Ludwig 400 HELP !

Nealio1987

Senior Member
Hi All

I have just bought a Hand Hammered ludwig 400 , 14 by 5.5 , it is in faboulous condition like a new drum .... But It has no serial number on it ?? Through my own research it seems like it shoukld be Pre 1962 ? but the condition seems to good for that especially when i only paid £320 for it ? any help as to what era it is or has there been a new one released without serial number etc ? nobody has been able to shed any light on it including the drumshop and a snare collecting.

Kindest Regards

NEAL
 
Hi Neal and welcome to the forum.Ludwig started producing hammered metal snare drums around 1982,so your drum is definately not from the 60's.If the drum you have has an aluminum(ludalloy) shell it would be the model LM 400 K.,if its bronze ,its a LM 550 K.The K stands for hammered,and to be clear,the hammering is not done by hand,rather by machine.

If your drum were a preserial number(60-63)drum it could be aluminum or brass but it would have a small brass keystone badge without a serial number.It would also have a P-83 strainer and a P-32 butt.Your drum will have a P-85 or P-86 strainer.Ludwig stopped putting serial numbers on their drums around the end of 79,but you can still see some drums produced after 1980 with serial numbers.Look on the inside of the shell for a date stamp.

Hope this helps and post some photos if you need further help.

Steve B
 
Pics would help.....especially of the badge.

As stated, a drum made prior to the early 80's would not have been hammered.

Tama, all my post 80's drums have serial numbers (they're all Monroe Keystones with s/n's). My understanding was that they still put them on there, but they are no longer guide to date the drum with.
 
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I should have been a little clearer on that...sorry.What I should have said is after 79,serial numbers were random,and can't be used to accurately date you drums.There are some badges without serial number also,including B/O pointy,B/O rounded,B/O cut badges,some B/W badges,and Keystone transitional badges,before and after the move to Monroe.All of the Monroe badges I have seen do have serial numbers.There are also some badges,usually B/O with hand written serial numbers,which I have seen on a couple of Stainless Steel kits....but hey,its Ludwig.Thats why you need several points of reference to authenticate your drum,and when it was built.Cheers mate.

Steve B
 
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