Ludwig Cherry/Gum Element SE

Hello...I'm in process of ordering Ludwig Classic Maple Kit...Tough deciding what color to go with but thinking of what Ludwig has for an option, Vintage Black Oyster Pearl...Thay also have a Black Oyster Pearl.?. Anyone know the basic difference between these two wraps.?.They've also got Mod Citrus Sparkle, which looks to be an option they've just started offering, lately...The Cherry/Gum Element SE's look very cool in Citrus Mod...But does anyone have any idea about the Mod Citrus Sparkle.?.Is it the same as Element wrap.?...

Choosing a finish will kill you. It's real fun, but soooo many choices. There are many nice lacquer finishes, FWIW. Really no right answer. :)

It's worth hitting a Ludwig dealer/rep to look at samples and check out the options. There are some very cool wraps out there, which I think has to do with the wrap manufacturers fining a "safe" way to may some of those blue/black oyster finishes, as well as the "psychedelic" finishes.

There's a Vintage Black Oyster, which is really neat.... as well as a not-so-vintage black oyster, which looks like camouflage (real, ugly IMHO).

As for the new glass glitter finishes, there's at least a Citrus Mod glass glitter, and a Psych red GG. These are different than the wraps on the Element SE's. Hop on eBay and search for "ludwig" and "mod". You'll find at least something in Citrus Mod GG (as of 5 minutes ago). That'll give you an idea as to what it looks like. Looks like a sugar coating! :)

-Ryan
 
Here's mine, ordered it at a local shop, they had it there in two days! Problem is, I'm not bringing it home for a few weeks since I have to sell my old set to make room (and the rest of the money) for it. I let them display it for now, and it's drawn quite an interest with customers in the week or so it's been there. Played on it a little there and it sounds great, can't wait to bring it home!!

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That orange looks brighter in person. The whole area was having a power outage the night I was there, and they were on backup lights, so the lighting wasn't great. Plus my iphone seems to take darker pictures anways.

Came to $769.99 plus tax. Just have to sell my old kit to give them the last $300 and I'll bring it home.
 
Congrats on the new kit! Mod Orange is definitely the more popular color! :)

I'm really loving mine.

-Ryan
 
Congrats on the new kit!

The wrap on the bass drum does sound funky. While it's normal to have two seams on bass drums, they *should* be on the bottom of the drum. I'd call the dealer you bought them from. Did you get them from the Drum Center in NH? I hear he's good people. According to the Ludwig guys on FaceBook, these drums are fully in stock in Monroe (at last!).

On the hoops, I found that the double seams were easily hidden under the claws.

Speaking of wrap, are you still thinking of wrapping the 10" tom?

-Ryan

Hey Ryan --

Sorry, just saw your reply -- the forum stopped emailing me with notifications on this thread! Anyway, yes, I did get the whole outfit from the Drum Center in NH, and you're right, Shane (who owns the shop) has been great to deal with all the way around. I did contact him on the bass issue, and he contacted Ludwig. They wanted to see pics, so I snapped a couple, and he forwarded them along. A couple hours later, Ludwig told him to tell me a replacement kit was on the way. I boxed the other one back up, and FedEx picked it up the next day.

Meanwhile, the replacement arrived today, and the wrap on the bass is perfect. Seams underneath where they're supposed to be!

Munchdrum asked for some pics. I'm a little late, since I sent this one back already, but here was the flawed wrap:

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I'll post pics of the new kit when I have it set up, which might be awhile ...

Yep, I'm still planning to wrap that 10-inch tom. I got a sample from Jammin' Sam, and it's absolutely the same wrap. Just have to get a quote -- should be fairly inexpensive, since it's such a small piece. But I'm still keeping my eye out for a Mod Orange one on eBay. I'll check with you first, in case you want this one back, before I strip off the Citrus Mod!

I'm also still thinking about retrofitting a bass-mounted cymbal stand. I saw that the new keystone tom bracket is available on other kits, like Custom Maple and Legacy Classic. I'm wondering if I can get a keystone bracket for mounting the cymbal arm, to match the rest of the kit.

But I've got a lot of work to do before that -- like new heads, for starters!

-- Doop
 
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This forum doesn't update me anymore either.... I just poke around.

This is great news on your bass drum! Glad to hear that Ludwig took care of it promptly!

Good luck with the cymbal arm. I've been thinking about getting one myself. That'd be one less thing to drag around. :)

Keep me posted on the extra tom. I *might* be interested.... I'm not much of a 10" tom guy, though! The 12" tunes pretty high.

