As
the story goes (although I can't verify the quantity for sure), there were
around 200 prototype acrolite
drums built sometime in 1962
- 1963 that were sent out to
dealers for approval / sale.
The original acrolite
prototypes had the eight
classic lugs made out of
aluminium and both hoops were
aluminium as well. The weight
is said to be around 5.5 lbs in the all aluminium configuration.
Many were sent back to the
factory because a good rim
shot could bend the top hoop.
Following the production of
these original 200 Ludwig
always used regular
production parts with their
aluminium shells - a lesson
learned with the failure of
the aluminium rims and
lugs.
Since the shell of this drum was
absolutely identical to the
original prototype shell, it is
clearly one of the prototype
drums, but the hoops and lugs are
different to the aluminium parts
usually fitted. There are two
theories that I could think of at the time:
1. The drum was sent back to the factory when the aluminium hoops and lugs were damaged whilst the drum was being evaluated. At that point the factory put on the chrome over brass rims it has and their top of the line chrome plated imperial lugs it has now to satisfy the client and / or the dealer.
2.
Alternatively it's possible
that it was built as is,
since nobody is certain what
was fitted to all the
prototypes and I've inspected
the shell and found no
evidence of marks left by the
outline of any other lugs.
The fact that the imperial
lug castings fitted are
pre-'63 production (see pic
for casting differences)
makes a good case for the
lugs being the original parts
fitted in
1962. A very recent event which supports this theory was when I was contacted by a drummer in America who had one of these drums which had also been fitted with the older style pre-1963 Imperials. The hoops were aluminium and a round knob muffler (rather than the red felt BB type) was fitted underlining Ludwig's tendancy to raid various parts bins. Thanks for the info Mark!
Needless
to say, this particular
prototype is very playable
thanks to the decent hoops
and lugs!
As received the drum had seen 40
years of use, the heads were shot,
the muffler was half missing, the strainer, butt plate
and tension rods were covered in
rust. I stripped the drum to a
shell first, throughly cleaned it
up, and put the cleaned up lugs
back on. Over a couple of months I
sourced a red felt muffler from an
incomplete '63 Supra which is what
they were originally fitted with, a
decent P83 strainer plus 60's butt
plate, a set of nice 60's tension
rods and to get it as near to how
they left the factory as possible I
found a pair of good used 1960's
Ludwig original heads and fitted
those.
The production acrolites had a machine spun shell with flanged edges, no seam and certainly no welded plates attached! However, neatness isn't a concern on prototypes, it's all about durability and sonic testing.
You can see how much thinner and hollow the later lug was and the profile is slightly different as well. Note the shell finish which is inside and out on all surfaces, apparently this was known as "Brushed Aluminium". The drum has found it's way to a good home and is now residing in a private collection!
Next
I'll add another example:
Let's take a closer look at the shell itself since this is the biggest departure from the production item. They all have the welded internal plate, the welding does vary slightly:
The welded plate is
unpatterned steel
on Chas's. We know
the shells were a
rolled sheet of
patterned
aluminium, but
there was also more
than one pattern...
the mystery
continues!
Now let's look at the shell construction itself in more detail:
1. Welded plate.
2. Verticle unfinished seam.
3. Folded re-inforced edge.
4.Centre Bead (smaller than the production one).
5. Anchor weld holding the shell body together to the plate.
6.
Welds
to
secure
folded
flat
edges
and
anchor
to
plate.
The
snare
beds
are
crimped
into
the
shell:
As for value, I've seen good orginal drums run upto $400+, so happy hunting!
Finally, thanks to Mark and Chas for supplying extra info and pictures.