Ludwig 'RAINBOW' Vistalite Drum Series
3-BAND RAINBOW
PATTERN 'A'
(PHOTO COURTESY OF : DONN BENNETT DRUM STUDIOS)
PHOTO COURTESY OF OWNER REX SCOTT
PHOTO COURTESY OF : KING LOUIS MUSIC
This is one of the 2 most common Rainbow pattern Vistalites that you will find on the Vintage Drum Markets today. The photo above is a specially optioned BLUE/GREEN/CLEAR outfit that was ordered in the Sea-Hawks NFL football team colors. The configuration is 22/12/13/15/5x14 Matching Vistalite snare, or known as the 'BIG BEAT' configuration which was Ludwig's standard 5 piece outfit. Set's like the one pictured above with matching snare and in excellent+ condition will bring $1250-$1500.00, especially for specially optioned colored outfits w/matching snare. This pattern is also real common and the most mass produced in the RED/AMBER/YELLOW or 'TEQUILA SUNRISE' (pictured ABOVE in the Quadra-Plus Configuration which is owned by Rex Scott) color scheme.
3-BAND RAINBOW CONSTRUCTION:
The '3-BAND RAINBOW VISTALITE' shells were the simplest of all 6 patterns to make. Just 3 rectangular panels with the top panel beveled 45 degrees only on the bottom, the center panel beveled 45 dedgrees on both sides, and the bottom panel was beveled 45 degrees on the top. Depending on the size and depth of the drum, the panels ranged in width. Some panels were smaller width than others on different on some drums and larger width than others on larger drums.
These panels were bonded togather first with a clear acrylic resin on the beveled seams, but note the seams on the panels was not completely filled in with acrylic resin. The resin was 'HOT KNIFED' applied into the panel seams to give the seams a nice clean barely noticeable appearence. After the resin was cooled and and cured out, the entire panel front and back or top and bottom was completely buffed out removing any excess trases of resin that many have ran out during the 'HOT KNIFE' resin application. After the whole rectrangle piece buffed out, then it was time for the 'THERMO-FORMING' or making it into a cylinder shape.
The entire piece was heated until it was flexiable state which sources have said that the temperature was about 350 degress (f).After the acrylic panel was at it's flexiable state (350 f)it was then pressed up against a steel mold to form the rectangle piece into a cylinder. The top and bottom of the rectangle piece was beveled 45 degrees like the panel seams, but the entire MAIN SEAM'S 'V' gap was completely filled in with acrylic resin and then allowed to cure and then buffed out like the panel seams. All Vistalite and Rainbow Vistalite shells had the same 'THERMO-FORMING'procedure. As you can tell by the picture, it was a pretty simple pattern to make, and not all that expensive and time consuming to produce, which is what makes this Rainbow Pattern more numerous than others to produce, hence mass production. I've also seen this pattern in black/red/black - red/black/green (1975 Ludwig Rainbow Vistalite Brochure) - red/white/green - Of red/amber/yellow - black/white/black.
5-BAND RAINBOW
PATTERN 'B'
The '5-BAND RAINBOW VISTALITE' pattern was made just like the above '3-BAND RAINBOW' Vistalite pattern was, but consisted of 2 more panels. Depending on the size and depth of the drum, the panels ranged in width. Construction of the 5-BAND RAINBOW shells followed the same procedure like the above "3-BAND RAINBOW" Pattern 'A' shells.
The 5-band Rainbow Vistalite drums are quite rare on todays Vintage Drum Market. This pattern was mass produced in black/clear/black/clear/black. The photo above is a rare red/clear/red/clear/red color option. I've also seen this pattern in red/white/blue/red/white. Basically, you could have optioned you 5-band Rainbow with 5 different colors and also alternate those colors if wanted! Quite a wild looking Rainbow Pattern, but quite attractive in it's own way! Ludwig never used the 5-band Rainbow pattern as a Tivoli kit, basically because of it was just to complex of a pattern to put lights into and also the cost of the lighting material and hardware just caused it to be a to expensive of model to produce and hope to get good sales from.
