I believe it was a 5" by 14" Ludwig Super Sensitive Snare Drum. 1978 or so....

Paul and Snaremania!...

When Buddy entered his 3rd Ludwig endorsement in 1978.. ( as he started with Ludwig for the 1st time in 1919! ) .. he did initally play the Supra 400, not the SuperSensitive... at first anyway. The snare drums Buddy played while with Ludwig were not modified in any way that I have ever been able to discern over all the years of my research. I saw Buddy in 1978.. ( for the 5th time! ) .. and had a good view of his set as this particular venue allowed it.. ( those were the days!! ) .. he was playing a stock B/O badged Supraphonic 400 during this performance. However... shortly thereafter Buddy switched to the Ludwig SuperSensitive and pretty much stayed with that model in it's various makeups, ie: Chrome... Hammered Brass, Bronze... etc., never really returning to the Supraphonic 400. I would fully imagine that the wires were OEM Ludwig... nothing special. Regarding tuning/tension:

Who can actually say on that, simply because we can't ask him. If caught in a good mood, he might even answer that question! LOL! Otherwise, what I have done over the years is pick a particular chart/arrangement that the band played LIVE and focus on the "sound" of Buddy's snare drum to get a bead on his tuning/tension. During this era he was still playing the snare drum "crisp" with a slightly higher tension than at the end of his career when he was on the restored Slingerland Radio Kings. Course the RK snare was wood and deeper than the metal Ludwig snares, and thus didn't function in the same area... but you get the idea!

Tommyp

thanks Snaremania and TommyP. Info consistent with my own suspicions, though I didn't know he used the supersensitive. I have a 400 and after experimenting with different snare wires (eg bronze), hoops (S Hoops) and heads, I find the original parts suite the shell best and the only change I'll now make is to swap the Ludwig Heads for Remo's. I find the Ludwig Weather Masters too thin. Interestingly I compared the weight of comparable heads (Remo amb), and the Ludwig's are heavier (by 50gm), but I suspect that may be in the hoops as the film is certainly lighter on the Weather Masters. BR certainly got a nice sound of those snares (to my ear anyway), but the sound is also in the playingClapping Happy2.