I finally got mine set up mostly to my liking. I wound up replacing the stock resonant head on the bass drum with a regular Ludwig smooth heavy Weathermaster to get a bit more boom out of it.

-Ryan



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Hey Ryan --

Your setup is looking great! How are you liking the sound now that you've had a chance to really tweak it?

I may be moving on that 10" tom soon, only because Jammin' Sam keeps calling me since I requested the Mod Orange sample. They're going to be bummed I'm only buying one small piece! Then again, now that the Element SE is truly out and available, single drums might start popping up on eBay. The shop in NH has a Citrus Mod 6.5-inch snare, if you're interested! ;)

If I do the wrap job, I'll shoot pictures of the process and post them. Could be a fun winter project!

-- Doop
 
Your setup is looking great! How are you liking the sound now that you've had a chance to really tweak it?

I'm absolutely loving these. A fun kit all around: Inexpensive, cool finish, brand new, Ludwig, unusual wood, and with warm rich sound. They're just really cool. I'm happy as a clam with these.

I may be moving on that 10" tom soon, only because Jammin' Sam keeps calling me since I requested the Mod Orange sample. They're going to be bummed I'm only buying one small piece! Then again, now that the Element SE is truly out and available, single drums might start popping up on eBay. The shop in NH has a Citrus Mod 6.5-inch snare, if you're interested! ;)

I saw that snare! I'm tempted... though I'm holding out for a 402 or some flavor of brass.

If I do the wrap job, I'll shoot pictures of the process and post them. Could be a fun winter project!

That'd be neat to see. I'm half thinking about getting a beat up old 20" Ludwig bass drum to rewrap to go with this kit to use as another option.

-Ryan
 
I've always wanted a vintage Ludwig with a 20" kick, 12" rack and 14" floor.

I briefly had one fall into my lap once, until it turned out the guy who had sold the kit to me had stolen it, and I had to sell it back to the rightful owner. And now, when one does pop up, they are usually very expensive.

And to be honest, I mostly want one as a beater kit, which sort of defeats the point of having a nice vintage kit.

So this would be perfect.

Except I've never been a fan of the mod/psychedelic colors.

So hopefully in another year or two, they'll release some other "vintage" colors in this line.
 
I've always wanted a vintage Ludwig with a 20" kick, 12" rack and 14" floor.
Except I've never been a fan of the mod/psychedelic colors.

The price makes the finishes really palatable to me. On a more expensive kit, I'd have a hard time going with the mod finish. The price really makes it a "fun" package.

FWIW, the Epic series has a "Downbeat" kit, and a couple of those lacquer finishes are gorgeous. Only drawback is the birch/maple shell will be a bit punchier than the cherry/gum.

-Ryan
 
The price makes the finishes really palatable to me. On a more expensive kit, I'd have a hard time going with the mod finish. The price really makes it a "fun" package.

FWIW, the Epic series has a "Downbeat" kit, and a couple of those lacquer finishes are gorgeous. Only drawback is the birch/maple shell will be a bit punchier than the cherry/gum.

-Ryan

I have two very nice lacquer kits with nice wood grain finishes. IF I get something else, I'm wanting a wrap so I'll stop obsessing over making sure the finish stays perfect.

I really want what I believe is the early 60's version of blue oyster pearl. Although I've seen two colors online that both claim to be blue oyster pearl, 1 is more sliver/blue (which I want) and one is more bright blue, that seems to me more in line with the mod finishes.
 
I have two very nice lacquer kits with nice wood grain finishes. IF I get something else, I'm wanting a wrap so I'll stop obsessing over making sure the finish stays perfect.

I really want what I believe is the early 60's version of blue oyster pearl. Although I've seen two colors online that both claim to be blue oyster pearl, 1 is more sliver/blue (which I want) and one is more bright blue, that seems to me more in line with the mod finishes.


I can totally relate. I bought the Citrus Mod kit so I can leave the lacquered Ludwigs at home!

Good luck finding the '60's blue oyster. It's much nicer than the early 70's blue oyster, which was more blue than oyster. Though, I've only seen perhaps a couple of the 60's blue oyster kits.

There finally is an "authentic" vintage *black* oyster out there...

-Ryan
 
Well Ryan, I pulled the trigger with Jammin' Sam and ordered a piece of Mod Orange to recover the 10" tom. I guess there's no turning back now! I hope it wasn't a mistake, too, because it was a little pricier than I expected given the size -- $62 for the wrap, tape, eyelet, eyelet tool, and shipping. Doesn't sound too bad, but the tom only cost me $86 with shipping! And watch, our friend in W. Va. will list a Mod Orange 10-incher the day after my wrap arrives! He already has a 10" tom and 6.5" snare in Psychadelic Red on eBay, and a 6.5" Mod Orange snare (which I'm eyeballing) ...