(PHOTO COURTEST OF: MASTER MUSICIANS)
SPIRAL
RAINBOW VISTALITE PATTERN 'C'
The Blue/White Spiral Photo is Courtesy of Drumatix Collectable Drums
The Red/White "Candy Cane" Sprial Photo is Courtesty of Vintage Drum Center
This is one of the most trickiest Rainbow patterns to make and is this one is my most favorite beside the Tivoli Kits. This pattern is second most common on the Vintage drum market today. Most common in the Candy Cane color/pattern RED/WHITE or RED/CLEAR. Although, I've seen RED/AMBER/YELLOW - BLUE/CLEAR - RED/BLACK (strange) - RED/WHITE/BLUE - (PICTURED BELOW) - AMBER/BLACK (different) - BLUE/WHITE - and RED/YELLOW (ABSOLUTELY WILD!) and now have a photo comming soon of a black/clear 4 piece kit in the SPIRAL pattern. Most Spiral pattern Vistalites were 2 colors, but 3 colors were available. Three color Vistalite drum outfits or singles in that fact, are considered exotic. View Photo above of what a three color spiral Vistalite outfit looks like in red/white/blue!
CONSTRUCTION:
Of all the 6 different Rainbow patterns, this one seems to me to be the toughest to make and most time consuming. First you must consider the each stripe was a step for the next color stripe. In order for the pattern to look like a spring or spiral pattern, each piece was cut at a right angle and then beveled 45 to create the "V" gap spiral seam. The main seam was simply made because the top and bottom of the whole panel would actually become the shells MAIN SEAM. If you look at the top of a stripped Spiral Shell, you will notice a saw blade type pattern, what your seeing is the right angled tapered pieces. Each piece consisted of a start and stop procedure starting and ending at the MAIN SEAM.
After the pieces were assemebled into the rectangle piece like the other Rainbow Vistalites, the piece was trimmed if needed and then was thermo-formed in the traditional thermo-forming mehtod for Vistalite shells.
About 95% of the time, I've seen Spiral confused with the very much different SWIRL pattern in Rainbow Vistalites. THIS IS NOT A SWIRL PATTERN. I've also seen the 5-band Rainbow Vistalite Pattern "B" Called a SWIRL. I would like to know were they think it looks like a swirl pattern? If you are thinking of purchasing a Rainbow Vistalite and the seller says it's a SWIRL, ask for photo of the kit. Use this page for reference. If the sellers swears he/she bought the kit when it was new, then a photo will do it justice. If it's a spiral and the photo(s) shows a SWIRL pattern (either 2-band or 3-band SWIRL or even possibly some other Rainbow Pattern) then I would consider the seller does not know what he/she is confused on what pattern they are talking about, and move on to other possibilities, unless you like his/her kit better...
2-BAND SWIRL
PATTERN 'D'
PHOTO COURTESY OF OWNER : REX SCOTT
This is another neat and in different colors this pattern is very eye catching. The photo is a RED/SOLID WHITE Vistalite 2-band Swirl outfit in the Big Beat Outfit configuration.
Construction:
The 2-band Swirl construction was quite simple to make. It's just to different colored sections that starts with a large taper at the main seam then gradually tapers out to the middle half of the shell, then tapers to a small taper at the top of the shell and stops at the opposite side of the seam of were it originally started! The other color starts underneath the small taper side of the other color but continues to the bottom of the shell and goes to the top of the opposite colors large full width panel and tapers off to a point. Basically, there are two different color panels cut at a sharp right angle and matted togather. When formed into a cylinder, it gives the pattern of a swirl formation.
This pattern is quite rare on any Vintage Drum Market especially sets with matching snares. I've seen this pattern in BLUE/YELLOW - BLACK/CLEAR - AMBER/YELLOW - GREEN/SOLID WHITE - CLEAR/BLUE - AMBER/RED. The AMBER/RED was a OCTA-PLUS with double headed toms, and a 6.5x14" snare,(2) 24"x18" bass drums, and an extra 18x20 floor tom in this color pattern!. This was awesome and extremely 1 of 1 set ever made was in a collection in Japan which was not for sale!
3-BAND SWIRL
RAINBOW VISTALITE PATTERN 'E'
PHOTO COURTESTY OF: Difiore Music
This is one of the most coolest but different Rainbow Vistalite patterns. With the right choice of colors this is a very very attractive pattern. The photo shown is the mass produced big 1976 Bicentennial Kit. It's also called a Bicentennial Outfit. This was a big seller for Ludwig during 1976. Now days, this pattern hardly shows up for sale, reason being is not really known, perphaps that orignal buyers or collectors like this pattern too much to part with them! This pattern is 95% of the time confused with the SPIRAL pattern and VISE VERSA, as you can tell there is alot of difference between the two!!
