I checked my '77ish 5x14 Black Beauty tonight like we discussed. No stamp on mine at the muffler either. Same shell as yours just added black nickel. Love yours!

Mike

Is that an 8 lug? Rotarded

Wayne

10 Lug drum

Thanks

Looked like it could of been 8.

Nice looking snare and definitely don’t see many of these.

Wayne

Interesting. I know the 70s BBs were brass, had that sticker, not stamped above the muffler, and notorious for fading black nickel. Any evidence of black nickel anywhere? It’s a nice looking drum!

Ludwig made spun brass Supraphonics in 1969, I have a few. They made at least one, and yours may be the second, lacquered brass Supras also. They're a bit lighter weight than the early 60's Super 400's, and the B+O brass Supras have a "B" above the round tone control knob.

(I suppose if your drum does not have the "B" stamp it may be from later 1970's when they reissued Black Beauties?) But that's a guess?

69-72 was the BO1 badge. The drum in question has a BO2. It appears to show evidence of the black being removed, especially in the inside, however I do hope it is the classic Ludwig anomaly.

What is this evidence you see? What does one look for either way? I was thinking of removing a head, and a lug, and taking further pictures.

Although it’s challenging to see from 2 small pics, the inside appears darker when compared to yellow brass luddies I own. I have a ‘29 BB where the black nickel was removed and the inside shows random faded black areas as if the owner paid less attention to the internal nickel removal. We can only give so much feedback based on the 2 pics. Please take a few extra pics with some hardware removed. I trust the hardware was off if/when any nickel was removed. Probably the most definitive answer is behind the badge and certainly under that sticker but it would not make much sense to mess with those items.