Looks like a garage creation to my eye. White interior & that throw-off are all worng.

Near the end of the vistalite days (1980?) Ludwig made an 8 lug white vista lite snare drum. I sold one to Peter Erskine last year.

Stand corrected. Just got to note that there's a repaired hole above the throw-off. Am I just seeing things?

The throw does look odd.

But, they did indeed make solid white (and black) Vistas. I wouldn't pay $350 or even close to that for this drum though.

Here's a Wiki blurb:

hen marketing of Vistalites started in late 1972, the drums were available in clear, blue, green, red, amber, and yellow, with clear and blue being the largest sellers. In 1976 the company broadened the line to include "Rainbow" Vistalites with multicolored shells, with "Tequila Sunrise" (a combination of red, orange and yellow stripes) being one of the most popular combinations. Multi-colored acrylic shells were co-invented by Elvis Presley's drummer Ronn Tutt. Tutt, however, tried his invention and was unimpressed, enough that he immediately went back to playing maple drums. Other Vistalite variations included bass drums without tom mounts (often referred to as "virgin" bass drums) and concert toms (toms without lug holes or a rim on the bottom of the shell). Since Ludwig technically offered any drum it manufactured (other than tympani) in Vistalite, rare examples such as congas and bongos have become valuable collectibles.[3][verification needed]

The green and red colors were eventually dropped due to slow sales. Translucent Smoke (a dark grey color), solid black, and solid white were added late during the Vistalite production run. A 1977 mis-order left Ludwig with a large surplus supply of the white shells, a problem the company resolved by covering many in chrome wrap, selling them as "faux stainless steel" drums. Singer/drummer Karen Carpenter was fond of vistalites and can be seen playing them on her '70s TV shows. Keith Moon of the Who, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly, Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Jay Osmond of The Osmonds, Billy Cobham, Danny Roberts of River City, and Scott Schafer of Znowhite played acrylic sets in the '70s.[3][verification needed]

I remember the solid white Vistalites and I own a solid black Vistalite snare. I guess the idea was to have the vistalite sound without the see thru aspect and solid white and black were becoming popular colors for drums around that time.

The black drums don't seem to be that uncommon but you don't see a lot of the white ones and I think they were a slow seller. As mentioned above Ludwig got rid of their excess white Vista shells by wrapping them in Chrome. On the back of the 75 catalog on the bottom of the color swatch page they mention "Chrome finish on wood drum shells also available" but on the 75-1 version it says "Chrome finish on drum shells also available" and it would seem the deletion of that one word ("wood") did have some significance since you might get wood or you might get plastic under that chrome.

I have an Amber Vistalite Supraphonic (that's the model it was considered to be) and liked the sound of it which is why I sought out the black version as a snare to sometimes use with a black lacquer set I own. It shares the same sound as the amber model but the opaque black shell doesn't give any clue as to being anything other than a regular wrapped wood shell.

The solid white vista seems to crop up more often as one of the colors used in the various patterned vista shells than on full solid white shells, which would look just like a wood shell wrapped in white cortex.

Looks legit to me. Probably came with a P85 strainer, thus the extra hole. I have actually seen one of these in a 6 lug version as well.

Mike

Saw this drum on craigslist Mansfield, Oh or somewher north of Columbus, over a year ago. I think the person wanted $80-$100. I saw the throw and knew it was not original to the drum, and decided to pass on it. Was surpised to see it again, in Columbus, for that much...

The way the catalog price lists of the time Ludwig considered Vistalite to be just like any other drum finish and any drum (at least up to 30" diameter) in the catalog could be ordered with a Vista shell so there is the potential for a lot of variation out there besides just the models shown in the catalogs. There could be Vista Pioneers, School Festivals, and Auditorium snares. The typical 10 Bow-tie lugged vista snare with a P-85 was considered to be a "Supra-Phonic" despite being quite different from the metal drum and you could get a vista Super-Sensitive if you wanted.