i don't know, but man it sure looks similar to one that i once owned. i wish i could send a picture of my 71' kit, because i think i might have owned the same type snare. i sent a picture via e-mail to the webmaster and i'm trying to get model info on my 71' kit in my "hello" thread. do you remember what you paid for it and are you selling it?

That's a Supraphonic, also known as a 400. It's one of, if not the, most popular, recorded, and time-tested snare drums ever. The shell is an alloy of aluminum called "Ludalloy." The second word is "galvanic," as in "anti-galvanic." The chrome on Supraphonics is known to pit, because chrome on aluminum is not very stable. Anit-galvanic aluminum, I believe, was Ludwig's attempt at preventing the pitting.

Hey Doug. This snare drum came with a kit I bought at a yard sale several years ago. I cannot remember what make the set was -- but I do remember it was early seventies and orange sparkle. I bought the whole kit for $75 and sold it on ebay minus the snare for $350. Thankfully it was sold to a local player so I didn't have to pack it & ship it.

I kept the snare drum because I had had two kits but only one snare drum and one set of stands & cymbals. I sold one of the kits (Yamaha Recording Series w/birch shells) and had to include the hardware/cymbals/snare drum to make the sale. So when I happened upon the orange sparkle set, I kept the Ludwig snare drum (the one pictured). I have not played it - not once, because I had retired from gigging and was/am just playing on a Roland digital kit at home in my headphones.

But lately I've been feeling the urge for a wood kit, and for playing with living breathing humans - not just my mp3 player. So I was about to go get my old Pearl DX set out of my dad's attic when, at yet another yard sale this weekend, I lucked into a vintage Rogers kit. I remembered that I had stashed this Ludwig snare drum in my attic, and this morning went up there and dug it out to rape it for parts. But after checking out the Ludwig snare, I just couldn't do it. And then it turned out that the snare drum that came with the Rogers kit is not a Rogers snare drum, but a cheap something or other (Pearl?) -- so now I have the lovely chore of comparing two snare drums to decide which one will be my "A" snare drum. Ah. . . life is sweet sometimes, y'know? Well - I have to do a little restoration on the wood kit before I can play it, but the anticipation is sweet nonetheless.

ml -- thank you so very much. This site is just great. I've only been here for one day and I'm blown away by the knowledge you cats have. Truly.

I have the exact same year of Supra as that one! I love it!

Some things that set that drum apart from just about every other drum out there:

The shell is spun and seamless! There is no weld! The ONLY way to make a shell like that is with BIG time machinery. The fact that it has flanged bearing edges and a center-bead added for strength are two other attributes. Even the B/O ("Blue & Olive") badge has come into it's own "retro" fashion. Your drum's badge has the pointed corners. They later started to round off those sharp corners due to the fact that the sharp cornered versions would sometimes catch on something and the badge would get bent.

The chrome plating on yours looks good, too. That's a big bonus for Supras of that era because the chrome would often flake off due to the fact that the alloy shell and the chrome were slightly incompatible metals.

The other great thing about a Supra is that they sound great! They always sound great. Without a doubt, it's THE snare drum sound on most of the well-known records of our time. It's one of the "perfect" snare drums in the world!

P.S., TRhe word is anti-GALVANIC.