Agreed on the duct tape! .. and .. yes!, during the back part of this, his FINAL Ludwig endorsement, he ended up playing the SS pretty exclusively. Interestingly, shortly after this, he switched to the Ludwig Hammered Bronze SS, and that is the snare drum he played till leaving Ludwig and going with the restored 1940's Slingerland's in 1983. I have the Hammered Bronze SS in my BR snare history/collection, so here's a nice pic which shows the very small hand hammered shell. Buddy dug this drum!, and it's easy to hear why! I have gigged this one many times!

Tommyp

Those look like brushes on the BD, I never saw him use brushes. Didn't know he did.

To answer the stick question going around, those look like big Maple, chewed and last about a gig or two.

Buddy was an INCREDIBLE brush player! Search out some vids ... you will be blown away! I never thought he got enough credit for his brush playing .. publicly .. but for all that have seen him LIVE .. well .. they know!

Tommyp

Buddy's sticks were NOT large actually. I have in my BR collection, a nice sampling of all the models he used between 1950 and 1982. I'll attach a pic. His stick was what I like to call a modified 7a towards a 5a, but with a little less diameter and length on the 5a. This includes the very cool Ludwig 15a Buddy Rich with it's very neat shoulder/tip design. After Buddy split Ludwig, they KEPT this model but re branded it as a 5a without Buddy's name! Also goes without saying that he used some other brands here and there too .. but .. I gravitate towards the models he used the most on a daily/nightly basis.

Tommyp

I was unaware this drum existed!

I shudder to think what one goes for these days, but how does it compare sound-wise to the aluminum shell? I like (not love, yet) my SS but I really need to spend some quality time with it before I decide to sell it.

Historically, I prefer brass shell snare drums- my "number one" drum was the Rogers Power Tone for YEARS. I had two nice ones, so I had a backup ready, but never even broke a head on one in all those years using it.

With my current big band gig, I'm using the Acrolite! I have big buck snare drums and the cheapest one I own is the one I use. Maybe the SS can fill that void, but that Acrolite is a fantastic drum. Sounds good in any room, at any tuning.Bowing

But it seemed to be a feature of this vintage. This is another pic from 1968.

That pic is owned by my buddy David who is actually the owner of the VDF, hence the watermark. I have in my collection .. from the same photo shoot .. the actual catalog shot, but without BR in it with his way cool Nehru jacket. No watermarks as this is the actual Slingerland proof from the shoot! Anyway ... Buddy had at least two sets in 1968 .. possibly more .. as on one of his touring sets, the badge is on the far left panel! I'll attach the pic for you! This is all "drum detective" stuff, and a whole lot of fun to do! The "Artist" model snare drum is nicely shown in the pic as well!

Tommyp

Man, he really did jam that snare into the rack Tom!

Killer shot Senor P! None from the front of that kit are there?

Also funny how that badge really roams around the various panels!