At the NAMM show Jan 2013 Ludwig displayed a lot of new product options for the great Legacy series which consists of the fantastic 60s era 3 ply maple/poplar/maple shells with rounded baseball bat edges for that fat 60s sound. There is a new vintage WMP wrap, and some great new hardware options that give you a really nice blend of the vintage vibe of the finish and shells, plus some excellent benefits from modern day hardware that gets the job done in an unobtrusive manner that lends itself nicely to the vintage vibe of this series. We'll take you step by step:

Here is a photo of a beautiful WMP Legacy kit in traditional sizes of 8x12, 9x13, 16x16, 16x18 and two 14x22 bass drums. This is the new vintage WMP wrap with that nice "mellowed" color. Check out the great vintage style keystone badges! In fact, Ludwig is building me a kit just like this and it will be on display in our NY store along with the vintage build out kits. We'll cover the product enhancements in the next photos:

The next three pictures show the new replacement for the previous Vibra Bands suspension mounts, floor tom leg brackets, and cymbal arm bracket. It's not a secret to most of you that, from my own view, the use of traditional suspension mounts on toms takes away from the natural beauty and symmetry of the drum itself. Ludwig has solved that issue in an ingenius way with a new bracket that is essentially a combination of the lug and a clamp. The design isolates the clamp from the lug, but exists in the same footprint as the lug. It works beautifully and looks, in my opinion, much better than the traditional suspension systems. And, it also works on a bass drum lug for use with a cymbal L arm, and also on a floor tom as a leg bracket. On the floor tom it essentially treats the drum as if the entire drum was sitting in an isolation ring. You can even extend a cymbal arm out from the bracket when attached to the small tom or floor tom. This is a great innovation.

Now, here's one I am REALLY excited about. Below there are two photos of the new vintage Ludwig claw. Just like the 60s and 70s, but even better since it is also padded to protect the bass drum hoop. This will be standard equipment on the vintage build out Legacy kits we do with Ludwig and it looks fantastic. We match this up with their vintage T rod for a truly retro look.