Anyone Else Get the New Ludwig Jazz Fest Snare?

toonamike

Member
I just received one of Ludwig's new Jazz Fest snares in vintage black oyster. I'm looking for others who have the same drum. Mine was oddly packaged.

I ordered it from Sweetwater, so it's from a reputable source. However, it did not arrive in a Ludwig box. Rather, it was in a plain cardboard box. It was in a tied bag, like other Ludwig snares I have received. The drum was surrounded by bubble wrap. There was no cardboard tray to keep the drum from shifting in the box during shipping.

Cosmetically, the drum looks fine. BUT... the baseball bat muffler feels loose and the snare side head is tremendously wrinkled on one half. I know that the heads aren't torqued at the factory, but I have never seen a head that is, well, "flappy." My guess is that the box was dropped by FedEx, causing the muffler to loosen and the head to pull from its collar.

I have shared my concerns with Sweetwater; I won't get a response from them until Monday.

If you have received one of the new Jazz Fest snares, let me know how it was packaged. Thanks!
 
Was it a demo or return? Have you checked the head for separation? Either way SW is solid and will fix any issue.
 
Was it a demo or return? Have you checked the head for separation? Either way SW is solid and will fix any issue.
I didn't pull the head yet to see if it is ruined. I've reached out to my SW sales engineer; I'm sure he will get back to me Monday.

I was able to find a Facebook post with someone unboxing a new Jazz Fest. His had all of the standard packaging, including the Ludwig box and cardboard shipping tray.

I didn't get a demo price break, so I will be requesting a replacement in the correct packaging.

Frankly, the drum is too expensive to accept anything less than new condition.
 
I wanted to know what you ended up doing. I'm sure that Sweetwater worked it out for you. They really have the best customer service in the business. I ordered a new Ludwig Jazz Fest from Interstate. Sweetwater didn't have any of the Blue Oyster in stock. It was shipped in the Ludwig box with all of the factory shipped packing. I have to say, I absolutely love this snare! It's such a thrill to play. I don't think the sound is for everyone but for me it's awesome. You can really hear some of the Ringo Beatles sound. It has everything I love in a snare. Warmth, a lot of snare sound and nice tone. It's very versatile. I generally like my snares tuned low to medium. This snare sounds heavenly tuned low. I've also noticed this snare sounds very nice tuned high, which I normally don't like on most snare drums. But this has a crisp sound tuned high but not choked. I love the baseball bat muffler. I'm thrilled with this drum, and I hope things worked out for you.
 
It's the same as the Legacy Mahogany series. Ludwig doesn't provide complete wood specs on its site.
That almost definitely means it's not African Mahogany. If it was, they probably would've said so because that's a good bullet point to have.

I doubt it's a cheap mahogany variant like Luan, though. It's probably still a quality mahogany, just not African.
 
Personally I find all Ludwig’s professional level snare drums to be obscenely overpriced . The price for Ludaloy Supras, Black Beauties especially so . The new Ludwig pro metal shell snares are poorly made in comparison to the pre-2000 models even .

The jazz fest reissue is another one I would consider way overpriced . I think the reissue Jazzfest is a $400 to $500 snare tops .
 
Personally I find all Ludwig’s professional level snare drums to be obscenely overpriced . The price for Ludaloy Supras, Black Beauties especially so . The new Ludwig pro metal shell snares are poorly made in comparison to the pre-2000 models even .

The jazz fest reissue is another one I would consider way overpriced . I think the reissue Jazzfest is a $400 to $500 snare tops .
You couldn't be more right if your life depended on it, RickP. When I saw the price of that thing, I thought " for not much more I can buy a more custom, steam bent snare." The joke of it is, the Jazz Fest wasn't even that desirable in its time, was it? Not like the Black Beauty, or others in Ludwig's lineup over the decades. Don't get me wrong, I love Ludwig drums, but it seems they have spent a lot of effort over the last twenty years reaching out to collectors instead of being more forward looking, at times, IMHO.
 
I dunno, you might want to ask Ringo about that. ;)

JD
The Jazzfest was not a popular model . The vast majority of OBP and other finished kits were sold with a Ludaloy Supraphonic .
The Jazzfest has become desirable only in the last twenty or so years as Collectors wanted to obtain exactly what Ringo owned .

Ringo’s snare had some unique features as well . The badge placement and depth were not your atypical Jazzfest at the time . Still Ringo loved it and continued to use it live and in the studio .
 
JD
The Jazzfest was not a popular model . The vast majority of OBP and other finished kits were sold with a Ludaloy Supraphonic .
The Jazzfest has become desirable only in the last twenty or so years as Collectors wanted to obtain exactly what Ringo owned .

Ringo’s snare had some unique features as well . The badge placement and depth were not your atypical Jazzfest at the time . Still Ringo loved it and continued to use it live and in the studio .

The Jazzfest was not a popular model . The vast majority of OBP and other finished kits were sold with a Ludaloy Supraphonic .
The Jazzfest has become desirable only in the last twenty or so years as Collectors wanted to obtain exactly what Ringo owned .


Precisely my point above.
 
I have no comment on the price, which IS too high, granted. But I disagree that the jazz fest was not a popular model. Check out one of Jo Jones videos on Drummerworld. Vernell Fournier, early Roy Haynes, sometimes even Buddy Rich. It's among the most smooth sounding snare drums ever built. Yeah, it's a jazz drum. And few sound better.
 
I saw one yesterday at Tommy's drum shop here in Austin. The factory cut snare beds were insanely deep for any Ludwig I can think of since the 60's. Almost as deep as my Pearl Philharmonic snares, which are cut way deep because they have wrap-around snares.

Not sure why these are so deep. Didn't get to play it though, so no idea what it sounds like. I'm sure they're great sounding though.
 
The idea was to replicate the early style snare bed which changed to the very wide and shallow bed in '63. If you look at any snare from the very early 60's and before, you will see a very deep and narrow snare bed.

I have a '58 Leedy snare. It has the same kind of narrow and deep snare bed and is is a wonderful drum. These old style snare beds were the norm before plastic heads so a calf head could conform easily to this shape. Plastic heads really need to be hit with a heat gun or hair drier to shrink the head enough to conform and get rid of the wrinkles.

Ringo's Jazzfest was from '62 and had the old style snare bed so I'm sure that factored into the decision to bring it back for this reissue.
My old Gretsch drum has deep snare beds too. It tunes up a bit differently but sounds great nonetheless. A pitched 42-strand wire works better than a non-pitched 42-strand wire on it, though.
Edit: the 42-strand are there just for its Gretschiness. For Ludwig I'd use 20 strands.
 
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