What is the question? Value? What was the original price you paid in the 70's?

By the way, I just had the same "problem" with stripping out a couple of those same lug casings. Here's a fix I discovered:

The original cup washers are such that some are more dimpled in the center than others. The ones which are flatter on the top, prevent the screw from entering the lug casing all the way. I found that all I needed to do was to take a center punch and dimple the cup washer a bit to allow the screw to enter the portion of the lug casing where there were still good thread. It worked perfectly and I added a couple of drops of blue thread locking liquid to compensate for some of the thread that had been lost.

Also, maybe as a last resort, you can still get Imperial lugs to replace that one. I'm 99% sure that Ludwig still sells them.

O-Lugs,

Yeah, I am looking for a good value range in which to start advertising. So thanks for bringing that up, as I forgot to include that in my first post. I did include that when I e-mailed our Webmaster about uploading the pictures for me.

Back in 1980, I (actually my mother and my grandparents) paid $310 for the drum brand new, and I believe that was a sale price. I seem to recall the shop owner mentioning $500, but that was 26 years ago. He also had a nice chrome Premier snare for the same price, but when he told me that Ludwig had stopped making the Black Beauty at the time, we thought that it would be a good drum (after all, I had a Ludwig Classic maple finish kit that I had had for only about a year at the time) and a potentially good investment.

I don't have the original screws and washers anymore, because back then I was thinking that I would keep the drum forever. But now I am thinking that if someone makes the right offer or gives me my asking price (whatever that may end up being), I will sell it.

I would hate to order a new lug just for a couple of screws, unless it would seriously increase the value. The lug casing and the inner parts are perfectly fine. And the screws and washers that I used as replacements are from an old Slingerland snare. I would bet that most people would really have to be looking to find the replacement screws. In fact, there are original screws hoding the strainer ends in place that are almost identical to the Slingerland screws. And maybe the person who buys my drum will be more of a collector type who would be inclined to buy new lug casings (I have these two screws on two separate casings) in order to have all Ludwig parts. I myself am not much of a collector and restorer.

Hey, thanks for the advice and thanks for again for bringing up the value issue!

Steven

Steven,

The drum looks nice. However, that Super Sensitive snare mechanism is not as "attractive" to potential buyers. I think there was an option for the Black Beauty "Super Sensitive" and the Black Beauty "Supra" (with P-85 throwoff). The "Supra" version is the more desirable of the two versions.

The B/O badge can attract certain collectors, but, even at 26 years old, it is on the borderline of what is considered really vintage. There ARE collectors of B/O badge drums exclusively, though...mostly for the sharp-cornered badges of the early/mid 70's.

I would say the value is somewhere in the range of around $200. You might get lucky and find a couple of people who will get into a bidding war over it, but the odds are against it because of the Super Sensitive snare mechanism and also because it's just not that old.

I disagree...the blue / olive badge black beauties had brass or bronze shells. These were essentially the only brass models that Ludwig made at the time. (There are some brass shelled drums from the '70s, but they're rare.) The super strainer does bring the price down, but if the drum is in good shape, with no extra holes, I'd guess you'd get 500-700 for it...

I just took the batter head off today to make sure that there was no dust inside the shell. There is a sticker attached to the intereior of the shell that says, in capital letters, SEAMLESS BRASS SHELL.

And, as I stated earlier, I spoke with a Conn-Selmer rep on the phone laste week about this drum and a kit that I am selling. I gave him the badge number stated above and he told me that it falls into a range that puts the manufacturing date sometime in 1978, but he could not pinpoint a month and day. After that, Selmer bought Ludwig and stopped making the Black Beauty for a while. I think he said that it was because it was an expensive drum to produce.

There are no extra holes in the shell. But I forgot to mention that I did find a little wear on the finish from where the collars of the heads come in contact with the shell. I feel safe in assuming that it is from replacing heads and the movement of the collars while tuning them. When the heads are in place, this wear is not even the slightest bit visible. You wouldn't even know it was there until the heads are removed. I am just trying to be as honest as possible because I wouldn't want the buyer of this drum to be able to claim that I have witheld any information.

I'll just have to see what the professional appraisal that I have decided to have done tells me.

Here is a picture that I just took of the SEAMLESS BRASS SHELL sticker inside the shell of my Black Beauty. It was a pain to get this shot, and I wish it was clearer, but I did what I could with what I have.

http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=201&stc=1&d=1138905763

Well,. I stand corrected. I thought they were all the same shells by then. My apologies for the low estimate. Still, I highly doubt you would get 500-700 for it....but I have already proven myself wrong once with this drum, so....;). Good luck and keep us updated on how she sells.