Wires for vintage COB Ludwig

[AtlantaDrumGuy]

I have a COB Ludwig snare. I tried putting 16 Puresounds, but it seems these might be a little wide on this drum. What do guys use?

[GAR]

Vintage Ludwig wires, 20 strand w/ the plastic/amber ends with the patent # stamped in blue on one of the ends.

I've had all kinds of wires on mine from 40 strands and down, settled on these.

[J!m]

I would think the 16 strand Puresounds would fit fine...

I have the earlier metal end script logo snares on my Acrolite and that works just fine... (Not sure how many snares are in there and I know it is not correct for the 70's era drum, but I had 'em laying around)

[Purdie Shuffle]

Gar is correct... to get the sound out of the drum it was meant to make, you need original wires. Those late 50's, early 60's wires were a thinner gauge than modern ones and I think, more sensitive as a result. 60's wires like the one described by Gar come up on ebay all the time. If you're lucky, you'll catch a sale for some NOS wires! But 'original' really is the way to go.

Just my

John

[sonofjaguare]

Ludwig 12 strands

[mendozart]

Originally Posted by Purdie Shuffle

Gar is correct... to get the sound out of the drum it was meant to make, you need original wires. Those late 50's, early 60's wires were a thinner gauge than modern ones and I think, more sensitive as a result. 60's wires like the one described by Gar come up on ebay all the time. If you're lucky, you'll catch a sale for some NOS wires! But 'original' really is the way to go.

Just my

John

Hey John,

Didn't you say you use Puresound "Blasters" on your COB?

[zenstat]

Originally Posted by AtlantaDrumGuy

I have a COB Ludwig snare. I tried putting 16 Puresounds, but it seems these might be a little wide on this drum. What do guys use?

You make it sound like you have diagnosed some problem and decided it is caused by the width of the snares. If you tell us more about the problem itself, that might help focus the discussion. What is it about the Puresound 16s that isn't pleasing you?

Originally Posted by sonofjaguare

Ludwig 12 strands

I had trouble on my 1963 Jazz Festival (excessive sympathetic buzz) and eventually found a NOS set of 12 Strand Ludwig snares (still in the box). They aren't as sensitive as wider snare sets but they solve the sympathetic buzz problems I was having.

Yes I know the COB shell will be different from the Jazzfest, but I'm giving this as an example of a success with Ludwig 12 strand snares as well as a tradeoff which took place in getting to the solution.

[Purdie Shuffle]

Originally Posted by mendozart

Hey John,

Didn't you say you use Puresound "Blasters" on your COB?

Yarp! That's true. When I got the drum, the original wires were shot so I bought the Puresounds. They have since been replaced with Ludwig (plastic ends) 60's wires, so I'm good to go. The Puresounds were good... but the original Ludwig wires are better.

John

[AtlantaDrumGuy]

It just seems to have a slightly long decay on the snare buzz. I have a couple of snare wires of different sizes around, and I think I'll do some experimenting.

[sonofjaguare]

Originally Posted by zenstat

You make it sound like you have diagnosed some problem and decided it is caused by the width of the snares. If you tell us more about the problem itself, that might help focus the discussion. What is it about the Puresound 16s that isn't pleasing you?



I had trouble on my 1963 Jazz Festival (excessive sympathetic buzz) and eventually found a NOS set of 12 Strand Ludwig snares (still in the box). They aren't as sensitive as wider snare sets but they solve the sympathetic buzz problems I was having.

Yes I know the COB shell will be different from the Jazzfest, but I'm giving this as an example of a success with Ludwig 12 strand snares as well as a tradeoff which took place in getting to the solution.

I found the same thing with my Ludwig 30's NOB and 50's transitional wood snare.Seems the beds aren't that wide so I put those on and it took away that annoying buzz.It made the 30's NOB sound like a million bucks.My favorite snare of all time now.