Found an unfinished bare wood snare shell at a Goodwill with lugs and rims already on it. No badge, no indication of the manufacturer anywhere on the thing. There was also a bass drum with a bunch of cracks in the shell and whole pieces of the inside ply missing. They wanted $40 for the pair, but I talked the cashier into selling me just the snare shell for $20. I stained it red, and found out how much of a pain in the ass polyurethane is to put on a drum. The sound has little to no body to it, but it does have a great crack when you tune it up high. Fun times.
When i was in high school there were three old red sparkle ludwigs sitting in the closet of the music room at school. Only one bass drum hoop with claws, floor tom had one hoop and rack was missing both. Offered the music teacher $100 for them and took them home as fast as i could. Being in high school i did piece them together with non original parts and the sounded great. I also learned that they were a quite rare set of 1976 ludwig jazzette with the correct 18x12 bass drum, 12x8 rack and 14x14 floor. I loved those drums and really wish i didn’t have to sell them when i was between work 8 years ago.
ugh,.,, i know.. These stories get me. I do session work for both drums and bass,... When I was a teenager, I found a 1968 Oliver Powerflex 500 1 x 15" bass amp, All tube. $80. The head was on a motor that raised it out of the cabinet. (Jess Oliver worked for Ampeg.. This was basically a B15 on designer crack. ..I went on tour in France and the last week there, had most of our gear./cash stolen.. Made it back to the states and had to sell it.. ((recently found the same amp for almost 5 grand)). ,... gets me right in the feelings. Sounded so amazeballz for both guitar and bass. At least I got to make a record with it. so Yay. My Kick drum tho... nope. Never. It's a 26" Ludwig Pioneer, All Mahogany, white marine pearl Monster.. from 1929.
Wow!!! I’ve got a Ludwig Standard snare with the same wrap (gold Strata). Great find! My wife found an early 70’s 16” maple shell Ludwig floor Tom for me at a local goodwill for $30! It’s thunderous
I found a 60s slingerland kit a while back! 20” kick, 12” rack and a 14” metal snare drum to match for $15!!! No floor like yours too. It’s so weird that people do that?? The previous owner had pulled the wrap off and stained it, but it’s in great condition otherwise. One of the best goodwill finds I’ve had in a while!
People need more floor toms. They couldn’t buy them separately back then, so they buy a full kit, just for the floor tom and sell the rest. That’s my only explanation
The Dutch Djentleman No it’s just the opposite actually. Many of the more affordable kits, especially slingerland came with bass drum, snare, and Tom Tom. Floor toms were an add on, and if someone lost interest or stopped playing, all of a sudden you have a lot of “incomplete” drum sets floating around. I know this because I have an old slingerland set from 65, luckily I found the floor Tom first, it’s super rare, and I’ve only seen one other in the last 7 years or so...
I live in Ecuador, one day i found a Rogers 80s or 70s kit, wich is very rare here, i bought the kit and restored until was functional. I got rings for the reso side, somo floor tom legs parts, remo remo coated emperor on the batter side as well as remo coated ambassador for the reso side, it sounds killer. Im very happy with my rogers kit.
That wrap is gorgeous. Definitely looks better than the original colour that was under that lug. I've never bought any gear from a thrift store but godamm, I'm gonna start looking.
@@brodynations4243 Yeah lol oof. Although I made up for a couple months later. Found an oversized Late 80's Liquid Amber Pearl MLX on my local OfferUp for $265. 24 inch kick. 13×11 & 14×12 Rack Toms, 18×16 Floor Tom. People say I could get $265 just for the floor tom alone. The rest is free haha!
My first kit in '77 was a 5 pc Ludwig Standard with gold strata wrap. It looked more gold like a tiger stripes than than that. The wrap there looks great tho! I'll tell you what else the Ludwig Standard leather strap drive pedal was flimsy as a wobbly old foot bridge and the bottom of the pedal clanked on the bolt, but it was super fast.
Dude, where the hell you live? Cuz I'm moving there. Last year..."I found this DW snare in a dumpster"...."I found this Pearl double kick pedal in the men's room at Burger King"....Really dude
I got my Standards from a friend who rescued them from a dumpster. They weren't nearly as nicely kept as yours, but they now look and sound amazing. Great find.
