The Ludwig company was established in America
by two German-born brothers, the older
William F. and the younger Theobald Ludwig. 

Working as a vaudeville drummer in Chicago in
1908, William Ludwig became dissatisfied with
the clumsy foot pedals of the day. He began
designing pedals capable of fast tempos and
high power, and had them made out of wood by
a cabinet maker. The Ludwig & Ludwig company
started out by mass producing durable metal
version's of William's pedals. 

Ludwig drums were selling strong throughout
the 1920s, but the invention of the talking
movie, which decreased demand for live
percussion, and the US market crash in 1929
severely curtailed Ludwig sales. William
Ludwig then sold his company in 1929 to the
GC Conn Manufacturing Co. of Elkhart,
Indiana, which by now also owns Leedy drums.
Ludwig continued working under GC Conn until
1937, when he became dissatisfied and left to
start a new drum manufacturing operation with
his son, William F. Jr. They name their new
company William F. Ludwig Drum Company. 

In February of 1964, Ringo Starr appeared on
the Ed Sullivan show playing a Ludwig drum
set that he picked out at a central London
location of the Drum City store. The words
"The Beatles" were centered on the bass drum,
with the Ludwig logo printed above. This
exposure gave Ludwig instant recognition and
it became the number one drum manufacturer in
the world until Japanese manufacturers
started making major headway in the early
70s.