Ludwig Ghost Bass Drum Pedal

Back in the 8th grade, when I first started playing the drums, I sat in with a friend's band practice when their drummer didn't show. I broke his pedal in about 30 seconds. That's when I realized I had a heavy foot.

I broke through my own first pedal, which had a leather strap connecting the footbed and the the beater. A few flimsy chain drive pedals later and I invested in the Ludwig Ghost.

It had a radical design, seen at left. No chain drive, nylon or leather straps, but a metal mechanism. Those large cylindrical shapes on the sides contained enclosed spiral spring mechanisms (0r maybe there was one on only one side). The idea was to minimize moving parts and avoid squeaks and rinkatink chain noise, but rather provide silent movement, like a ghost.

It took some getting used to. The footbed didn't have a hinge above the heal, but rather was one piece. Different action but I liked it well enough. I kicked this sucker pretty hard and it never gave way. It lasted me through a decade or so.

Later it did start to squeak some and after trying some higher end chain-drrive pedals in the store I realized I was missing a lot of speed and fluidity. I moved on to a Tama or Pearl or some such new treasure.