Ringo's Beatle Kits

Here's a set of Premier bongo's that Ringo was using in 1963.

Ringo using a set of timpani drums during the recording of Every Little Thing.

 

These two Ludwig tambourines were used during the recording of Hey Bulldog. Interesting to see Paul using a tea towel to help protect his hand from blistering. These tambourines are very heavy and hard to control over a period of time.

Here's a set of Ludwig bongos as seen in the movie A Hard Day's Night. Note the creative tuning design.

This is an actual set of Ludwig expando tuning bongos

These are photos of Ringo using a set on conga drums during the recording of A Day In The Life.

Back in 1964 the Luwdwig Drum Company presented Ringo with a gold plated Supersensative snare drum.

(This photo can be found in Beatles Gear by Andy Babiuk) 

This is a very interesting photo. The tape used to quiet the snares surely indicates that this drum was used at some point. The question is when?

These are a set of Tabla drums found at Abbey Road studios

During the filming of the Hello Goodbye promo film, Ringo used the two Ludwig kits shown above. It was rumored that Ringo gave the miniature kit to his son Zak as his first drum kit.  According to Andy Babiuk, author of Beatles Gear, the drum sizes of the silver sparkle kit are: 28"x14" bass, 20"x18" floor tom, 16"x11" tom & a 20" snare. He stated that Ringo still owns this kit.

This is an interesting photo showing a back view of the Ludwig silver sparkle kit because of the play wear on the heads and tape, which is sometimes used to adjust the tone of the drums. Is it possible that this kit may have been used on a Beatles recording?

Hi hat tambourine bar used during the Let It Be sessions

THE MYTH

Some believe that Ringo used, owned and/or played a oyster blue pearl Ludwig kit. This simply is not true. The above photo was taken on February 15, 1964 when The Beatles rehearsed at the Deauville Hotel in Miami, Florida. Pictures such as the one above add to this false notion. Reasons for the blue range from the camera flash to stage lighting to altered photo, film and video colorization.

WHAT LUDWIG KIT IS THIS?

On February 8, 1964, Manny's Music Store sent this Ludwig kit to the Ed Sullivan theater. Ringo used it for the initial rehearsal and it was sent back and replaced with his now famous second oyster black pearl kit.