I just looked up this thread from a while back and i noticed Hoppy is mentioning my drum may be a Ludwig Black Chrome. I have googled this and found nothing online about this drum.
Does anyone know anything about this drum?
Also Hoppy if you read this how could you tell? The pics you posted look identical to my drum but also so do some of the Black Beautys. Thanks for taking the time to post more info on this drum.
Happy new year!
Hmmm.... this is way late to the party but I guess I didn't see Vars Molta's last post asking me to support my earlier posting... so here goes.
I stated that the drum was possible a "Black Chrome" drum rather than a Black Beauty. However, I was basing that description on what was written on my original purchase sales receipt. The drum model was correctly listed as a "417" but incorrectly described as "Black Chrome" rather than Black Beauty, so I just assumed that was what the model was called back then. However, I was just getting back into the drum thing at the time of this posting and I had limited knowledge and/or incorrect information / strained memories from 30-years ago from the original posting! After this posting I did some catalog & internet research and it became abundantly clear that Ludwig didn't produce a model called Black Chrome, and that the sales guy just made a descriptive error, which I passed on here. While it may be true that the drums have a black chrome processing they have never been called black chrome. Unfortunately I just never came back to the thread to clarify.
The funny thing about this purchase is that as a uninformed young man I really thought the only type of Black Beauty was an engraved model - period. I gave zero consideration to the shell material being brass as a key to the drum. So, with my 417 purchase I thought I merely owned a Supraphonic that had been treated to a black chrome finish rather than the standard chrome finish found on the 402.
To be honest my biggest thrill at the time was that the snare was black and I thought it would be a great match to my black cortex kit. I did have a bias against the snare thinking it wasn't an engraved Black Beauty (merely black chrome Supra) and after about a year or two I put this drum in the closet in favor of other snares I had acquired.
No. It is very uncommon for the grommets to fall out....but I suppose it can happen. Usually, a missing grommet is the result of someone removing or replacing a badge.
The grommet is the way the badge is fastened to the shell for Ludwig and some other brands....and in many examples, the grommet hole also serves as a vent for the air to escape the inside of the drum.
Older Gretsch badges were attached with a furniture tack and had no corresponding air hole.
Older Rogers drums had a metal script "badge" that was separate from the air vent.
Very interesting,hmmm