Back in 1991 I picked up a 1964 Ludwig Oyster Black Super Classic kit like the one Ringo used to play for $100 at a garage sale. It still had the original calf skin heads and it came with all zildjan cymbals one of which was a monster 24" ride with a monster bell, it also had a speed master bass drum pedal.I got hard up for money a couple of years later and sold it for $300,I kick myself in the ass for selling it to this day. Those kind of deals are almost unheard of now days....
There's a Ludwig standard FB group, might help with a ft. Also, I had a standard kit and did a bunch of research on them. Date stamp most believe is month day year then a random number. So yours could be may 6th 1971. Those are awesome kits. Exact same shells as the top line kits at the time just cheaper hardware.
Found a mint condition Taye Spotlight kit for $60 at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store! All 3 toms + Kick with a random MIJ steel snare! Was a good find!
I had a set of Ludwig Standards in the 70s. The wrap was Ruby Strata. They were gorgeous and sounded amazing. I still dream that I’m playing them sometimes and would dearly love to have them back. Thanks so much for this video. It brought back a lot of memories. Now excuse me while I have a good cry.
I have to thank you, rdavidr. You might've seen me inquire about a Ludwig floor tom I used to own back in the 90's on some drum forums you and I have belonged to in the past. I used to refer to it as "The Ludwig Mystery Floor Tom" and it was attached to a 20/12/14x4 red sparkle Stewart kit (and I've loved 20/12/16 kits ever since). Well, THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED. Even though that 16x16 floor tom had a b&o badge, Mahogany Cortex finish and large classic lugs, it was all applied to a Standard shell, because the inside of that drum looked EXACTLY like the inside of your Standard drums! This leads me to believe a story I once heard about how, in order to help get a new Ludwig dealership going, Ludwig used to offer dealers, drum kits that looked like a regular Ludwig drumkit on the outside, but used the less expensive Standard shell. Thus lowering the price for the dealer to get them. ....so, thank you very much rdavidr. I've only been puzzling over this for about 34 years now. =) As for getting a matching floor tom, there's one on Reverb - reverb.com/p/ludwig-s-140-standard-series-16x16-floor-tom-1969-1974?hfid=82625199&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxQlKNyywefrDomYNyj0kX1TmWxsGSQOMHd-nZoxqbKpNFAdb1_-XDxoC_BEQAvD_BwE As for the date stamps, I think you're absolutely right. I've heard in the past that Standard never carried the traditional date stamps Ludwig is famous for.
rdavidr, I have a 1969 Ludwig Standard in Gold Strata I got for dirt cheap from Reverb. 22x14/13x9/16x16. Original hardware. One of the best purchases I have ever made. My advice if you can’t find a floor tom? Have some fun. Get a 16x16 floor tom in a different unique finish and make a jellybean kit out of them. Fantastic find! Good luck in your search and have fun! Cheers!
I haven’t found any crazy deals at Thrift Stores but I worked in a music store up until 2015. I had a customer that had been shopping with me for a while come in one day and he said that he was moving and needed to sell a few drums. My manager wasn’t interested in them so I asked him what he wanted for them. He had a 5x14 Pearl Free Floating Maple Snare AND a DW Collectors 5x14 Black Brass snare. He said $100 TOTAL FOR BOTH. I told him they were worth more than that and he said that he knew that but he just wanted to get rid of them. I gave him $100 on the spot. Pretty much brand new condition on both of them. I still own the DW snare and it sounds incredible. Great deal. Also had a guy sell me a Ludwig 5x14 Super Sensitive that was missing the snares for $50. I put a P85 on it and used that drum for years.
I've got a 5 piece Ludwig Standard set that I bought new sometime around 1969 -1970 or so. Same gold/brown color as yours. I haven't played it (or any other drums) for 50 years. I'm never going to part with it even though it just sits stacked up in a room. You wonder if there were originally wing nuts for the floor tom legs. There were. I'd love nothing more than to get some new heads for them all and start playing again. I really loved it and was good enough that I could play along with the records from that time with no problem. I wasn't great by any stretch but good enough that it was fun and I didn't embarrass myself.
Those ludwig Standards are awesome. My introduction to vintage drums and Ludwig were through a set of Standards, wish I kept them. I love the strata wraps and they sound amazing
Not sure how correct google is , but those drums are from the ‘71-‘72 era. Back in the early ‘80’s we had a full five piece set pretty similar to those in our church. It’s the set I learned to play on. And I’ve never played behind a set of drums that sounded any better than those , in my opinion anyway. Cool video. 👍👍👍✌️✌️✌️
My beat up 1970 Ludwig Standard kit often gets compliments on how good they sound. There is magic in their mahogany poplar mahogany construction. I use Fiberskyn Ambassador top and Diplomat bottom. Tune them LOW for massive rock sound.
