Greetings! I ordered a pair of gull-wing spurs from Drum Center of Portsmouth, New Hampshire (DCP) a year or more ago, and they fit just fine on a 22" bass drum. Here is a quote from their website, www.drumcenternh.com

"Replacement spurs for Vintage Ludwig Bass Drums Sized 22" and Up!

The classic Ludwig spurs are available again. These are currently used on the modern Club Date and Legacy series drums. But they work with the old ones as well, as they are 9.5mm diameter. The rubber foot is included. $16.00"

However, I see on their website that these spurs are currently out of stock, but they will notify you when they get more, if you send them your email address.

Sweetwater.com has "Ahead" brand vintage gull-wing drum spurs for $15.00, specified as 10mm, whereas DCP says theirs are 9.5mm. I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

In my opinion, the earlier straight-leg spurs and the 1970s retractable curved spurs are superior to the gull-wings. I find that you have to pull the gull-wings into place tightly, and then crank down on the thumb-screw to keep them from loosening/moving. However, I am somewhat of a "purist' when it comes to these things, and if your bass drum was manufactured with the gull-wing spurs, I'd stick with these.

Regards, MB

At the time spurs were intended more to keep the bass drum from rolling than from sliding forward or lifting the front of the drum off the ground. Back then you resorted to an anchor on the front hoop or some other method (nails) to keep the bass where it was.

I've heard of folks putting Pearl Iso feet on their gullwing spurs to add some length to the originals.

An interesting point which would explain a lot. I guess designs changed when drummers started thumping harder. D' Drummer

Those spurs that you mention are available here in the UK from a couple of outlets at £49.99. They seem to be the same as the ones that you purchased from Drum Centre and appear to be official Ludwig.

https://adcdrums.co.uk/products/ludwig-bass-drum-spurs-1960s-gull-style/

I have also found some suppliers of those "Ahead" brand too for £24 which feature spikes which may provide more grip/stability whereas the official Ludwigs don't appear to have this, just the rubber tips.

https://www.gear4music.com/Drums-and-Percussion/Ahead-Vintage-Bass-Drum-Spurs/1WPM?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces_across_google&utm_content=surfaces_across_google

Both are 10.5" in length. Apart form the official Ludwigs keeping in the same style as the originals, can anyone see any reason to favour one over the other?

In my experience, the Ludwig gull-wing spurs have a pointy end once you remove the rubber tips. But I've always kept the tips on, to prevent ruining a floor or snagging a carpet.

I also have the Ahead-type spurs on my Gretsch kit, with the threaded "extendable" point - a very clever idea - and I have utilized the pointed tips when the venue permits.

Since the 1960s, I've used one of those Ringo-type Walberg & Auge(?)-type drum stops on my Ludwig kits and it seems to work well. Ludwig manufactured a similar type drum stop in the later 1960s and that seems to work well also.

Regards, MB

I've used one of these since the mid-1960s. This accessory has graced and steadied countless bass drums in the past sixty or so years.

Yeah, leedybdp, that's the same "anchor" (stop) that I mentioned in my post. I've got two of them - an original (I think) and an identical one that is faintly marked Made in Japan on the bottom!

I thought Ringo and I were the only ones who used that anchor, since I never see any other drummers with that item. So I'm guess there are 3 of us now!

Regards, MB

Thanks for all the replies and input, much appreciated.

Just out of curiosity, would the gull wing type spurs all have been the same size regardless of the size of shell or would there have been a difference between those that were produced for 20", 22" and 24" bass drums?

Just one part number in the catalog. The spurs were the same although the mounting point for the brackets surely differed with the drum diameter.

Another option would be to replace the brackets on the drum with INDe mounts as this would open up your choices to different diameter spurs such as the Dunnett ones but do so without permanently altering the drum.

I use them too. Pretty much a necessity on any vintage bass drum with a set of gull wing or disappearing spurs. I think I have about 20 of them (I have a lot of vintage drum sets). Fortunately Gibraltar makes a nice copy of the originals that isn't too expensive. The vintage ones go for crazy money once the word "Ringo" is used in the description.