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Ludwig Acrolite Serial Number and date of manufacture, can you help me?
- Thread starter planetfunk
- Start date
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planetfunk
Member
Anyone?
Guessing without going to the book ‘79-‘84
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planetfunk
Member
I still don't know if it's late 70s or early early 80s!
Is there a book where i can find it out? Will it change its value depending on being 70s vs 80s?
Thanks!!!!
Is there a book where i can find it out? Will it change its value depending on being 70s vs 80s?
Thanks!!!!
Looks like Type 4 or BO4 rounded corner b/o badge ‘82-84 as defined by Rick Gier’s Second edition Ludwig book
planetfunk
Member
Thank You so much? Does that make it cheaper or more expensive vs 70s versions?
No difference.
Just to elucidate, Ludwig serial numbers do not encode any information about production date or anything about the attached drum within the numbers.
The badges were pre-numbered and randomly applied. No records were kept as far as what number went on what drum. The numbers did increase in a linear fashion so they can give a rough indication of when a drum was made.
The Acrolite was a basic "student" drum that was made and sold in mass quantities and, until relatively recently, usually could be picked up dirt cheap. This is not to say they weren't great sounding drums but they are very common, perhaps the most produced snare drum in history. As such their value does not vary a lot based on the time of productiion or other minor details. The very early models and keystone badged ones are typically more desireable and bring more. The B/O badged ones tend to all be in the same ballpark value wise.
These were once easy to find for $50 or less. As the Acrolite's reputation was boosted by discussions on forums like this one the value began to climb. Nowadays nice examples can go for $200-250 or more. At least that's what a lot of people are asking. Of course there's still a lot of them out there so they do still pop up at garage sales, etc. for cheap...but are often snagged to be flipped on ebay or reverb for a much higher price.
The badges were pre-numbered and randomly applied. No records were kept as far as what number went on what drum. The numbers did increase in a linear fashion so they can give a rough indication of when a drum was made.
The Acrolite was a basic "student" drum that was made and sold in mass quantities and, until relatively recently, usually could be picked up dirt cheap. This is not to say they weren't great sounding drums but they are very common, perhaps the most produced snare drum in history. As such their value does not vary a lot based on the time of productiion or other minor details. The very early models and keystone badged ones are typically more desireable and bring more. The B/O badged ones tend to all be in the same ballpark value wise.
These were once easy to find for $50 or less. As the Acrolite's reputation was boosted by discussions on forums like this one the value began to climb. Nowadays nice examples can go for $200-250 or more. At least that's what a lot of people are asking. Of course there's still a lot of them out there so they do still pop up at garage sales, etc. for cheap...but are often snagged to be flipped on ebay or reverb for a much higher price.
Last edited:
planetfunk
Member
Thank You sooooo much for the detailed explanation!
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planetfunk
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Thanks bigbonzo!
Not very accurate, especially the 70s data.
That chart was taken from Rob Cook's Ludwig book, not from any internal company infornation (such records were not recorded). Cook's info, based on a very small amount of data, pre-dates Rick Gier's extensive research on the topic and the resulting booklet.
