RINGO'S BEATLE KITS

1st & 2nd Ludwig Kits & Hardware

I think that we've all heard the story dating back to early 1963 when Brian Epstein and Ringo went to the Drum City music store in London to purchase a new drum kit for Ringo. Drum City was owned by Ivor Arbiter and was London's new Ludwig distributor. The condenced version is that Ringo was drawn to the osyter black pearl color sample on Ivor's desk.

Here's a photo of Ringo playing his first Ludwig kit for the very first time

Ringo took possession of his new Ludwig drum set on May 12, 1963. They were actually delivered to Alpha Television Studios in Aston, Birmingham, Warwickshire. The Beatles were making their first appearance as headliners on Thank Your Lucky Stars. Ringo last used his Premier kit during the rehearsal and he Ludwig kit for the performance.

FIRST LUDWIG KIT HARDWARE:

1) Speed King bass drum pedal (Model 201)

2) Flat base cymbal stand (Model 1400) [1] A Premier Lockfast stand was also used

3) Flat base snare drum stand (Model 1363)

4) Flat base hi-hat stand (Model 1121)

5) Bass drum anchor (Model 1304) Walberg & Auge 

Note: Photo evidence indicates that only one Ludwig model 1400 cymbal stand may have been purchased with the first Ludwig kit. You can see Premier Lockfast cymbal stands also being used.

SECOND LUDWIG KIT HARDWARE:

1) Speed King bass drum pedal (Model 201)

2) Flat base cymbal stand (Model 1400) A Premier Lockfast cymbal stand was sometimes used in place of a Ludwig model 1400

3) Flat base snare drum stand (Model 1363)

4) Spurlock Direct-Pull hi-hat stand (Model 1123)

5) Bass drum anchor (Model 1304) Walberg & Auge 

6) Buck Roger's snare stand (Model1358)

DRUM KIT SHELL SIZES FOR BOTH KITS

• 5.5"X14" snare (Ringo used both calfskin and mylar batter side heads)
• 8"x12" tom
• 14"x14" floor tom
• 14"x20" bass drum

Ringo's Ludwig Downbeat kits have many drum shell hardware details in common.

The 8" x 12" tom and the 14" x 14" floor tom both use a P-4067 "Baseball Bat" tonel control with red felt.

The P-1672 mounting bracket features a wing bolt that screws into the casing. This bracket was used as follows:

• To secure the three legs on the 14" x 14" floor tom,  
• As a cymbal mounting bracket on the bass drum
• As mounting brackets for the bass drums spurs
• Though both drum kits incorporated this bracket as a tom mount when new, the second kit and possibly the first were retro-fitted with a Rogers Swiv-o-matic tom mount.

The bass drum spurs and floor tom legs also used a knurled texture surface in the area where they inserted into the mounting brackets.