Hi all,

This is the last drum to leave the estate of the late WFL II's (The "Chief" as we knew him) snare drum collection. Special thanks goes to David of The Vintage Drum Forum for brokering the deal and to B III (WFL III) for offering me the opportunity to add this historic drum to my collection. B III also included some nice photos and a letter of provenance.

1911-12 Ludwig & Ludwig 4 x 15 nob Standard Model

The shell:

I kept with the "soft" restoration/preservation concept again as it just feels better to keep it this way with these early L & L snare drums. The shell has some wear but overall the cleaning was easy. There were no major dents but a few dings here and there that were easy to pound out.

The hardware:

The tube lugs were in good shape but the tension rods, strainer, butt plate and rims had significant rust so I got the rust off and shot those parts with some clear lacquer so everything will at least stay clean looking.

The badge:

This drum has the "dog tag" version of the Ludwig & Ludwig badge. The badge is right below the flip-down strainer.

I found some nice Amrawco calf heads and gut snares to round out this restoration.

I was also able to purchase 17 pair of vintage drum sticks from the WFL II collection/estate. These sticks were WFL II's personal sticks. I thought it would add a nice touch to include them with this historic snare drum.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto