Ludwig supra with some pitting.

Gallden

Junior Member
Hey guys I've came across a Ludwig supra for 129.00 but it's heavily pitted any reason to worry about this?
 
It's what most ludalloy supras do.they pit,and will continue to pit,also called "supra acne".For that price,,I would just live with it,the're great sounding drums.

Steve B
 
I just watched a 79 Supra with a downgraded strainer sell for about 410 dollars.
Where I live in that's what you generally pay for them.

129 dollars would be unheard of
 
It's what most ludalloy supras do.they pit,and will continue to pit,also called "supra acne".For that price,,I would just live with it,the're great sounding drums.

Steve B


By that (bold), do you mean it will get more pitting, or that the pitting will get deeper until it eventually eats through the drum? Don't know if that's possible, but it's easily imagined.
 
By that (bold), do you mean it will get more pitting, or that the pitting will get deeper until it eventually eats through the drum? Don't know if that's possible, but it's easily imagined.

Only in the most extreme cases. Usually it's just separation of chroming and Ludalloy (aluminium), and there's not actually corrosion of the metal.

To the OP: Get it, clean it up as best as you can. If it's way too far gone and you hate the look of it, you can either paint it, or strip it and buff the bare aluminium shell. Either way, it's still a Supra and still a darn fine snare.
 
By that (bold), do you mean it will get more pitting, or that the pitting will get deeper until it eventually eats through the drum? Don't know if that's possible, but it's easily imagined.

As Al said, pitting is merely an issue where the chrome doesn't bond correctly with the aluminium. An aesthetic issue, not an inherent problem with aluminium itself. So pitting doesn't "get deeper" as such. Once the chrome has flaked away, that's as bad as it gets. Looks ugly, but doesn't materially effect the shell itself.
 
As Al said, pitting is merely an issue where the chrome doesn't bond correctly with the aluminium. An aesthetic issue, not an inherent problem with aluminium itself. So pitting doesn't "get deeper" as such. Once the chrome has flaked away, that's as bad as it gets. Looks ugly, but doesn't materially effect the shell itself.


OK - got it. Doesn't sound so bad.
In the worst case, you could maybe strip it and sandblast it to get the rest of the chrome off. Assuming sandblasting wouldn't eat away too much of the aluminum.

Edit: just did a quick check - sounds like sandblasting is a bad idea - ha ha.
 
I have one that is about half pitted, pretty bad. I was thinking about performing an experiment with electroysis to remove the rest of the chrome, but then I would be stuck with toxic waste. I think I will put it on eBay instead. It sounds fine, but I already have enough Ludwig snare drums.
 
Why not try Harbor Freight tool.They have really cheap "sand blasting" equipment an media,like glass beads,Armex soda and aluminum oxide.They have media spray guns for around 20-25 bucks,You just need a compressor,as all of this stuff in pneumatic.

Steve B
 
I've had chrome sandblasted off of steel before with no real problems.
But from the quick checking I did, it sounds like there's almost always problems with aluminum.
It seems that blast media strong enough to remove chrome, eats aluminum.
 
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