Ludwig Speed King Refurbish Part 1
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Here's a detailed procedure for disassembly and refurbishing of a 70's Ludwig Speed King bass drum pedal. These pedals were used by 70's drummers such as John Bonham and Charlie watts. The have a super fast action and when properly maintained and lubricated will give years of service.
Greatly appreciated sir, I couldn’t have restored mine without you. Excellent instructable.
Nothing like some 60 year old grease! Mine looked even nastier if that’s possible, kind of an ancient earwax consistency. Springs came out pretty easy, one side needed a needlenose pliers. Dust caps popped off with a bit of propane torch and a rubber mallet. Amazing (and sad) to see the quality of parts and finishes from old-school U.S. manufacturing. Why aren’t we building stuff to last anymore? After de-gunking, the parts look new - no corrosion after 60 years! The chrome plating, nobody’s doing quality plating like this anymore. These pedals have been in basements and garages for decades and they have better chrome than brand new drum gear lol. Ah, the good old days....
Another thank you sir! Excellent video. It helped me complete a refurb, specifically accessing the bearings...
Thanks for this video It helped me out greatly with getting my Speed King back to new. I hadn't played in a long time and decided to start again and found my pedal was initially stuck then slow now its like brand new again saved me a ton of money
Hey this was really helpful, but I don't have anyway to bead blast or soda blast the parts you did, any other methods you could recommend?
Wow Cant believe I found this. I goot an old Speed King a freind gave to me some time ago, aint used it in awhile, just moved & it had been in storage for about a yr now. Cool history about this pedal & the freind that gave it to me I'll save til the end. So Im cleanin it up cause I wanna use it again, flip it over & find the 'Twin Springs' I always wondered about but couldnt find 😂? Yup they were gunked up but I got em loose, cleaned & oiled em up & 'Wow', the capabilities of how loose or tight u want it I couldnt believe, cant wait to start usin this again, thanks alot man. Oh & the story, I dont like tellin cause I dk if anyone belive it or not. But I became freinds with a fellow drummer, only to find out he toured with David Bowie (& many others) but this pedal was just 1 he used on that tour, poss others, that I didnt ask, but thanks again (no names, wont call him out on here). What a cool guy. He also gave me a Slingerland hi-hat stand, hmm I wonder...
Just got one of these with a Ludwig kit I bought the other day, and I think I have to try this. Great video, thanks a lot !
I just finished refurbishing the same era Speed King from my first drum set and your excellent video made that possible. It functions now like it is brand new. I still remember how excited I was in 73 or 74 going to that music store in San Antonio to get an adult Ludwig kit (which I am also refurbishing) with those great old school Zildjian cymbals (I still have them.) I think we're probably about the same age so here's to good memories revived.
Thank you so much!!!
Great detail this will be fun and rewarding to do
Helpful video. How do I replace the connecting link without damaging the pin?
I find that lithium grease on all the pivot points works better and lasts longer than WD40. Great video!
Great point!
All I need is a fully equipped machine shop and I can start rebuilding my old Speed Kings!!
Joking aside, what would you use if you did not have any kind of shot blasting equipment?
Thank you so much for posting this! I have a pretty nice one, from the WFL years, but I would’ve never thought to try gutting it and refurbing without this video. I’m pretty sure it’s never been done, which means I’ve got the same waxy nasty goop inside (vintage sludge?). Just wish I had a bead blaster! Oh well, I can probably find someone locally to blast it for me. Most important step: Push the grease through til it gets on the balls! Naturally.
I had a couple of these babies on my black concert tom vistalite kit when I was a teenager back in the 80s. Being a teenager, I was deeply dissatisfied with what I had because the pros were using nice, new yamaha recording custom and DW stuff. The speed kings were rattly and squeeky and old and battered. Only now do I understand what an iconic and historically significant assemblage of drums that kit was.
I still wouldn't trade my yamaha kit for them though. Drums have made vast leaps in quality since those days.
P.S. Really love your video (s) Thanks for posting!
Hey there. I recently acquired an old 70s Speed king. It is completely locked up and I don’t have the time or resources to restore it. If I could send it to you, could you restore it for me? Thank you!
Sorry but no.
The small rod that fits into the bottom of the piston is broken off flush with the bottom of the piston. Do you think it matters?
It does but are you sure it is broken? On my Speed King the rod came out of the piston. The pedal wouldn't work well until I put the rod back in. I had to tap the end of the rod against an anvil to make small ridges that would hold the rod in the hole in the piston
thumbs up
wish you a nice 2. Advent
Thank you for sharing
best regards Frank
Nice video. Thanks for sharing.
