1971 Ludwig Standard in Blue Strata

You can thank the flood of Made in Japan kits being imported into the states that led Ludwig to create the Standard line.

First introduced in 1968, the “Standard” line was Ludwig’s answer to lower-priced drums being produced by Pearl, Tama and Yamaha. These shells were constructed from the same mold as the classic lines prior. Some speculate these shells were “B stock” (blemishes in wood grain) because this was the only line to have the interior shell sprayed with their exclusive granitone acoustical coating. What kept this USA-made line of drum kits at a price young drummers could afford was the cost-effective hardware, starting from lugs and badges to hi-hat stands and bass drum pedals.

No drummer can deny that Made in Japan drums had some of the most eye-catching wraps on the market. This is why Ludwig created 15 unique wraps that had that M.I.J. mojo—most notably, the strata wraps.

Nashville drummer, Johnny Richeson, playing a Ludwig Standard (13/16/22) & 3rd & 4th Drum Co. 5x14 aluminum snare.

This Ludwig Standard S-320 is dressed in blue strata. Sizes are 9x13, 16x16 and 14x22. Shell construction is the classic 3-ply maple/poplar/maple with maple re-rings. The snare paired with this kit is our 3rd & 4th Drum Co. 5x14 aluminum snare. The kit is equipped with Evans clear G2 on toms & a clear EQ4 on the bass drum. The snare has a coated G2.

This kit is available to rent through Nashville Drum Rentals.

3rd & 4th Drum Co. 6x14 Walnut/Ash/Walnut Snare Drum

I wanted to start off by thanking Sounds Like A Drum for the kind words they gave our zebra/maple snare drum. You can check it out here.

The zebra snare mentioned here & the 1920s Slingerland “Artist Model” snare drum, were my main inspirations leading me to craft the two snares featured in this post.

Let’s get down to the details.

Sound & Specs

These two snares are made out of the same constructed 6-ply shell - walnut (1) / ash (4) / walnut (1). Walnut is known for its classic and attractive characteristics for tone and visual aesthetic. Sonically, walnut’s tonal colors can be characterized as having a big and dark low end to it. On the other side of the coin, ash is known for its warmer highs and mids compared to maple. Having ash as the core and walnut as your outer plies allow you to obtain a lot of low end in the higher tuning range while not sounding “choked”. These drums will also have a deep and darker low end than maple. Both snares have a slight round over on the outer edge with a 45-degree inner cut. This allows the snare to give you both body and lively overtones.

These snares come outfitted with aged brass tube lugs, classic snare throw-off and single flanged hoops.

Unique Differences

Now it’s time to talk about what makes them different. First let’s talk about lug counts. One snare has 8 while the other has 10. The 10 lug snare (my favorite) will give you an overall articulate sound while the 8 lugs gives you more of a lively “retro vibe”. The 10 lug drum comes with 10-ply maple re-rings which will keep your sound focused but—since it is a thin shell—will not dry it up. You still have sustain and tone to your snare. For the 8 lug snare we took some of the leftover shell and installed them as re-rings. The 6-ply walnut/ash/walnut re-rings enhances the tonal colors and sustain of the thin shell.

3rd & 4th Drum Co. + Revival Drum Shop

I’m honored and excited to say that both of these drums have been welcomed at Revival Drum Shop in Portland, OR. I can’t thank José and everyone at Revival for allowing this little drum company to share the same space as so many great drum companies. The 10 lug snare drum sold in the first week. The 8 lug drum is still available for purchase. You can check it out in person or on Revival’s website.

If you would like a snare like this feel free to email me.

A Drummer's Guide to Buying Used/Vintage Drums

These past couple of months I’ve had a handful of friends and a couple strangers reach out to me with questions about drums they have either purchased or looking at purchasing. Those conversations led me to create this guide.

If you are looking for your first used/vintage kit or just adding to your ever growing collection, this guide will help you ask the right questions before you make a purchase. This guide is also helpful for drummers who are thinking about selling their drums as well. And since the holiday season is among us, it’s a great tool to share with your significant other so they know what to look out for when they are looking at gear on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and Reverb.

Click on the link below to download the guide.

A Drummer’s Guide to Buying Used/Vintage Drums

Happy drum hunting!

3rd & 4th Drum Co. 6x14 zebrawood/maple/zebrawood snare drum

If you read my last article about my late 60’s Pearl MIJ phenolic drum kit, I briefly mentioned this snare drum. It’s a recent build I finished a few months ago. I sent this snare to one of my good friends, Kris Redus, who is a session drummer in Austin, TX, to take it for a spin for a few weeks. Here is a video of him playing it in three different tunings.

“This is a really unique sounding snare! The resonance seems to have a lot of warm complexity to it. It’s very crisp and sensitive. Playing light quick ghost notes and buzz rolls felt super comfortable and articulate. It really surprised me when I moved it down to a lower open tuning - this whole other body and fullness came out of the drum... huge! Overall, this is just a beautiful instrument - sonically and aesthetically” - Kris Redus

Sound & Specs

The shell is constructed of 8 plies. The inner cores consist of 6 plies of maple. This wood is no stranger to drummers. Maple has very good low end frequency while keep the mids & highs well balanced. When adding zebrawood as an inner & outer ply it boosted the low end & also caused the maple core to “dry” up a little bit giving it an almost aluminum characteristic. Combining this shell w/ the single flanged hoops give your cross stick a more woodier and defined sound.

