SWEET! What a nice drumset, I am very jealous! Hey, Tommy, what kind of music do you play with the Buddy Rich set? Rock? Jazz? I imagine that set sounds great on all styles of music.

Hey Super B!

THANKS for the nice words on this beautiful set of '48 WFL's! I want to add,

My playing/gigging/collection is completely focused on the drums of Buddy Rich... and I have kits covering three different companies that he endorsed. I have to admit that my Rogers BR kits are my favs, much moreso than my Slingerland's, but THESE... well, these WFL's sound fabulous, and Buddy was with WFL/Ludwig from 1946 to 1959, so when this kit was offered to me, I had to grab 'em... ( even though I didn't NEED them! ) ... and I'm glad I did. I put in some time/work getting them to what you see here, but they were in VERY NICE condition to start. Anyway,

Regarding gigs: I play pretty much full time, around 80 nights a year, but none of it is Rock and Roll or Blues. I play primarily Jazz with a quartet and a trio, plus I work with a Frank Sinatra "clone" doing a Frank Sinatra tribute, plus I work with a 6/7 piece band that covers everything from Big Band to R&B, Funk. I'm always in a Tux, and the payday is very good. I have played these WFL's with a Jazz Quartet, the Frank Sinatra gig, and the 6 piece band. These drums covered ALL those gigs beautifully. I really enjoyed the Jazz Quartet as it was 75% brushes, and these drums sounded great with brushes. It took a little time getting used to the WFL/Ludwig "three ply thud" as I like to call it... especially after my playing nothing but Rogers for the past three years! These drums do have tons of "tone" though.

Hope I didn't bore you with the length of this reply, but there was no quick answer to your question. Thanks for asking!

Tommyp

How could drum talk ever bore me? No way! I can't think of a better kit to play the music you described. What is the size of that bassdrum, Buddy liked the bigger ones, right? In the current Modern Drummer, a writer talks about his Buddy kit that he got from Johnny Carson. Do you own any later Ludwig kits like Buddy Rich? If so, are they any good? I have a few Buddy dvds and he can't be touched, I think he even got better in the 80's! More Buddy talk, more Buddy talk!

Super B

You should ask Tommy to email you the story about how he met Buddy Rich. It's a great story, very funny and entertaining.

Tommy P.

Again I must say this:

BEAUTIFUL DRUMS! :) when did you get them? Awhile ago or recently?

Harrison

Super B/Harrison!

I will answer your queries in order...

Super B: This WFL kit is in the "standard" BR sizes, which would be:

14X24

9X13

16X16

16X16

51/2X14

And, you are correct... BR liked the bigger bass drums. He played, almost ALWAYS, a 14X24... and ... in this case, being that these WFL's are the "Buddy Rich Classic" kit, the bass drum was cataloged/offered with the 14X24. Later, when BR went over to Rogers and then Slingerland, both those companies cataloged/offered 14X22's, ( although BR still played a 14X24 ) but one could request the 14X24, and a lot of guys did. Regarding the 2nd BR endorsement period with Ludwig, from 1977 to 1980, and then from 1981 to 1982 ( still playing Ludwig but with NO ENDORSEMENT deal ) :

I have always wondered: Just WHERE are all those kits???!!! You have to figure that Ludwig produced/built quite a few of them, and most ALL in WMP... so WHERE are they? I never see them come up on eBay, or anywhere else for that matter. Thing is, if one came up and was in excellent/very good condition, I would probably buy it! I have MANY performances with BR playing those, and they all sound pretty darn good. Still, his Rogers era/kits are my favs... followed by these '48 WFL's. I am a big BR fan... ( and there are many! ) ... and have been working on a SPECIAL Buddy Rich FEATURE that will be hosted on this very site by our most gracious host/webmaster. I have been following BR since 1967 and have amassed quite a collection/knowledge over the years, as well as been able to see him LIVE 5 times, and meet him once. Anyway, look for it in the near future. I think you will enjoy it!

Harrison: I picked these drums up back in March of this year. Then I spent the typical amount of time cleaning/detailing, etc... including repair/installation of mounts/hardware, etc. The interior plies/shells were quite stable with regard to glue/rings/seams, but had to be dressed/cleaned, etc. Both bass drum hoops had to be completely restored as they were trashed... but here they are, and they are the originals including the WMP inlay. I sent them out to my good friend Jack Lawton, who is without a doubt, one of the best around, if not THE best! Jack also hand painted my front bass drum head with the norm of the period logo/shield. There was no vinyl back then... everything was painted!

Thanks again for all the nice words on these! I appreciate the interest and the comments!

Tommyp

Hey!

I want to thank the www.vintagesnaredrums/forum member ( and you know who you are! ) for the very nice offer on this '48 WFL BR Classic kit. At the present though, they aren't available for sale... but I would contact you first if/when they are. :-) THANKS to everyone for all the PM's! It's great to see that there is so much interest in the "Vintage Drum" scene, this excellent site, and BR too!

Tommyp

nice kit! the dual 16X16 floor toms is so funny to me. but i was really surprised by the HUGE snare drum (51.5 x 14) :rolleyes:

this kit works for rock just as well- bonham played the same or very similar set up early on.

drummist!

A couple items you might find interesting:

Back in '48, ( and BR started with WFL/Ludwig in 1946! ) the "normal" depth for a snare drum was at LEAST 61/2X14... most guys played 7" depths or deeper. Buddy wasn't a big fan of the deep snares, although he did play them during his first endorsement with Slingerland starting in 1932. He much preferred the shallower depths, such as the WFL 51/2X14. But!, here's the interesting part: This "Buddy Rich Classic" kit was cataloged in 1948 WITH a 61/2X14 snare drum. I do have that snare drum too as it came with this kit. It is is NEAR MINT condition and looks like it was never played, let alone gigged on. A beautiful drum. I also admit to liking the shallower depth snare drums as well! Also,

You are of course correct with regard to the GREAT John Bonham playing this set-up as well. A lot of guys did... interestingly enough, it was the early drum stars ( Krupa, Rich, Deems, etc. ) that made this set-up so popular. Bonham is one of many that picked up on it and used/played it very well. I think John Bonham was quite influenced by BR early on... many were. But!, it was reversed later on as Buddy did in fact open for Led Zeppelin one time in NY I believe... anyway, after that particular concert, you could hear/see some of Bonham's influence in Buddy's solos!

Regarding the DUAL 16X16 floor toms: That was THE size back in the day. Companies weren't manufacturing or even offering 14's yet. In some cases drummers used 16" and 18" floor toms! Krupa comes to mind here.

These 3 ply w/rings WFL/Ludwig shells were the ultimate for Rock and Roll... a lower fundamental from the thin shells coupled with the " 3 ply thud" from the mahogany/poplar lay-up were the contributing factors. Ludwig went on to be THE drums to have for R&R! In 1960 Buddy went over to Rogers... the PERFECT MARRIAGE of drums/drummer IMHO. God, those Rogers sounded fabulous with BR driving 'em!

Tommyp