New supraphonic warped ?

[gevermil]

I was checking out snares today at my local drum merchant and he pulled out of the original shipping box a brand new supra 402 . It was terribly over tunned to the point of looking visually warped . We pulled the hoops off and put the drum on glass and noticed the shell was not true and had a gap on two sides . Dose any one here own a new supra
and can maybe check there shell ?
Thanks
Gary

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by gevermil

I was checking out snares today at my local drum merchant and he pulled out of the original shipping box a brand new supra 402 . It was terribly over tunned to the point of looking visually warped . We pulled the hoops off and put the drum on glass and noticed the shell was not true and had a gap on two sides . Dose any one here own a new supra
and can maybe check there shell ?
Thanks
Gary

I assume the gaps were on the batter side and not the snare beds?

[gevermil]

Not sure what yer saying .
Just the raw shell on a flat surface , top and bottom bearing edges had gaps .
You can rock the shell back and forth slightly .
Also shouldnt a factory shell come " untuned " ?

[666666]

What TheArchitect is saying is that the snare side of the shell (bottom side) SHOULD have 2 "gaps" / dips / scooped out sections along the bearing edge... these are the snare beds, they're supposed to be there, they're a good thing.

However, regarding the top bearing edge of a snare, it should be "flat" and true... no dips or gaps etc... it should lay dead flat on a dead flat surface.

I think you will find this interesting.... some years ago I ordered TWO brand new Ludwig Supraphonics... maybe around 2004 or so. I take one out of the box, I notice the top head has a nasty wrinkle in one spot... ... I tighten / tune the top head, the wrinkle would not go away. I removed the head and found the top bearing edge to have a serious defect, a big "dip"... almost like a snare bed. Bummer.

Ok, so I put that drum aside knowing that it has to go back. I open the next brand new Supraphonic and... same exact problem!!!!! Both drums had the same exact severe shell defect.

I sent them back. And that was the last time I bought any brand new Ludwig products. I can understand an occasional boo-boo during manufacturing, but how the heck did these drums get through quality control? Me thinks that a large number of these defective drums were produced and instead of melting them down as they should have done, they just put them on the market hoping that many would be sold to unsuspecting little kids or whatever. This premise does not say a lot for the integrity of a company and their products. We do not know the real story though, would be interesting.

Sounds like the drum you were checking out has the same issue. Ludwig must have some problems with however they manufacture their shells. I wonder if the shell you checked out was brand new (2008 / 2009), or if it might have been a left over from perhaps a bad run from back in 2004 or whenever I had bought mine. I'd REALLY hate to think that after having the problem back over 4 years ago or so that Ludwig would STILL be putting out seriously defective shells like this. Totally not acceptable.

But.... the fact that the drum you saw had been terribly over-tuned, it IS possible that this drum WAS a left-over from the past, the drum merchant attempted to tune it up enough to hopefully try to hide the defect (stretch out the wrinkle in the head) and was then hoping to pass it off on someone who wouldn't know any better. He might have even just got it in on a trade or from Ebay whatever and was just trying to flip it.

What I'd be interested in knowing though, is Ludwig actually still putting out defective shells today? Has anyone else experienced this in recent times?

When buying such drums on Ebay etc, BEWARE. Be sure to ask the seller about the bearing edge etc.... even then be careful because it's the type of thing that a lot of people might not be able to easily detect.... or they will purposely play dumb, etc. I personally would not touch a late model Supra on Ebay for this reason. The 1970 model I picked up is excellent though.

[orange]

I don't dispute the problems with the shell but I'd suggest you use a formica worktop to check for straightness. Most glass isn't as flat as you might think.

[gevermil]

" But.... the fact that the drum you saw had been terribly over-tuned, it IS possible that this drum WAS a left-over from the past, the drum merchant attempted to tune it up enough to hopefully try to hide the defect (stretch out the wrinkle in the head) and was then hoping to pass it off on someone who wouldn't know any better. He might have even just got it in on a trade or from Ebay whatever and was just trying to flip it. "



This was my suspicion .

To bad as I was going to buy it along with a 71 ludwig kit .