P-85AC and P-32 Issues

TheElectricCompany

Senior Member
Count me among those who were ever fooled into believing Ludwig know what they're doing. I just found out the hard way the P-32 and P-85AC butt plates aren't interchangeable on my Supraphonic. Before buying the P-32 I did a cursory search online of its compatibility with the the P-85AC holes. I thought it was curious that the only references I could find to the Atlas strainer and butt plate were on forums and resale sites, but because I saw on Musician's Friend the P-32 is described as compatible with the P-85, I figured it must be six of one, half a dozen of the other when it comes to the P-85/85AC designation.

Unfortunately they are not compatible. I've since delved deeper and found people have been encountering similar problems with the strainer's compatibility. I can't imagine why Ludwig discontinued the Atlas throw off set...

Now my drum is apart and I'm in no mood to replace the resonant head and snares.

Damn Ludwig. I should have known better.
 
Unfortunately, they're all over the place with the butt plates. Even the Indie butt plate isn't a direct retrofit for the P-32. Shame...

What are you using for a strainer on your Supra?
 
Unfortunately, they're all over the place with the butt plates. Even the Indie butt plate isn't a direct retrofit for the P-32. Shame...

What are you using for a strainer on your Supra?

I'm using a P-86. I wanted the P-32 because the Atlas butt plate doesn't jive visually with the P-86, and because the P-32 has been standard on the majority of Supras made in the last 60 years.
 
The butt plate issue has been a bad one for years. I wanted to change my die cast ends over to the regular one, but yeah, the holes don't match.... My discovery only cost a couple bucks though....
They have the new 8" deep snares coming out, and the butt plate is STILL way too close to the edge of the shell.
I have thought about saying screw it, and just drilling new holes anyway on a couple. I'm not selling these, and when I'm gone, who cares?
You can only get so much for a snare anyway, and the ones I have are under 25 years old (except for my Bronze BB).
The 80's drums aren't collectable, and there's not a "golden age" of drums happening anymore. Now, they are just nice snare drums.

The INDe strainer and butt are great though.
I used them on an Aluminum 6.5 a friend made for me. (the shell he used is awesome).
The INDe strainer looks like the Atlas--Josh designed all the Atlas gear (for those who don't know). Mine works like a dream, and looks "right" on the drum too.
I plan to get a couple more to change out a few of my most often used Ludwig snares this year.
 
The P-32 and the die cast P-33 butt plates have different hole spacing. The new P85AC Atlas butt plate will supposedly fit both hole patterns, you just flip it one way or the other. I have five on order to replace my P-33's.
 
The P-32 and the die cast P-33 butt plates have different hole spacing. The new P85AC Atlas butt plate will supposedly fit both hole patterns, you just flip it one way or the other. I have five on order to replace my P-33's.

If the P-85AC is meant to replace both butt plates then surely one of those butts will fit a drum drilled for the 85AC. Unfortunately the holes on my drum are far too narrow for both the 32 and 33.
 
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I just don't understand how the 85AC butt plate is designed to fit the P-32/33 holes, yet neither of those butt plates will fit my 85AC holes.

I'd like to contact Ludwig about this issue, but according to Bermuda in this thread Ludwig would prefer I talk to a dealer first. I'm having a hard time imagining anyone at a shop near me is going to be familiar with this problem, let alone know of a solution. My end game, I suppose, is to get closure. I guess that means someone from Ludwig acknowledging they screwed up with this design and that there's nothing to be done, rather than sitting here pulling my hair out thinking I must be overlooking some small detail or an obvious solution.
 
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