"Square" Ludwigs

con struct

con struct

Platinum Member
I have some Ludwig drums that I'm about to have restored, made really nice. They'll look at the bearing edges, fill in the holes where the original tom mounts were, polish all the hardware, put some bad-ass spurs on the bass drum, all that kind of stuff. Modernize the babies.

After it's over I'll have a nice little one-up-two-down kit, all square sizes: 10x10, 13x13, 14x14 toms, 18x18 bass drum. And I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a 12x12 tom up there on my right over the kick, see. So I started looking around.

I looked everywhere and I couldn't find any square dimensioned Ludwig drums. At all. I found 12x8s, no problem, in fact I found one that would have matched my drums perfectly. But no square drums, none, nowhere.

I'm somewhat disappointed. Are these Ludwigs I have unusual?
 
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The 10x10 and 13x13 drums that you have are not very common Jay.
Same with the 18x18 bass drum.
You can order a 12x12 shell and make the tom that you want.
 
con struct said:
I have some Ludwig drums that I'm about to have restored, made really nice. They'll look at the bearing edges, fill in the holes where the original yom mounts were, polish all the hardware, put some bad-ass spurs on the bass drum, all that kind of stuff. Modernize the babies.

After it's over I'll have a nice little one-up-two-down kit, all square sizes: 10x10, 13x13, 14x14 toms, 18x18 bass drum. And I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a 12x12 tom up there on my right over the kick, see. So I started looking around.

I looked everywhere and I couldn't find any square dimensioned Ludwig drums. At all. I found 12x8s, no problem, in fact I found one that would have matched my drums perfectly. But no square drums, none, nowhere.

I'm somewhat disappointed. Are these Ludwigs I have unusual?
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Freaky sizes! My drums are all square sizes too: 8, 10, 12, 14 and 18 bass. I've never heard of another kit with those kinds of sizes. My snare is 13 by 4. Square drums give amazingly rich tone and full tone, the sonic equivalent of low-hanging testicles.

Who's the drummer for the Barenaked Ladies? I know he had a 10 by 10 tom.

If you can't find it off the shelf, you might need to have Keller make you one to match the plies and species and try to scrounge the hardware.
 
Deathmetalconga said:
Square drums give amazingly rich tone and full tone, the sonic equivalent of low-hanging testicles.
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Don't they? When I play the toms I get such pleasure from the sound they make...so musical and lovely to hear. Like you say, rich and full, in a way that's different from other toms.

Why would Ludwig make such drums, if they don't intend to make many of them? These drums have always been something of a mystery to me.

And what is a yom mount?
 
I'm guessing your drums are from the 80's. Same depth as diameter were quite common back then. I'm surprised that you can't find one. I've got power sizes (yamaha) 10X12 12X13 etc. Their square sized were called turbo. I can't remember if Ludwig had a name for theirs.
 
con struct said:
Are these Ludwigs I have unusual?
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Yeah, I think they are. Power sizes were typically 10x9, 12x11 and 13x12. And you can find those on eBay. Usually with modular hardware.​
Your 14x14 is really the only common size you have.​
You could always get a Keller 12x12, and hang Ludwig hardware on it. Of course, as soon as you do that, a 12x12 Luddie will turn up on eBay. Murphy's Law.​
 
I'm starting to think that they're not really Ludwigs. I think perhaps someone put Ludwig hardware and badges on them to sell them off. And I'm the sucker.

They do sound good, though, great, in fact. But it makes no sense that Ludwig would make such a limited run of drums in those sizes, doesn't it?
 
con struct said:
They do sound good, though, great, in fact. But it makes no sense that Ludwig would make such a limited run of drums in those sizes, doesn't it?
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Could have been a special order. Or ..... like you said, someone could have "made their own".​
 
Square sized power toms were popular for about 15 seconds in the 80's.

It wouldn't surprise me to find square sized Ludwigs.
 
DrumEatDrum said:
Square sized power toms were popular for about 15 seconds in the 80's.

