Ludwig Drums

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Ludwig Drums

Type Subsidiary
Industry Musical instruments
Founded December 11, 1909; 112 years ago in Chicago, Illinois, United States[1]
Founder Williams F. & Theobald Ludwig [1]
Headquarters Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Area served Worldwide
Products Drum kits and hardware, marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones, bar chimes
Parent Conn-Selmer
Website ludwig-drums.com

Ludwig Drums Exhibit at 'The NAMM Show' on January 17, 2020, in Anaheim, California

Ludwig Drums is a United States musical instrument manufacturer, focused on percussion.

The brand achieved significant popularity in the 1960s due to the endorsement of the Beatles
drummer Ringo Starr.[2] It is a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer.

Products manufactured by Ludwig include timpani, drum kits, and drum hardware. The
company also makes keyboard percussion instruments, such as marimbas, vibraphones, and
xylophones, through the Ludwig-Musser brand.[3]

Contents
• 1 History
• 2 Notable artists
• 3 Gallery
• 4 References
 • 5 External links

History
The Ludwig Drum Company was established in 1909 by William F. & Theobald Ludwig,
sons of a German immigrant to the United States.[4] William Jr. had been a professional
drummer, playing with circuses and touring vaudeville shows, along with the occasional
skating-rink gig. Since this work was irregular, he and his brother, Theobald, opened a drum
shop in Chicago; they called it Ludwig & Ludwig.[5] The company started with a concept for
the design and manufacture of a functional bass drum pedal.[6]

The company added new products to its catalog, such as snare drums and timpani, in 1916. In
1917, Ludwig signed a deal to build rope-tensioned snare drums to support World War I.
Theobald Ludwig died in 1918, and William continued on his own.[6][5]

In the late 1920s, the company was sold to the C.G. Conn instrument company. William
Ludwig stayed on to run the company for Conn (which also owned the Leedy Manufacturing
Company at this time). Eventually, William Ludwig decided to leave Conn and start a new
company of his own. He was unable to use the Ludwig name since that trademark now
belonged to Conn who continued to market Ludwig & Ludwig drums.

A Ludwig banjo in the Jazz Age

From about 1921 to 1931, Ludwig made banjos, such as the Big Chief Banjo (1930),
displayed at the American Banjo Museum.[7]

The Big Chief banjo was highly decorated, with gold plating, engraving, and decorative
inlayed wood patterns.
The back, in wood inlay. The banjos are highly prized today, but were ultimately a financial
failure, the market having disappeared.[7]

In 1937, William bought a factory building and started The WFL Drum Company (his
initials). The company continued producing drums at a small scale for the duration of World
War II, but William got back to the idea of making the company a large drum manufacturer
after the war ended. WFL was a competitor with Ludwig and Ludwig. Conn combined their
two drum brands into one in the early 1950s, forming Leedy & Ludwig, and then decided to
quit the drum business altogether. In 1955, William and his son Bill Jr. were able to buy the
Ludwig trademark back from Conn, and over the next few years their company and its
products transitioned from the WFL brand to being called "Ludwig" again.

Despite initial success, Ludwig's global breakthrough would occur February 9, 1964, when
The Beatles made their historic American TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.[8][9] The
Ludwig logo, displayed on the front of Ringo Starr's bass drum, could be seen by the
television audience of about seventy-three million people.[1][5][9] As it happens, Starr chose
that brand upon joining the band simply because he liked the oyster pearl black color of the
drum kit he chose.

[Ringo Starr] put our name on the front of his bass drum head ... [because] he was so proud
that he had an imported drum set from America, especially from a famous company like
Ludwig, that at the time of purchase he insisted on having the Ludwig name painted on the
front of the head!

— William Ludwig's grandson[5]

The publicity resulted in Ludwig's sales doubling quickly to $13 million, which prompted
production to increase to a 24/7 production as the company became the foremost drum
manufacturer in North America for twenty years.[10]

Ludwig acquired the Musser Mallet Company, a manufacturer of xylophones, marimbas and
vibraphones, in 1965.[4] Ludwig was a strong presence in the marching drum market. During
the 1970s, Ludwig's "Challenger" line of snare drums offered sophisticated tuning and strong
build quality. Ludwig drums were used by many leading drum and bugle corps.

On 4 November 1981, William F Ludwig II sold the business to the Selmer Company (now
Conn-Selmer). Selmer closed the Damen Avenue factory in the ensuing years and moved the
drum production business to Monroe, North Carolina, in 1984.[4][5][11] In 2002, Ludwig
merged with Conn-Selmer, becoming a brand of Conn-Selmer, Inc.[12]
The Musser manufacturing facility remained in LaGrange, Illinois, until 2013, and was then
moved to Elkhart, Indiana.[13]

Notable artists
Some of the musicians that currently or previously played Ludwigs include:[14][15]

the legendary drummer Ringo Starr using Ludwig

• Ringo Starr (The Beatles)

