The use of acrylic (plexiglass) shells for drums was invented by Bill Zickos back in 1959 after he had the idea of forming clear plastic sheets and mold them into drums. He made his first set for Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly in 1969 and obtained a US patent in 1970.
In 1972 the Ludwig Drum Company began making acrylic drums. They named the series Vistalite – a name that is today virtually synonymous with acrylic drums.
Ludwig started producing the Vistalite drums in six colors – Clear, Red, Green, Blue, Amber, and Yellow. The shells were sourced from Cadillac Motors and the drums were built in the Ludwig Chicago facility.
Very popular “Jelly Bean” drum sets were made up of drums of different colors.
By 1976 the company was offering “Rainbow Vistalite” shells, with multiple colors – now including translucent Smoke, solid White and solid Black – in six patterns.
Ronn Tutt, the drummer for Elvis Presley, co-invented the multicolor pattern shells. His first use of a Vistalite set on stage was impressive, but Elvis wasn’t keen to sharing the spotlight.
The pattern A drums were three horizontal bands of equal depth. The most popular color combination was Red, Amber, and Yellow, deemed the “Tequila Sunrise”.
The pattern B drums were five horizontal bands of equal depth. When made with each band a different color, it was called the “Life Savers Candy Roll”.
The pattern C drums were made with equal depth bands presented in a spiral pattern like a barber shop pole. A coveted color combination is Red and White which immediately brings to mind a “Candy Cane”.
Early production pattern C drums were made with the stripes going from top left, to bottom right. At some point the standard became bottom left, to top right. The difference was simply in the orientation of the drum shell before drilling the holes.
The pattern D drums are known as the three-color swirl, and the two-color swirl is the pattern E drums.
Some early swirl drums were built with the shell oriented in one direction, before becoming standard in the other direction – same as with the pattern C shells.
The pattern F drums are made of multiple vertical bars of equal width.
In 1976 our Nation celebrated the 200 year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Ludwig Drum Company stepped up in a big way by offering their Bicentennial line, with limited runs of each pattern made in Red, White, and Blue.
For whatever reason, the Green color shells lagged in sales and were subsequently dropped from production. Due to this fact, green Vistalite drums are the rarest and most coveted.
In 1977 Ludwig produced “Faux Stainless Steel” drums by wrapping White Vistalite shells with Chrome sheet. The offering was actually a solution to an accidental over order of the white acrylic shells.
Ludwig offered to make any of their drums, in any configuration, using Vistalite acrylic shells. Vistalite marching band drums, timbales, bongos and conga drums were made. Also offered were matching drum thrones. Drums could be ordered with high-tension “Mach” lugs, and snares with Super-sensitive throws.
Ludwig primarily produced toms in the standard “studio” version with top (batter) and bottom (resonate) heads. The studio toms, floor toms, and snare drums were made with internal tone controls. The toms and the bass drums were made with large lugs. Also available were the “concert” toms that had only a batter head, no tone control, and small lugs. Known as “Power Toms”, drums with extra deep shells were an option.
The first big endorser of Vistalite drums was rock drummer John Bonham of Led Zepplin. He famously played an Amber Vistalite set configured with a 26″ bass drum, a 14″ (or 15″) studio tom, with a 16″ and 18″ floor tom (or, sometimes, an 18″ and 20″ floor toms). For whatever reason, he preferred a chrome Ludwig snare. This configuration is now commonly referred to as the “Bonham” setup.
Other famous Vistalite players were Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Keith Moon of The Who, Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters, Ginger Baker of Cream, Ron Bushy of Iron Butterfly, Barriemore Barlow of Jethro Tull, and Jay Osmond of The Osmonds.
In 1978 Ludwig began producing the “Tivoli” Vistalite set. These are made with pattern A drums that have a string of lights integrated into the seam between the bands. They came only in standard sizes and five piece – primarily in the Tequila Sunrise colors. Though advanced for the time, they were plagued with problems.
Rising oil prices in the late 1970s spelled doom for the already expensive acrylic shell drums. By 1979 the Ludwig Vistalite drums were discontinued.
Fortunately for drummers of the world, our story doesn’t end here. Good times would return some day.
Fast forward two decades, and things had changed. In 2001 the Ludwig began offering “Re-issue” Vistalite drums in limited colors and patterns.
The Clear, Blue, Yellow, Amber, Black, and Smoke colors were again offered, with the Amber “Bonham Edition” being very popular. The “Tequila Sunrise” was the only pattern / color combination offered.
Over the years they have built Limited Edition” models in Red, and in Green.
They made a Black, Smoke, & Clear A pattern.
And
A Green, Yellow, & Red A pattern deemed the “Island Sunset”.
New colors of acrylic drum shells have been produced and Ludwig took advantage by offering a set in hot Florescent Pink.
They now produce drums with a “hybrid” acrylic shell that is infused with sparkle.
You can now buy these sets in Green, Black, Red, and even Purple Sparkle.
Today there are several sources of acrylic drum shells in a wide array of colors. RCI Starlite www.starlitedrums.com can supply all colors and can even reproduce the Ludwig Vistalite pattern shells. They supply shells pre-drilled and ready to accept the vintage Ludwig Vistalite hardware. Their “specialty shell” drums are absolutely incredible.
The year 2022 is a special year for Ludwig Vistalite drums. It’s the 50th anniversary of the introduction of this truly inspirational line. To celebrate, Ludwig is now offering several beautiful sets.
