I thought this interesting- apparently, one of the lawsuits between the Chicago companies was over mylar heads and patent infringement. The lawsuit was filed by Ludwig against the Solar Musical Instrument Company, which was started by Bud Slingerland and was the factory that made drum heads and the red-badged Slingerland drums in Shelbyville, TN for a few years in the mid-60s, I believe. I read that around 5,000 drum shells were made there.
The subject legal briefs:
Slingerland "borrowed" Ludwig's way of locking the mylar into the counterhoops. Ludwig took them to court over it but lost in the end.
That would be Rob Cook selling the documents on Ebay. Very neat stuff!
LOL! I know that Slingerland and Ludwig were probably the most brutal competitors with each other. I think it might have even been on a personal level. I can't verify that, but there are other examples of Slingerland and Ludwig coming really close to each other.
I wrote an article about the Ludwig Jazzette kit for Not So Modern Drummer years ago and as I was researching my material, I stumbled onto a strange relationship between the Ludwig Jazzette and the Slingerland Jet.....and Roy Haynes' endorsement(s) pertaining to each. I won't hijack this thread with the details...It's just a theory but I think it clearly shows just how much of an "I DARE YOU!" attitude there was between the two companies.
Bill Ludwig definitely took the competition with Slingerland personally, from racing to the stockyards to beat them to the best hides for heads to this court case. As I recall both sides tied a lot of resources into the case which charged Slingerland with violating Ludwig's patent on the way the heads were crimped together. I believe in the end the judge ruled that the patent used prior art and therefore was not valid. It's been a while since I've read B2's autobiography but this story is detailed there along with other Ludwig vs. Slingerland tales.
Bill Ludwig and Bud Slingerland despised each other, but they came together in '55 when Bud bought Leedy and Bill got his name back from Conn. There were also times when they helped each other out. Bud would buy wrap from Bill when Slingerland was running low. I once saw a Slingerland bass drum and rack tom in Oyster Black, and it was not a recover. That's got to be a rare bird.
There are stories of Bud and Bill almost coming to blows at NAMM, usually after each one had a had a few drinks. There was no love lost between them.
