Of all the sets Ive owned through the years, the set I've kept is an early 70's 5 piece Ludwig ( either 71 or 72 ). One thing that always puzzled me was my set is equipped with mufflers on the batter and resonant sides. I remember when I ordered them, but I don't recall if that was an option at the time .. just curious. The other thing I noticed ( more recently ) is the workmanship. I never took a really close look at the drums when I purchased them but in cleaning and re-skinning all the drums recently I noticed lots of imperfections on the insides of the shells ( which are uncoated). most notably the rim of the floor. The overlapping of the bearing head is substantial and the only way to deal with it is to use a heavier "emperor" head to eliminate a "fluttering" when down tuning the head. Has anyone else noticed the variance in quality with Ludwig kits around this time? BTW they are wrapped in Blue Oyster Pearl
70's ludwig dual mufflers - questionable quality Last viewed: 8 hours ago
I had a 1971 set with dual mufflers on the toms. They weren't lined up very well! You could see they were misaligned, and poorly installed.
Maybe the younger Ludwig employees were smoking those left handed cigarettes on their coffee breaks!
I often read tales about the middling quality of sets from the 1964-67 "Beatle boom" but
I've found more quality control issues on early 70's drums than on mid 1960's Ludwig sets. Quite unlike the well constructed Legacy sets I play on these days.
It seems that the Ringo effect as I will call it definately affected quality control at ludwig. My early 64 set is in good order, everything was lined up, badge in the center, ect. Look at a set made some time post Ed Sullivan, and there is usually a difference. By the 70's you usually see better workmanship, but they were still hand made.
1963 Ludwig Downbeat Champagne Sparkle
1964 Leedy (Slingerland) Blue n Silver Duco
1964 Ludwig Club Date Sparkling Silver Pearl
1966 Ludwig Super Classic Sparkling Silver Pearl
1968 Gretsch round badge modern jazz orange stain
1972 Slingerland 85N Pop outfit Light Blue Pearl
1976 Ludwig Vistalite clear
1981 Gretsch SSB Gran Prix Rosewood
1987 Yamaha Turbo Tour Custom Mellow Yellow
1991 Pearl Export Ferrari Red
I have one set from 1972 with duel muffler's on al the tom's 12,13,14,15,mounted on stand's 16,18,20 floor tom's.I got it from the orignal owner who ordered the set this way.The quality is good all badge's muffler's are in lone the edge's are great on all the drums...Ph the set is in W.M.P.....Mikey
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