-- Doop
 
Well Ryan, I pulled the trigger with Jammin' Sam and ordered a piece of Mod Orange to recover the 10" tom. I guess there's no turning back now! I hope it wasn't a mistake, too, because it was a little pricier than I expected given the size -- $62 for the wrap, tape, eyelet, eyelet tool, and shipping. Doesn't sound too bad, but the tom only cost me $86 with shipping! And watch, our friend in W. Va. will list a Mod Orange 10-incher the day after my wrap arrives! He already has a 10" tom and 6.5" snare in Psychadelic Red on eBay, and a 6.5" Mod Orange snare (which I'm eyeballing) ...

-- Doop

How's your 5" snare sound?

Interesting to see the Psych Red tom and snare already up on eBay. He sold the rest of that kit as a 4 piece (bass and toms) on eBay just this weekend. Sold for like $570, IIRC. Basically, he must be breaking the kits up to get around the "Minimum Advertised Price" (MAP) which is set by Ludwig. You can't post the kits *anywhere* for less than the MAP. If that tom goes for ~$100 and the snare goes for $200 (prolly won't), it's still quite a bit less than the MAP, so he's not breaking the kits up for the money. He sold the 16" floor toms for like $250-300 each on eBay. Definitely telling of what the market wants, though. Ludwig really should sell these kits the same way they have the Centennial's selling: A few core/starter packs, with a few add-on toms.

Good luck with the wrap!

-Ryan
 
Hey Ryan --

Don't know yet on the snare -- I got the replacement kit just a week ago, and I'm ordering different heads for the whole kit, so I haven't really set it up yet. The bass and floor tom were packaged nested together without the heads and I haven't put them on. The ride and snare came with the heads on, but I haven't really even messed with it yet. I know, I know, it sounds insane, but if you've ever potty-trained a 2-year-old, you have some idea of why I've been too busy this past week! But I'm used to a 6.5" deep and just thinking that if I can grab it cheaply enough, it might be nice to have both options.

Yeah, I've really been wondering about that shop and what they've been doing with these kits. They keep listing the individual drums saying the customer didn't want them, but it doesn't add up. More than once I saw 4 pieces of a 6-piece sold first, w/o offering the other 2 pieces, then two days later the missing 2 pieces show up as "the customer didn't want them." You had that same experience, right? Even getting around the MAP, I still can't figure it out, unless he bought some of these and just got impatient not being able to move them in those configurations. In any case, he can't be making much money on them, do you think? He was also one of the shops that I emailed for a quote on the Downbeat, and he never even replied ...

-- Doop
 
The Centennial is probably to fill the niche of a Renown-level kit, since the price rise of Neusonic. In other territories, they sell the Continental which is a maple/cherry blend. The European Continentals are similarly sized with the Centennials, while the Chinese ones are Mod (or Renown Euro) sized. I almost thought the Continentals were rebranded Centennials!
 
Looks like the "Cherry/Gum Element SE" kits are exceedingly rare. There are NO search results on Reverb for "Ludwig Cherry Gum" or "Ludwig Element SE".

But.....Reverb has been purging their older "Sold" history. So using a small "hack" to the URL, we can see the total number of times they've appeared on Reverb since the beginning of the site.....

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=Ludwig Element SE&showsold=true

Cherry/Gum sounds intriguing. It's a shame that the few demos on Youtube are all 12-15 years old, and filmed on a potato.
 
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Looks like the "Cherry/Gum Element SE" kits are exceedingly rare. There are NO search results on Reverb for "Ludwig Cherry Gum" or "Ludwig Element SE".

But.....Reverb has been purging their older "Sold" history. So using a small "hack" to the URL, we can see the total number of times they've appeared on Reverb since the beginning of the site.....

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=Ludwig Element SE&showsold=true

Cherry/Gum sounds intriguing. It's a shame that the few demos on Youtube are all 12-15 years old, and filmed on a potato.
There are videos on Youtube of the Ludwig Club Date SE. I used to own a Club Date SE. It had a great sound but the tom mount was a pain to take off when transporting to and from a gig. It used a rail system and the mount would not fold down flat so it had to be removed each time. Here is an article on the Club Date SE (Cherry/Gum)



 
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