Yes they did do it, and the real reason it was done was because certain wraps, in particular white marine pearl, would shrink at the seam and lift. They changed the way the wrap was attached to the shell when they went to the 6-ply shells vs the 3-ply shells. Three ply shells had the wrap bonded to the outer ply BEFORE the shell was formed into shape using some now defunct super strong, probably extremely toxic, adhesive glue. This is why the 3-ply shells have the wrap UNDER the seam of the shell.......you'll find this out if you ever attempt to re-wrap an old 3-ply shell. Well.....the 6-ply shells were die-formed as opposed to steam bent into shape....the old method of attaching the wrap wouldn't work any more. Also, the type of adhesive changed at the time due to the EPA and such. The new glue was not as strong, and they were still using the old cellulose based wraps....so weaker glue and wraps that shrink over time would cause lifting seams. Ludwig's solution? Pop rivet the seam! Well guess what? That didn't work out too well either....the wrap would still shrink over time (WMP being the worst offender) only this time instead of just lifting at the seam, the wrap would split and crack at and around the rivets!After that disasterous adventure, Ludwig went to the double sided tape method.......that worked out about as well as the rivets.....the wrap would still shrink, and it would crack, split, grow flaps and "wings"....it happened to me so I know from experience....the final fix to the issue is when 99% of the wraps became available in PVC plastic instead of the old cellulose based plastic.....a lot less shrinkage ("I WAS IN THE POOL!".........take that all you Seinfeld/George Costanza fans!) and no more lifting problems........Ludwig uses the PVC based wraps now and they also have gone to the same 3M water based adhesive that Precision Drum recommends for all of their wraps they sell. Gretsch has too btw....