The outer edge has a nice hand applied round-over profile w/ the inner cut being 45 degree. The look of this drum is very earthy. To achieve this look I applied a single layer of this “ghost white” stain & then distressed it to show case the look of the zebra patterns. I choose to give this Aztec gold hardware (tubed lugs, classic strainer, single flanged hoops) & apply the same thought of earthy/distressed look out of them by spraying the whole drum w/ “metallic” black & white paint. I’m glad I went w/ black tension rods because it highlights the black patterns on the shell.

Overall, this is very sensitive snare drum. The slightest hit produces a nice snare response. I could easily see this as one of my go to snares.

If you would like a snare like this feel free to email me.

If all goes according to plan you can check this snare out and many more drums during the Music City Drum Show on August 8th at the 3rd & 4th Drums booth.

Late 60's MIJ Seamless Phenolic Pearl Drum Kit

Purchasing a vintage made in Japan drum kit can be a gamble. Their edges can be rough. The shells can be out of round and their hardware can break easily. I guess you can see why most were often neglected and, more than likely, just thrown away. Some are made the same while others are more than what they seem. This Pearl President drum kit is one of them.

I’d like to first clarify that it’s very hard to come by good information about vintage MIJ drums. There are over 100 names associated with them. To name a few, here are names Pearl made drums under: Lido Supreme, American Custom, Apollo, Whitehall, Cooper, Astro and ZimGar. Just like Yamaha; Pearl wanted to take things a little further.

Even though they have been making drums since the 50’s; in 1967, Pearl introduced 10 drum set configurations. One of them being the President Outfit (No. P-22). They were set apart by their attractive styled “diamond cut” lugs while the other lines had Slingerland “inspired” lugs. This catalog only showed their silver scripted badges. 2 years later (1969) Pearl decided to make all their entire drum catalog with their diamond cut lugs. They all came with metal hoops with pearl inlays as well. The “President” were still the only line being made out of plastic fiber claiming to be weather resistant, giving you more tone and were perfectly round. The other drum models were made out of “non-warping hard shells” which we all know to be luan mahogany.

In the 1969 catalogue the "President” kit was the only one to show a rectangle badge with the words president on them. They also said Pearl and Japan. These President kits were built till 1973. They still offered great looking pearl wraps such as this Tiger Eye’s, white pearl, marine pearl and gold grain pearl. I love the oyster pearl wrap. Based on this information (warp/badge/lugs/metal bass drum hoops) I put my kit somewhere in the late 60s/early 70s.

Something does make this kit a little different than the ones printed on the pages. First thing you notice is that my badge is different. It just says Pearl Japan. It’s missing the word President. This is considered a “modded” badge. Secondly, these shells are neither plastic fiber glass or cheap mahogany. They are seamless phenolic. The only thing I can tell you about them is they are synthetic. They were hand wrapped around precision molds to produce a shell of uniform thickness. They have sharp edges, will never go out of round and have a very thunderous tone to them. Pearl also utilized these shells for Vari-Pitch cannons and Vari-Pitch snare drums. Those were some insane innovations. I’d love to get my hands on either of those to try out.

Here is a video of my good friend and Nashville drummer, Eric Berringer, taking them for a spin. Please enjoy with good speakers or headphones.

This kit is equipped with Evans frosted EC2 on toms and Evans frosted EQ4 on bass.  I did'n’t bothered to put reso heads on them. They just sound so good. Honestly, I think I was too lazy to put them on when I first got this kit.

The snare being used is one I recently finished building. It’s a 3rd & 4th 6x14 zebrawood/maple/zebrawood snare with an Evans calftone head. There will be more to come on that snare very soon.

There is one thing that has me scratching my head. Phenolic shells weren’t mentioned by Pearl until 1977. That’s 4 years after they stopped making the President kits. The lugs and most of the cool wraps were discontinued as well. I am positive that the hardware on the bass drum and tom were added by someone who owned this kit before me. There are 6 holes from previous hardware which have been taken off. I know the spacing is for a tom rail mount and one is for a cymbal holder. The extra 2 holes by the tom I don’t know for sure what it could be for. Correct me if I am wrong but I’ve never seen a kit with 2 cymbal holders on it.

I’m very happy to own this kit just on shell composition and wrap alone. It’s a real eye and ear turner. This is available for rent through 3rd & 4th Drum Co. in Nashville, TN.

I want to thank the MIJ community for sharing some photos of their phenolic shell drums.

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Creating During Our Intermission

March 12th I fell asleep in Franklin, TN at midnight and woke up in Pensacola, FL around 8am. I got off the bus, grabbed my suitcase and searched for an arrow made out of green tape to guide me to our dressing room. From there things went about like they usually do on a show day.