My caps popped off on their own. Lol
lol
I have two SK. I recently "cleaned up" both. I was able to get the caps off by tapping the tops of the "goal posts", but I didn't use any heat. Yes .. I was probably risking doing some damage, but they popped out of both SK with relative ease and not to hard of a pounding. Cleaning as much as I could, when I put them back together, one was very smooth and the other was still a tad sluggish. meaning that the oscillation was maybe 1.5 times. I am attributing this to ( maybe ) the bearings on the sluggish one probably needs to be cleaned. I notices that you, once again, applied some heat to the posts, tapped the ends and the bearings dropped out. I'm just wondering if anyone was able to free them with out heating the posts first. TIA
Of course, if you use a rubber hammer you can pop out sealing caps and bearings with a couple of moderate shots on the posts. If you have a badly goopy grease blocking everything, then use heating as B plan... The secret is to avoid grease as a lubricant in the first place: always use thin oil (or lithium dry grease, if you can't live without...)
Great video, do you have a refurbished speedking pedal for sale? Seriously, thanks.
That bend in the pull rod is part or the natural shape , it is bought like that.
Every one I've ever seen is straight.
No, it must be straight. Sometimes they bend, especially if blocked by old gunky grease.
thanks a lot! thot that was great. maybe i'll get around to trying all that someday.
Hey Mr HackaweekTV sir. What is the best product and way to clean all the gunk off of the springs, shaft and bearings? Thanks!
You want to use a brake cleaner, carb cleaner, or auto parts degreaser/cleaner. It’s all the same stuff, solvents that love to eat grease. You can pick up a cheap can of any of the above just about anywhere.
I use a pure acetone bath, dry them with a towel, and then immediately apply oil (acetone-degreased parts oxidate very fast...).
Tease! Let's hear some drums!
skate board bearings to replace ?
No, the SK bearings bore (the hole or I.D.) is much larger than skateboard bearings
If I send you mine can you clean it up like that
Currently no free time for more projects. Sorry. I may offer the service in the future though.
Are you still not accepting projects? If not do you know anyone to help refurbish my 1960's Speed King?
@@HackaweekTV I have 2 Speed King pedals I would love for you to refurbish for me, exactly the way you did yours in the video. Do you have the time to do it? I'll pay whatever it costs. Thanks.
I miss the good old hackaweek ... This is not "HACK" this is not Hacka"WEEK"
Only so much time in the day, plus, I'm running a business now. I kind of miss it too! :)
It is good to see you back. But the hackaweek is too great a loss. Hope the business is doing well. Thumbs up from blighty.
'Since I've Been Loving You' is the Zeppelin song you meant?
Oh man...two of my three lovely Speed Kings are no longer working korrekt and even though I´ve studied your instructions - the result (I´m doing something wrong!?) is a disaster. I wish I could come over to see you. Best Regard from germany
Yessss!, i can hear it now, Since i've been loving you!
Invaluable! Just done my 1960s one and could not without the video. I had to soak with WD40 down the towers for days to have any hope of removing even the springs. Been using mine for 45 years but I'm not a heavy hitter.
Speed kings are beauty pedals if there treated properly.
Thanks so much for this video. I recently bought a vintage Speed King that was so full of gunk that the footboard wouldn't move at all, and your excellent video showed me how to bring it back to life. It's now the smoothest pedal I own.
I added one trick. The bushings at the base of the footboard were worn through, so instead of replacing them with new bushings, I used a step bit to drill out the holes to 3/8", and then installed 1/4" ID x 3/8" OD ball bearings. There's no more slop in the hinge, and it pivots very smoothly.
Thanks again! Couldn't have done it without you.
Great fix! Thanks for watching.
I play Ludwig Speed King 30 Years!!! Great today Nr1 is Custom made in Czarcie Kopyto!!!Nr1
Hey. Excellent work.Please tell me the dimensions of the bearings of the pedal in mm.
Just wanted to thank you for this video. All your tricks for disassembly worked like a charm. I bought this pedal brand new back in the 70's and was discouraged when it became sluggish this year.
Glad it helped!
Great to find this video, so I could refurbish my Ludwig Speed King, bought at the famous Werleins, New Orleans, in spring 1979.
Just followed your video and advise on cleaning and lubing my Speed King Ludwig Pedal....Works SO much better now!! THANKS
Get rid of the squeak! It's what we love about a few of Ringo's contributions to Beatles recordings : )
Anna....All I've Got To Do.... gotta love it : )
Brilliant. I have that exact pedal from the mid-70s with the same symptoms. I had no clue how to refurbish it. Now I can't wait to dig in and fix it.
Great technical detail from a drummer and obviously good mechanic!
i need to try some of that neat graphite suspended in solvent
It's not cheap... but a little goes a loooong way! www.amazon.com/Bike-Aid-Bike-Dri-Slide-Needle-Nozzle/dp/B001F2Y25G
Hmmm...i have never had that much problem of fixing any Tama pedal.
I made a brace between the posts to keep them from spreading. If you know, you know. Unfortunately I can't post a pic.
Keep away this sticky grease from Speed Kings: use thin industrial good type oil! This kind of old cageless bearings needs to run freely, and every grease became sticky with time, blocking the bearings, springs, and pistons. The same goes for the Rogers Swiv-o-matic, with its cageless needle bearings... mine are running smoothly from the sixties up to now! If you can't live without grease, use lithium dry type.
Thanks for showing us the way!