CONSTRUCTION:
The 'THREE BAND SWIRL' pattern consisted of FULL MAIN SEAM WIDTH panel that comes to a point or tapered point on the opposite side of the seam in middle. The top and bottom bands start at seam were the panel stop at a point and both color fill out the rest of the shell and taper in opposite direction of the center panel which comes to a pointed taper on the beage edge. The top and bottom 1/2 the size of the center band. These are basically pendant type pieces. I've seen this pattern in the above RED/WHITE/BLUE - RED/AMBER/YELLOW - GREEN/YELLOW/SMOKE - AND ALSO SMOKE/WHITE/SMOKE - BLACK/WHITE/BLACK. Full BIG BEAT sets with matching snares are worth $1900 - $2000.00 starting and I've seen them up in the $3500.00 range OF COURSE with the matching snare. Sets without matching snares are in the $1250-$1500.00, and finding that matching snare is quite slim to none because if possible, collectors will buy the extra snares in any Rainbow Vistalite pattern to add to a snare collection. Any Vistalite kit was optional with a Chrome Superphonic 400 5x14 or 6.5x14 Ludwig snare, but most Rainbow Vistalite kits were bought with matching snares. If you find a Rainbow Kit with out a matching snare, then it probally likely the retailer is keeping it for a display, a collector has bought the snare out of the main kit, and or the original owner kept it. Those are the most like possiblities of missing snares.
VERTICLE BAR
RAINBOW VISTALITE PATTERN 'F'
(Photo Coutesy of: Master Musicians)
This is pattern is quite unique in it's own way. Not very common too see this pattern for sale on the Vintage Market, and do draw high dollar when in excellent+ condition with matching snare. The photo above is a BLUE/WHITE Verticle Bar Outfit in the BIG BEAT configuration. BLUE/WHITE color/pattern was mass produced by Ludwig, but are very scarce on the Vintage Market as mentioned above. I've played a Big Beat outfit in RED/AMBER/YELLOW awesome looking and sounding. I've also seen this pattern in BLACK/WHITE - RED/WHITE/BLUE (Pictured Above) - CLEAR/YELLOW - RED/CLEAR/YELLOW - BLUE/WHITE.
CONTRUCTION:
This pattern is also one of the most easiest to make. It's basically small panels mated togather vertically. Please note that there is no correct number of verticle slats to each drum. Some slats were trimmed shorter than others to make a exact size of drum, usually at the mounting hardware were it would be less noticeable. Although, like the SPIRAL pattern, this pattern was also available in three colors!
I've heard by several Vistalite Collectors that this pattern is very frail due to the short seams. In fact this pattern on bass drums and floor toms bare shells are known to bow, and if the hardware on any of the size of shells are in a bind, these seams are known to crack and or the entire shell to crumble. This fenomenon is not a fact, just a rumor. I believe if this pattern would have been very weak, Ludwig would not have offered it as a pattern choice..
'JELLY BEAN' VISTALITE DRUMS
In 1975, besides the new introduction of the Rainbow Vistalites, Ludwig also introduced another finish called Jelly Bean. Basically, a Jelly Bean Vistalite outfit consisted of each drum was a different single Vistalite color. Most commonly seen in the following 5-PIECE setups: BLUE VISTALITE BASS - AMBER 12X8 RACK/CONCERT TOM - RED VISTALITE 13X9 RACK/CONCERT TOM - GREEN, YELLOW, or CLEAR 16X16 FLOOR TOM, and a GREEN, YELLOW, or CLEAR 5x14 SNARE. I've seen a OCTA-PLUS ON Carpenters documentary television show using Clear bass drums instead of Blue. As for Smoke, Solid White, and Solid Black, I've never seen any Jelly Bean Oufits using any of those colors, although it's very possible, but none have turned up for sale or ever mentioned. Ludwig only had the Jelly Bean finish available from 1975-1977. It just was not planned to be a very long finish option in Vistalite, and by 1978 Ludwig introduced the Tivoli kit. Jelly Bean was not considered a Rainbow Finish, although some people get that impression. It was optional on about any outfit that Vistalite was optional finish. Most Jelly Bean is mostly seen in double headed BIG BEAT configurations, but I've seen a Octa-Plus with single headed concert toms (melodic) for sale in the Jelly Bean finish, this set was not all there and was priced at $500.00. Although with a little money the kit would be worth, in OCTA-PLUS, worth $1500-$2000.00, if restored. And then theres the non original Jelly Bean kit. Basically a piece-to-gather outfit. Some poeple will fall for that, beings, the seller has bought each different color of Vistalite toms, in the same production era and / or changed badges from different drum, and post it as a Jelly Bean Outfit. To tell for sure is look at the badge and see if it has been reglued, and also look at the Serial Numbers. They should match with 100 numbers or fewer! If not, then it's likely it's a piece togather, no a authentic Jelly Bean Oufit!
If you have a questions or picture of Rainbow Vistalites or plain Vistalites, then please feel free to contact me (Eric) at VDR by E-mail or phone!