Get ready. Breakfast. Chill. Check to see how stage is coming along. Unload trailer. Start setting up.

*DaDaDa DaDaDa*

I raised my wrist to read the ESPN headline. “NHL suspending play immediately due to Coronavirus.” This wasn’t going to be a normal day anymore. It didn’t take long for the news to travel around not to mention questions. Almost all our shows were in hockey arenas. Were they still going to let us play the rest of the tour? Are we even good to go for tonight?

The rest of the day was a little quieter than usual. Understandably since all of our questions laid heavy on our shoulders. It wasn’t until a few hours after lunch we got the text. “Everyone to catering please". We sat for half an hour before we got the news that this evening’s show and the rest of the tour was being cancelled. Now we all had different questions.

Some of us worried about our finances or what to do about work since this tour was going to keep us busy every weekend until the middle of April. A friend told me he hasn’t worked in 6 months because of a motorcycle accident and was planning on this tour to get things rolling again. Some worried about burning through savings until the next gig came up. Some looked at it from another view and were happy to be home with their family.

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afternoon tear down. tour cancelled. packing up to go back to Nashville.

One by one every tour was cancelling. One by one all the buses were coming back to Nashville. One by one we were hugging it out bummed that we couldn’t finish the tour. One by one we all got in our cars and left. It only took a few days for Lower Broadway to follow suit. No industry was safe from the effects of COVID-19.

What now? What do we do with all this new found freedom?

As an artist now it’s time to dust off all the projects we have ever wanted to do and put them all on the table. The excuse of us not having enough time is no longer an excuse we can say.

If you have a song to sing grab a guitar and start cultivating melodies. If you have a story to tell grab a book and concrete your words on paper. Do all those drum covers you’ve been wanting to do. Start laying down the groundwork for all those podcast ideas.

Art that is true and excellent doesn't need the best equipment. The only thing it needs is an honest heart. Grab your iPhone or Mac, download GarageBand, track in your bedroom and go for it. Tell us your story. Sit with your craft and hone it. Go to social media and ask your friends to send you demos and help them with their art. Go grab your friend’s record on iTunes or Google Play to show them you care and want to support them.

Most importantly, we have more time to be with our families. Slower mornings to drink our coffee together. Meaningful conversations with our partners after the kids are asleep. Get your gloves out and throw the baseball in the front yard. Have Group FaceTime with your family. FaceTime your best friend and drink whiskey together while catching up. We now have time to capture every moment without having to be severed from the ones we love. We might be physically isolated but that doesn’t mean we have to be emotionally disconnected.

Your calendar is more open than ever. You now have time to read all those books you’ve been hoarding. Listen to your favorite records more intensely. Grab your tent and have a family outing in your backyard. Have movie marathons.

I know this season is full of unknowns and uncertainties but it can also be a time of being present and joyful and do all the things you’ve been meaning to do. Fear can be crippling and numbing. Don’t give in. Don’t give up. We’re going to make it.

Stay safe and take care of one another. We are all in this together.

Rarely seen in the wild - My 1960s MIJ Lido Supreme in Fantasia Pearl

There are a few drum wraps that make my head turn.

Peacock pearl. Capri Pearl. Bowling ball blue oyster. Tiger eye / Root beer swirl.

But when my eyes laid on one of the rarest wrap, Fantasia pearl, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

I still remember the day I found this Lido Supreme kit. I was in Memphis, TN when my good friend & fellow drum nerd, Kris Redus, sent me the eBay link a text that said “Dude! It’s your finish!” which then was followed by “local pick up only”. The kit lived 1,000 miles in New Jersey. I sent a message to the seller asking about the condition of the wrap and edges. He replied, encouraging me to come check them out in person. Downhearted I said I could not because I lived in Tennessee. We exchanged numbers and talked for 45 minutes about anything and everything drum related. I told him how I’ve been looking for a set in this wrap for years. He mentioned that he would call me back about shipping this kit to me. I would be lying if I said I waited patiently.

“I feel this kit should be in Nashville with you.” - Seller. I fist pumped the air in my Nissan Cube.

A few weeks passed and they arrived safely in Nashville. Photos of the Fantasia pearl wrap don’t do it justice. If you ever get a chance to check one out in person…do it. As a matter of fact, if you are ever in Nashville, reach out to me if you want to see or play this set.

These Pearl made in Japan Lido’s mirrored Sonor drums with their teardrop lugs and their offset configuration. Sizes are 8x12, 9x13, 16x16 and 14x22. It also came with a matching 5x14 Royal Start (made by TAMA) snare drum. When you get up close and personal you can see some of the luan wood grain through the wrap. I don’t know if that happens with age or if the material that was used to make this wrap is just cheap. They must have thought it through because these shells are painted white so it all works out well.

Please enjoy this demo video below with headphones.

This Lido Supreme kit is equipped with Evans G1 coated on toms, coated UV EQ4 on bass batter & onyx for bass reso. The snare drum is equipped w/ EC1 reverse dot.

This whole kit is available through 3rd & 4th Drums in Nashville, TN.