I hope this posting is acceptable here? I saw the post here (in the Website Update section) about Theobald Ludwig, and I’m a big fan of the American musical instrument manufacturing legacy. Please let me share that I’ve been using my Ludwig banjo, made back in about 1929 for performances for quite some time. If you have seen one then you know that many were made more like a drum than a banjo. I like that my vintage drum kit includes a Ludwig & Ludwig Pioneer 26” bass drum and my banjo is a Ludwig too. I have heard that when Ludwig started making banjos during the banjo craze of the 20s that the extra investment to make the banjos put the company in tougher straights when the stock market crashed and the Depression hit. Shortly after, the brothers sold the company. Now to jokingly make a point how banjos “suck” because they helped cause the sale of Ludwig, let me tell you what the great Jazz drummer Barrett Deems told me when I asked him “how he liked banjo players”(He had played most of his carreer with bands that used banjo players). Barrett quickly replied in his gravely voice “They F*** up the rhythm” and we both laughed heartily.

I’m new to this forum so I’m taking a chance that this post is acceptable. No offense is meant to anyone and I will always try to keep my posts about drums.

Thank you for your indulgence!