{"id":1506,"date":"2022-02-08T11:43:08","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T11:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2022-02-08T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T11:43:08","slug":"the-gold-sparkle-ludwigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/?p=1506","title":{"rendered":"The Gold Sparkle Ludwigs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve really stopped using this site for my occasional postings, and instead I’m mostly posting on Facebook (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/billyrhythm<\/a>). I wish there was a way for me to move all my content from there to here, but alas every way I’ve tried thus far has failed.

Facebook used to have a “notes” section, where you could post longer musings–stuff longer than “I had fish for dinner.” I wrote a note on this day in 2014 detailing my purchase of the #goldsparkleludwigs. I’m leaving that note here now for posterity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012<\/strong>, an investment of mine paid off, and I decided to cash in. I was left with enough money to buy myself a little present. I decided I wanted a lifetime gift\u2014something I could look at and say \u201cRemember when…\u201d I decided a new drum set would make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn’t rich off this deal. I had about $2000. That’s a nice drum set, but it’s pretty easy to spend two grand. But, if I was careful, I could probably get something worthwhile. I thought about the music I play, and what drums I already own. I decided I wanted a maple kit, as maple’s a good wood for all kinds of music. I decided I wanted \u201ctraditional\u201d depths; no \u201cpower\u201d toms. And, if I could get something that would cover both jazz and rock, I wouldn’t have to keep switching kits depending on what kind of gig I had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After looking around, and asking for some advice at drumforum.org<\/a>, I decided a Ludwig Classic Maple was the answer. A 20\u201d bass drum is right between an 18\u201d jazz kit, and a 22\u201d rock kit. A 12\u201d rack tom works for rock and jazz. Most jazz sets come with a 14\u201d floor tom, and most rock sets have a 16\u201d floor. So, like the bass drum, I decided to play the middle ground and get a 15.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up was color. Since I was looking for a kit I could play at all gigs, I couldn’t go too wild. But I didn’t want to be too understated either. Natural wood was out; a plastic covering was in order. Sparkles are timeless. Silver sparkle is nice, but not wild enough. Black sparkle? Nah. Black is too boring. How about gold sparkle? I’m a sucker for orange. Ludwig gold sparkle Classic Maple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called my friend Shane of Drum Center of Portsmouth<\/a>, a Ludwig dealer. He gave me a quote, and he was within budget. I’m not sure why I didn’t just order. But I didn’t. And in the meantime…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While cruising the ebay listings, I found a gold sparkle Classic Maple Luddy. The guy selling it said he just got a deal with another drum company, and so he was selling his Ludwig kit. It had a 22\u201d bass with FOUR toms: a 10\u201d, a 12\u201d, and 14\u201d and 16\u201d floor toms. Those tom diameters are fairly common \u201cfusion\u201d sizes, but this kit was different: no power depth toms! And it came with the matching snare AND a matching canister throne. The guy was even adding a tom stand and a snare stand to sweeten the deal. I watched the auction. It closed, and no one bid. I sent him a message. \u201cIf you’d take $1500 and include the shipping, I’ll take it.\u201d I countered with $1500 and $50 shipping. Score! I bought it on 11\/16\/2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only one thing wrong, though. A 22\u201d bass is pretty big for small stages and for jazz. I wanted something smaller. At first, I thought I could use the 16\u201d floor tom as a \u201cjungle\u201d bass drum. I’d add some spurs and a removable tom mount, put the drum on a bass riser (made specifically to turn floor toms into \u201cbass\u201d drums), and call it good. It took quite a while to find a bass drum riser that worked on a standard tom rim. And, I didn’t want to drill into the shell; I didn’t want to add any extra holes. More patience and watching ebay, and the right part came along. When it arrived, I tried it. It didn’t fit well on the 16\u201d drum. And, it didn’t sound great. Too high in pitch, and too resonant. Bass drums in rock need thump; jazz has a little more life in the drum, but still not just a tom tom turned sideways. I would have to keep looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I continued to peruse ebay, waiting for an 18\u201d Ludwig floor tom. I figured if I found something beat up, I could fix it, and recover it in gold sparkle so it would match. The problem was, lots of people were interested in 18\u201d Ludwig floor toms. They would sell for $400 or so. I’d have to add another $100 to get the gold sparkle to make it match. That put me in budget, but I really didn’t want to spend that much for a used drum. And, I didn’t want to take a perfectly good drum, and ruin it. I needed a beat-up donor drum. The right one just didn’t come along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After about a year passes, I think \u201cWhy don’t I just bite the bullet and buy new?\u201d I called Shane at Drum Center NH<\/a> again, and asked. \u201cWhat’s a gold sparkle 18\u201d floor tom from Ludwig cost?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$499, shipped to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I waited a year looking for just the right drum so I could save $99? Forget it. \u201cShane, I’m in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now it’s here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All the gold sparkle drums a guy could possible need. I can run it as one stupid big kit with two rack toms and three floor toms, or run it as two separate kits: a 10\u201d, 14\u201d kit with 18\u201d bass (like a traditional bop kit), or a 12\u201d, 16\u201d rock kit with a 22\u201d bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve really stopped using this site for my occasional postings, and instead I’m mostly posting on Facebook (https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/billyrhythm). I wish there was a way for me to move all my content from there to here, but alas every way I’ve tried thus far has failed. Facebook used to have a “notes” … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-brhythm","post-1506","format-standard","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1509,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billyrhythm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}