I am a child of the 60's and Ringo Starr got me interested in playing drums when I was almost 14, and it was so natural to be drawn to Ludwig as a brand. They were the hot commodity back then. Kids would eagerly wait for each year's catalog and memorize the colors and model names and watch the national programs to see who played what. Certainly there was the Sullivan Show and other variety programs, and Bandstand and Shindig, Hullaballo and a few others.

Ludwig certainly has competitors back then, but they were the top dog.

At the end of 1982, the company was sold to the Selmer Band Instrument Company and the inevitable began to happen. History repeated itself.

Decades before, Bill Ludwig Sr. and Jr. bought the Ludwig name and patents and tooling from C.G. Conn after a 25 year period of ownership that saw the original Ludwig Company- known as Ludwig and Ludwig- go from pre-eminence to almost non-existence.

As a historian, I'll be interested to see if Selmer or Steinway as it is known now will own Ludwig for a similar 26 years of if Ludwig will last that long.

For information of the glory days of Ludwig and Ludwig & Ludwig, I invite you to purchase my book for Modern Drummer entitled The Great American Drums ! You can order the book through any music store or you can e-mail me and I'll send you an autographed copy.