Ever rescue a Ludwig drum set from a gym shower?

That sounds crazy, huh!? Rescuing a drum set from a gym shower. Well it's true. As if COVID-19 wasn't crazy enough, here comes a restoration project straight out of a church gymnasium shower and locker room.

"The virus" made me wait a while to pick up this Ludwig Super-Sensitive LM 411 6.5x14 snare drum. It is part of a larger project (a forthcoming drum restoration and rewrap) of a mid-80s Ludwig Classic 7-piece drum kit. All the drums, cymbals and hardware were stored in the church gym's locker room, in the 1970s blue-tiled shower ... truth is often stranger than fiction! 

The assistant pastor indicated the drums had been in "storage" for many years and sitting idle. For a sizable donation, they were mine. Before the sale, I spent about 45 minutes analyzing the drums, removing all the heads and rims, inspecting the bearing edges, trying to figure out what kind of goo was all over the cymbals, and how many spiders were living inside the snare. If you've never inspected a drum set in a church gym locker room, you have to do it at least once in your life!

All of the drums are in overall good condition, but they all have wrap fade, hardware tarnish, decades of fingerprints and church coffee splashes, rust (dripping shower maybe?), and are in need of TLC. This drum restoration project focuses first on the Super-Sensitive snare drum. I love these drums for their tone and even snare sensitivity to the edges. These Ludwig Super-Sensitive snare drums are truly professional-quality, top-tier gear.

The pics should speak for themselves. This was a pretty straight forward drum restoration, albeit the drum was very much in need of some love. No parts were missing but they were significantly tarnished, lug casings showed signs of initial spider webbing in the chrome and more. The top head was severely dented and carried a Mapex branded mark. The original snare side head had a cut in it, which I was bummed about because I was hoping to preserve more of the original aspects of the drum. The heads were replaced with a typical Remo Ambassador coated batter and Ambassador hazy snare side. 

Take a look at the restoration. Getting that shell to shine is always a rewarding outcome. It's a multi-step process ... takes some elbow grease, but always produces a winner. BTW, it's for sale. Contact me.

SPECS:
Model: Ludwig Super-Sensitive LM 411 6.5"x14"
Shell: Chrome over aluminum
Hardware: P-70 parallel snare mechanism, Imperial lugs, original installed tone control
Serial number: 3177723
Badge: Large Keystone, mid-to-late 80s
Origin/Date: Monroe, NC USA; mid-to-late 80s
Internal marks: 688