It wouldn't surprise me to find square sized Ludwigs.
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Square sized drums and deeper have been popular for thousands of years. Players of young instruments like the trap set are still figuring out ways to incorporate square sizes and even deeper. Most kits have at least one square sized tom anyway, because they want at least one drum that's not afraid to sound like a drum.
 
One more unusual feature about these drums is that two of them, the 18X18, which was originally a floor tom, and the 14x14, are supposedly signed by Ginger Baker in 1982, and the dates are written the way a Brit would write dates.
 
Your drums are very unusual.Ludwig didn't make square drums in the 80's or 90.The tom sizes were like Harry posted with the exception of an 8x8 and a 10x10, 12x11,13x12,14x13 and 15x14.Floor toms were 14x14,16x16 and 18x16.The 18x18 was not available.The deepest bass drums at the time were in 16" depth.

If you have an 18x18 floor tom,it would also have 3 leg brackets,and it would also have been custom made.

That's why you're having a hard time finding a 12x12 tom...they don't exist,unless they were custom made.Do the drums have the Ludwig keystone badges?

I would remeasure again.

Steve B
 
tamadrm said:
Your drums are very unusual.Ludwig didn't make square drums in the 80's or 90.The tom sizes were like Harry posted with the exception of an 8x8 and a 10x10, 12x11,13x12,14x13 and 15x14.Floor toms were 14x14,16x16 and 18x16.The 18x18 was not available.The deepest bass drums at the time were in 16" depth.

If you have an 18x18 floor tom,it would also have 3 leg brackets,and it would also have been custom made.

That's why you're having a hard time finding a 12x12 tom...they don't exist,unless they were custom made.Do the drums have the Ludwig keystone badges?

I would remeasure again.

Steve B
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They have these badges:

badge_zps19cb7c17.jpg


The 18x18 has the 3 brackets all right. One is now a cymbal arm holder and the other two hold the bass drum legs.

I've remeasured and they're square. I can't find any information about these drums, nothing. It's as if they do not exist. And the autographs are authentic, anyway why would someone fake GInger Baker's autograph? Nothing about these drums makes any sense.

Time to put these away, I think, and go drum kit shopping.
 
I would guess, Mr. Baker wanted square drums ..... and Mr. Baker got square drums.​
The Monroe badge, hmmmm. In the late 70's, Ludwig started up the Monroe plant, and made the Rocker series (which replaced the Standard series). They made the Rocker, and Rocker II. But the high-end Classic was still made in Chicago. The big move didn't happen until 1985.​
Any way you can post some photo's of this kit?​
No doubt, Mr. Baker probably had a very good drum tech. in his services. And so, these drums could had been customized.​
 
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harryconway said:
I would guess, Mr. Baker wanted square drums ..... and Mr. Baker got square drums.​
The Monroe badge, hmmmm. In the late 70's, Ludwig started up the Monroe plant, and made the Rocker series (which replaced the Standard series). They made the Rocker, and Rocker II. But the high-end Classic was still made in Chicago. The big move didn't happen until 1985.​
Any way you can post some photo's of this kit?​
No doubt, Mr. Baker probably had a very good drum tech. in his services. And so, these drums could had been customized.​
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Harry, I was told that these drums were made in 1989. Here are some lovely photos.

The 10:

8dd95931-8aaf-437a-aa57-d64a1ba81be8_zpsc5225e12.jpg


The 13:

09e3c4ac-a30f-46ce-902e-08576b58c450_zps44f0759f.jpg


The 18:

kick_zps23484716.jpg


The 14 I don't use right now.
 
con struct said:
Harry, I was told that these drums were made in 1989. Here are some lovely photos.
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con struct said:
.... supposedly signed by Ginger Baker in 1982, and the dates are written the way a Brit would write dates.
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Perhaps one of these dates is "off". Those are some nice tubs. I had a 26x14 bass, from that era. Still have a 12x8, 14x14 and 18x16, in those shells. Some day, I'm gonna cut down the 18 floor .... and make a jazzette. The 26, 13, 16, 18 kit I sold to Bo, basically the same beast. Great sounding drums. Thanx for the photo's.​
 
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