Found a 1970s Supra!

Oh nice. Well done. 😁👍


misha collins spn GIF
 
DrummerJack26 said:
I found a 1970s era supraphonic LM400 (blue and olive badge, serial number would indicate early 70s I think)! Working on restoring it now with some new hardware and heads, wish me luck! Might keep, might sell, not sure.
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How much, if you don't mind me asking ???
 
I’m not sure yet, I haven’t finished putting together all the touches.

I’m gonna replace heads with Remo Powerstroke batter and Ambassador Hazy Reso, get some fresh puresound snare wires, and a new p88 throw off since the old one had a ton of the chrome come off.

I haven’t decided on a price for it yet, but make me an offer? Just for fun, right now.
 
Congrats! The shallow (and deep) Supraphonics are legendary. They're worth putting money into. I did the new heads/wires/P88 thing, too.

Edit: the date will likely be stamped inside your drum.
 
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Keep it for sure. They are becoming more and more rare and prices keep climbing. I have a '76 that I found on shopgoodwill.com for $200 a few years back. This was before everybody and his wife found out about the website. It was dirty with fingerprints but mint underneath the grime. Oh, it sounds wonderful.
 
Is it just pure luck that some Supras do not have any pitting? Or is it the case that as long as they are kept in a stable temperature environment the pitting will not appear or rare?
 
striker said:
Is it just pure luck that some Supras do not have any pitting? Or is it the case that as long as they are kept in a stable temperature environment the pitting will not appear or rare?
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Probably a great deal of luck involved. My 1970 LM400 has barely any pitting.
 
It looks great! May it give you years of musical joy. Peace and goodwill.
 
Looks just like my first drum, which I still have and occasionally use. My parents bought mine in 74' when I started taking lessons in the 5th grade on a typical music store rent-to-own plan. Keep it and play it!!
 
yammyfan said:
Probably a great deal of luck involved. My 1970 LM400 has barely any pitting.
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Mine has no pitting either. I've often wondered if the weather conditions on the day it was plated have any influence on the chrome's durability / stability. Back in the day in the Ludwig Chicago warehouse-type factory, the temperature varied a lot. I'm sure the humidity did too.
 
I’ve read it has something to do with moisture penetrating the chrome, and slowly corroding underneath, eventually blistering.

No doubt all Supras aren’t plated exactly alike. I bet, like anything, there could be bad runs of product sometimes.
 
Does anybody know if Ludwig is using a different manufacturing process compared to what they were doing in the past to make the new Supras?
 
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