Ludwig Vistalite acrylic snare drum
Ludwig Vistalite acrylic snare drum
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The thing that fascinates me about drummers is their attachment to their snare drums. Once they’ve found a snare with a tone and response they like, they’ll hold onto it throughout most of their career. Usually they’ll migrate their old snare to their new kit, then to the next one, and the next one. Some drummers tell me they’ve had three or four wives, but just the one snare. By the time a drummer retires a snare, it’s usually been beaten to pieces.
Ludwig Percussion originally launched its Vistalite series of acrylic drums in 1972. Color choices included clear, blue, red, amber, yellow and green. Multicolored “rainbow” patterns were introduced in 1975, and the color lineup was tweaked in 1977 to include smoke, opaque black, and opaque white (green was dropped due to low sales). The addition of lighted Tivoli Vistalites in 1978 proved problematic, and as sales began to decline, all the Vistalites were discontinued in 1980. Ludwig re-introduced the Vistalite series in 2006, and continue building them to this day.
Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham was the first internationally-known drummer to endorse Ludwig Vistalite drums, and was largely responsible for their popularity in the 1970s. The amber John Bohnham signature kit, launched with the re-introduction of Vistalites in 2006, is one of the nicest kits Ludwig has ever produced.
My white Vistalite snare dates to late 1977 or early 1978, based on its serial number. I picked it up used, as part of a mixed-brand student kit, in about 1991. I don’t remember now what I paid for it, but based on my 1991 income, it had to have been ridiculously inexpensive: probably less than $100 for the whole kit. The wooden kick drum and toms, the cymbals and hardware are now long gone, but I just keep playing that Vistalite snare.
The acrylic shell of the Vistalite gives a very even, fairly bright (but not too thin) tone. The 10-lug tuning system allows for very even tension on the heads, which means they can be tuned more precisely than an 8-lug snare. The 16-strand snare on the bottom head gives a nice snap, without sounding like a cannon. Whether I play with sticks, or more likely with brushes, I get a consistent response at the center, and a nice balanced tone from a rimshot.
Ludwig has been building drums and percussion equipment since 1909, and their expertise in the field really shows in their products. All told, I’m pretty pleased with the Vistalite snare, and would be more than happy to match it with a Ludwig kit in the future.
NOTE: Happy birthday to longtime Ludwig endorsee Ringo Starr, who turns 71 on 07 July 2011.
Photo by Donna Jo Wallace