• Richard "Pistol" Allen (The Funk Brothers)
• Jerry Allison (Buddy Holly & The Crickets)
• Carmine Appice[16]
• Mick Avory (The Kinks)
• Ginger Baker
• Derek Ballard (A Band Called O)
• Danny Barcelona
• Barrett Deems (Louis Armstrong)
• Barriemore Barlow (Jethro Tull)
• Carlton Barrett (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
• Frank Beard (ZZ Top)
• Fred Below
• Benny Benjamin (Funk Brothers)
• Hal Blaine
• Jason Bonham
• John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)[17][18]
• Cindy Blackman (Lenny Kravitz)
• Don Brewer (Grand Funk Railroad)
• Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Earthworks)[19]
• Tony Buck
• Clive Bunker (Jethro Tull)
• Clive Burr (Iron Maiden)
• Larry Bunker
• Joe Butler (Lovin' Spoonful)
• Jim Capaldi (Traffic)
• Eric Carr (KISS)
• Nameless Ghoul (Ghost)
• Luis Cardenas (Renegade)
• Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick)
• Patrick Carney (The Black Keys)
• Karen Carpenter
• Vinnie Colaiuta
• John Cowsill (Cowsills, Beach Boys)
• Mark Craney (Jethro Tull)
• Peter Criss (KISS)
• Dino Danelli (Young Rascals)
• Mila De La Garza (The Linda Lindas)
• John Densmore (The Doors)
• Michael Derosier (Heart)
• Bobby Elliott (The Hollies)
• Gregg Errico (Sly & The Family Stone)
• Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac)
• James Gadson
• Will Goode (Wilderness)
• Alan Gratzer (REO Speedwagon)
• Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs)
• Roy Haynes
• Don Henley (The Eagles)
• Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil)
• Barry Jenkins (musician) (The Animals)
• Jimmy Johnson, Jr. (Duke Ellington Orchestra)
• Papa Jo Jones
• Kenney Jones (Small Faces / Faces)
• Uriel Jones (The Funk Brothers)
• Brian Keenan (Chambers Brothers)
• Joey Kramer (Aerosmith)
• Bill Kreutzmann (Grateful Dead)
• Eric Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots)
• Gary Lewis (...and the Playboys)
• Stan Levey
• Nick Mason (Pink Floyd)
• Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden)
• Jim McCarty (Yardbirds)
• Rob Minnig (The Ocean Blue)
• Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
• Keith Moon (The Who)
• Art Cruz (Lamb of God)
• Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes)
• Steve Negus (Saga)
• Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls)
• Ian Paice (Deep Purple)
• Carl Palmer
• Kevin Parker (Tame Impala)
• Melvin Parker (James Brown)
• Neil Peart (Rush)
• Roger Pope (Elton John, Hall and Oates)
• Cozy Powell (Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow)
• Questlove (The Roots)
• Marky Ramone (Ramones)
• Buddy Rich
• Max Roach
• Ed Shaughnessy
• Jerry Shirley (Humble Pie)
• Mike "Smitty" Smith (Paul Revere & The Raiders)
 • John "Jabo" Starks (James Brown)
• Eric Slick (Dr. Dog)
• Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown)
• Roger Taylor (Queen)
• Ed Thigpen
• Mick Tucker (Sweet)
• Ron Tutt
• Alex Van Halen (Van Halen)
• Bill Ward (Black Sabbath)
• Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones)
• Sandy West (The Runaways)
• Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen)
• Alan White (Yes, Plastic Ono Band)
• Andy White
• Woody Woodmansey (The Spiders from Mars)
• Meg White (The White Stripes)
• Tré Cool (Green Day)

Gallery

1918 Ludwig drum set.

Ludwig drum set, in Black Oyster Pearl, used by Ringo Starr with The Beatles.

Ludwig Vistalite drum set.

•
 Ludwig Vistalite drum set in Amber.

114 piece Guinness Book of World Records Ludwig drum set used by Luis Cardenas
with Renegade.

Five-piece Ludwig drum set, in Green Sparkle, as used by John Bonham of Led
Zeppelin.

Ludwig drum set used by Alex Van Halen.

Musser vibraphone

Ludwig timpani

References
1.

• "The 1960s" at Vintage Ludwig Drums

• • ""The Story Behind Ringo's Drums" by Charlie West". Archived from the original on
July 27, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
• • "Ludwig-Musser". Conn-Selmer, Inc. Retrieved March 16, 2022.
• • "Ludwig". Our Brands. Conn-Selmer, Inc. Archived from the original on August 27,
2016. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
• • Ludwig, Jerome (May 7, 2012). "The origins of Ludwig drums". Chicago Reader.
Retrieved November 13, 2022.
• • "Ludwig on Conn-Selmer website". Archived from the original on November 20, 2014.
Retrieved November 13, 2014.
• • "Makers Alphabetically". vintagebanjomaker.com. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
• • "The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964" on Ed Sullivan website
• • "The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show" on The Beatles Bible
• • O'Reilly, Terry. "Bookmarks 2016". Under the Influence. CBC News. Retrieved August
27, 2016.
• • Selmer's History, 7 Dec 2011
• • About: 2000-2009 on Ludwig website
• • "Musser". Our Brands. Conn-Selmer. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017.
Retrieved December 21, 2015.
• • Artists on Ludwig website
• • "A Century of the most famous names" on Ludwig website Archived 2014-11-21 at the
Wayback Machine
• • "Carmine Appice, an exclusive interview", Glide Magazine, 8 Jul 2013
• • Drum set up on John Bonham website
• • "10 Ways To Sound Like John Bonham" by John Natellion Drum Magazine, Nov 2008

19. • "Bill Bruford". www.billbruford.com. Retrieved February 10, 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ludwig-Musser.

• Official website
• NAMM Oral History Interview with William F Ludwig II July 9, 2002
• NAMM Oral History Interview with William F. Ludwig III January 16, 2009

• v
• t
• e

Percussion instrument companies

Categories:

• Percussion instrument manufacturing companies

• Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United States
• Manufacturing companies based in North Carolina
• American companies established in 1909
• Manufacturing companies established in 1909
 • The Beatles' musical instruments

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