this a little better. Good luck!

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"wfl does not stand for world football league!"
Posted on 7 years ago
#9
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@wflkurt thanks for the reply.

Here are all the serialnumbers:

13" Tom - 687xxx

16" Tom - 687xxx

22" Bassdrum - 687xxx

LM400 snare - 688xxx

Posted on 7 years ago
#10
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