The Tom Mills Snare
In 1909 the first Ludwig Drum Company was founded and after
a while, the Ludwig brothers built a snare drum dubbed the "Ludwig All
Metal". This first series of snares was built as nickel covered brass with
a simplistic strainer and round badge.
These snares were really copies
of a German drum owned by Bill Ludwig Sr. Before the turn of the last century,
Ludwig played a duet with Tom Mills, a snare drummer featured by John Philip
Sousa.
Ludwig played a wood shell snare and Mills was much louder with
his all metal model. From that point forward, Bill Ludwig Sr., tried and tried
to get Mills to sell him the drum.
Legend has it that a down and out
Mills pawned the drum and Ludwig redeemed the ticket and got his drum. He kept
it through his life and gave it to his son. Bill Ludwig Sr. sold me the drum in
1990.
It is a 19th century Sonor 6x13 and I have kept it just as I
found it. As an aside, Bill Sr. tried to get Ulysses G. Leedy to build copies of
the Mills, but U.G. said no. Bill decided to do it on his own. That was the
birth of the Ludwig drum building.
If you'd like to learn more about
the Ludwig Drum Company, then I invite you to order an autographed copy of my
book, "The Great American Drums", published
by Modern Drummer. |
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