Ludwig-dude!...
I had never seen/read that account in print by Don Sweeney!... pretty neat... but not without "error". I shall explain in a moment. Nice find though!, and for the record, I had heard the "story" of this Ludwig set from a friend of Don's... ( the Slingerland endorser ) ... and they are pretty much the same recollection. Anyway!...
Being a HUGE BR fan... ( since 1967! ) ... and having spent years researching Buddy's endorsements/timelines... ( and having assembled a collection of EVERY MODEL snare drum BR played between 1949 and 1979, ALL correct models/wrap ) ... I have to point out a small error in Don Sweeney's article. Oh!, and for the record: Buddy would also say some of the most ridiculous things over the years concerning his drums/endorsements. You just had to take Buddy as Buddy! His "memory" was quite selective contingent on whom he was talking to, or the situation he was in, ie: Professional interview... chat on his bus with a fan... chat in his dressing room backstage... ( which is where I chatted with him, one on one back in 1973! ) ... etc. So,
Don states that Buddy had obtained a set of vintage Slingerland RK's that he thought he had owned previously in the 1930's, so he bought them back. Not true... not even close. The real story is that during this period... ( 1984 ) ... Buddy didn't even have an endorsement deal! His last go round with Ludwig was from 1977 to 1980, and then they parted ways... again ... and for the third time mind you. Buddy CONTINUED to play his Ludwig drums during this period, but again, without an endorsement deal. As a matter of fact, when you went to see the BR Big Band play during this period, there wasn't a Ludwig logo on the front bass drum head, just his BR crest! Buddy had to have a set of drums to play of course, and the Ludwigs were it, although again, without an endorsement deal, thus no logo. This had nothing to do with his TV slots though... those drums were almost always supplied backline and the manufacturer logos were present... deal or no deal! Buddy continued to play his Ludwigs until 1983 when he was PRESENTED with the 1930's vintage Slingerland RK set by Joe MacSweeney of the Eames drum company out of MA. The RK's weren't even a complete set... they were assembled out of a bunch of "orphans" and brought back to life by Joe, recovered, and GIVEN to Buddy as a gift. Buddy didn't buy them. Buddy DID love those Slingerland's though... that is true ... and he continued to play them from the fall of 1983 until his passing in April of 1987. Of note is that the bass drum with the restored Slingerland's was a 14X26!! Buddy loved it, and had requested Joe find/restore a 14X28!, which Joe did, but Buddy passed before he could give it to him. Anyway...
Interesting that Buddy ended his absolutely amazing and incredible career without an endorsement deal with ANY drum company. And there are reasons for that too, but no time/room to go into it here. And, regardless of what Buddy said over the years about drum companies... endorsements... not caring about the "drums" themselves... etc... the fact is that he did care. He wasn't always happy with a certain drum company or their drums, but he did care. Buddy said a lot of things that made for "good press" if you will. I think it was also fitting that BR ended his career playing the Slingerland's as he was probably most associated with that company by the masses having been with Slingerland twice... 1932 to 1945... and again from late 1967 to 1976.
Tommyp