This dude is a stone cold pro
The flat connecting piece from the center of the cross peice to the pedal board may have been diliberately bent by the previous owner. I did this with my Speed king as I found that the beater did not strike the drum when I expected it to so. By bending that piece it causes the beater to strike the drum earlier than the standard set up. i never found it to be a great pedal and was quickly discarded when I discovered the Camco pedal.
Doing mine as we speak, it’s so old it has the WFL logo on it. A trick I used to get the piston out was to heat up the shaft too, comes out a lot easier.
Did you ever manage to close the separation of the goalpost?
I like my pedal just the way it is.despite the sqeek’s
Awesome instructions dude! One of my favorite pedals. I recently bought a vintage Speed King needing some serious attention much like the one you overhauled. Sure appreciate the step-by-step details you presented! Hopefully I'll have similar success. Thanks again!
Good luck and thanks for watching.
Thanks - made my sluggish 40 year old pedal a pleasure again. Haven't done the soda blasting for appearance but just because I don't have access
I love hearing stories of repairs and restorations. It's a great pedal.
World’s best kick drum pedal. I have e few, one I serviced just as you showed to us. Thanks a lot. Where can I buy those end caps/bearing caps?
Try Ebay or a hardware store, maybe McMaster Carr hardware online.
Pour laquer thinners down the shaft. They'll slide right out.
Interesting vid. There is another famous kick drum squeak on the intro to Superstition by Stevie Wonder. Perhaps he used a Ludwig pedal too?
Burlats de Montaigne Cold Sweat is another, same for For the Good Times by Al Green.
We’ll just totally broke mine cause I tried removing the pins same way he did
):
it's really primative pedal system
It is. It works.
Best instructional video ever!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
For anyone else (like me) who’s diving into this project and maybe doesn’t have some of these tools etc:
I used a rubber mallet (didn’t have a deadblow hammer) and it worked well. Sprayed some PB Blaster on the caps, let sit for a bit, torched it and hit it with the mallet.
I bought a baby bottle brush at the dollar store to ream out the inside of the greasy posts. Spray inside with engine degreaser and brush and brush and brush. Used a brass wire brush on the springs.
Often the beater retention wingnut is missing on these old beauties - no problem, it’s a normal thread and you can use a hardware store replacement.
No bead blaster? Me neither. Some fine steel wool works great to clean up old metals. Wood bleach powder dissolved in water makes an excellent cleaner for old chrome. And of course aluminum can be polished pretty easily.
Mine came out great, I appreciated this video very much. I’m proudly playing a 50’s WFL Speed King that probably would’ve ended up in a landfill. Good luck!
wanted to thank you for a great video,which helped me to restore my 70's era speed king pedal .you explained things very well. My 70's restored ludwig standard drum kit is now complete THANKS
I've just bought the same super famous pedal and I'll follow your instructions ! Many thanks from Italy !!!
What do you charge to refurbish one of these?
Nevermind. Your video made it look so easy I did it myself lol, minus the bead blasting but mine is in good aesthetic condition anyway. Great video buddy. It was intimidating until I watched this a few times.
Came back to your channel to check some things from your CB750 project since I'm starting a CB450 rebuild. That series was nothing short of addicting to me, and now you have this video, working on a pedal I have laying around... Seems like I will once again be spending some time here :) Thanks!
Hey, great video! I just blindly picked up a speed king and a Pearl chain driven pedal for $20 total. I was just clicking around to see what I had. Your video gave me a little project and a chance to check out another vintage tool from rock and roll history. I love the in-depth instructions and the performance test at the end. Mine seems gummed up but looks to be in good shape to refurbish. Thanks!!
My first kick pedal was a Speed King,,,, AKA the shin slapper.
Outstanding job! Do you have any restored one's for sale or do you accept speedking for restoration?
5:03 - Same with carb cleaner! Can't just spray a teeny weeny little bit. It's ALL or nothing with that stuff.
Cool vid! You could use your shop to record your drums with that great natural reverb when pounding out those pins!
Thank you this is a great video with awesome instructions...
I never played a drum in my life but I stumbled upon this video and enjoyed it. Good job man.
Amazingly detailed! Thank you! No to try to get mine apart in the same manner!
nice work! thanks!
i swear by speed king awsome invention!
Great video!! Thank you!!
Here I was thinking you were doing a washer........... Lovely bit of work there, and interesting in the way they solved the issues as well.
Thanks, I have taken them apart before but only the spring. Every thing worked as you said, tooka fell tries to bet brass fitting turned properly. Let's just say I can take one apart and back together in my sleep.
If that was John Bonham's pedal, the bearings would have been turned to powder. Greatest drummer of all time.
Michael Melton
Click Bait.....
Great video! Makes me want to get one, refurb and give it a try. The squeak turned me off these decades ago and I got comfortable with the DW 5000. That said, the history and "pedigree" of the Speed King is not lost on me. Been a fan for a long time. Thanks.
I really like the fine tuning you can do to the spring tension. Compress it a bit and you have to push harder, but you get a faster rebound.