FS: vintage Ludwig Jazz Festival snare, 1970 player drum

lossforgain · April 7, 2010

Don't hate the player, hate the game! Okay, I'm not cool enough to actually say that in real life, but I thought it fit here.

This Ludwig Jazz Fest 5x14 is complete, but definitely a player's drum. The Silver sparkle has faded a bit, although evenly. The wrap seam is tight. There are a couple slightly rough spots on the batter edge but tuning is not a problem. The blackface P85 throwoff is stiff but works fine. The hoops have some rust (a few spots are flaking off on the inside of the batter hoop -- not visible outside). There are some scratches on the lugs, throw, and butt, and the whole drum is a bit scuzzy. Even so, she sounds fab! Clean her up and you'll have a decent looking drum with that great 3ply, clear maple interior Ludwig sound. There may be a screw or two that are unoriginal, that's all. The date stamp clearly reads "smudge 16, 1970" and the Blue-Olive badge sits a little low on the shell because the drum shell would have been prepped for a keystone badge during this transitional period. I HAVE owned another Jazz Festival factory made like this, and have seen Vistalites like this as well and I can tell you that this is not a cut-down drum (something someone suggested to me about my last one like this).

I've put a recent Ludwig Weathermaster on top, the original snare side head needs replacing. Still sounds great! You can't go wrong -- a 3ply clear interior Jazz Fest for about half the cost of some of the recent eBay auctions...if you have any questions feel free to send me a PM.

Badge panel

Tone control panel

Batter edge 1

Batter edge 2 and seam

ONLY $199 plus actual shipping in the US48!