Found an old Rogers Banner snare drum under a pile of junk left on the sidewalk next to my apartment building years ago. I think it was made in 1962 because as far as i know that was the only year they offered the white mother-of-toilet-seat finish on that model. I still have it and after watching this video I just might order some parts and bring it back to life.
Even though The Strata was Ludwig's entry level kit, over the years they seem to have become as rare to find as the genuine article. Side note from an old man who remembers and if anyone cares....The SECOND Chris in The Partridge Family can be seen playing a Strata kit in a few episodes. If you consider what he was doing "playing" lol
I put together a vintage MOP Ludwig kit (13, 15, 20) year and years ago for 200 bucks through three seperate Craigslist purchases within about three months. All three drums were from late 50s to early 60s. The 15" tom was actually a Ludwig marching snare that someone converted into a floor tom; sounded awesome. It was my gig kit for years, and everyone always complimented it at every show (especially the drummers). The wraps weren't in particularily good condition, and a lot of the hardware didn't match, but didn't matter; I had a vinatage Luddy kit for what I would've paid for a pile of junk student kit at a used gear store.
A number of years ago when I was teaching drums I was driving to one of the schools I taught at. I passed a yard sale with some drums sitting out. I pulled over to check them out. They were a 4-piece set of Ludwigs with Paiste cymbals. It was an older set that was blue lacquer with a silver stripe around the center. The sizes were 5X14 SD, 14X20 BD, 8X12 MT, 14X14 FT, 18" ride, 16" crash, & 14" hh. Plus all the hardware and stands. All was in pretty good condition. They were obviously well taken care of. A girl came over and asked If I played drums to which I replied, "A little. How much are they?" She said $25! I just about nose dived into my back pocket! When I looked in my wallet, I only had $15 cash on me. She said that's good enough and I practically yelled, "SOLD!" As I handed her the $15. I loaded them in my car and off I went. I cleaned and touched them up a bit and polished the cymbals, then sold them for a SUBSTANTIAL profit. I also just recently just bought a full set of PDP's Double Drive for WELL under the "book value" (I don't think they knew what they had). I parted out the components I didn't need and got a nice set of Sabian Cymbals to go with them. I then just a couple weeks ago picked up a like new PDP 16X18 concept maple floor tom for under $100 to go with them, so I now have my single mounted, triple floor setup.
$15!!! That's not even stealing. Thats a straight up Felony haha! Ridiculous. I am realizing some people don't truly know what they have. A buddy told me a similar story. Drove past a yard sale and saw an old drumset for $75. It was some 60's Japanese Stencil kit but the cymbals were three vintage Zildjian K's, the expensive ones. Needless to say when he recognized it, he bought it and ran. I think he said he sold the ride cymbal for $1,700 if I remember correct. Or maybe it was even north of $2,000. I am 100% confident it was between there. But yeah, some people need to research and find out what they have before just practically giving it away. I always research the value of something before purchasing or selling something. Also I love learning!
My best find, and I really don’t look, was a Ludwig Black Galaxy Acrolite in a soft case with the snare stand for 100.00 at a pawn shop. Granted many have found better, but that’s my best.
David, to your question about goodwill finds, I have a good one. I was doing community service at a goodwill in Charlotte North Carolina in about ‘03. A red sparkle wrapped slingerland snare drum came in one day and I wanted it. I came back after my service time and picked it up for $15. I played it for a while but never could really connect with the drum. I ended up eBaying it for in the mid $200’s. Good flip. Good drum.
I bought a early 90's era Ludwig Rocker set earlier this year from Guitar Center (online) for under $300 and it sounds fantastic. Similar to your Standard, it had dead heads on it and a missing wingnut, but other than that it was essentially complete.
Great find! I think the Standards have the same 3ply shells as all their other vintage drums. Nothing like the sound of those shells! I'm also using my old Acro with my old 60's Ludwigs right now...it just sounds right. What type of mics did you use to record this video? I'm in the market...
I recently found and purchased a complete set (incl 5.5"x14"snare) of the infamous 1951 Leedy and Ludwig Knob Tension Drums with the black pearl finish, in nearly mint condition and including original stands, Speed King pedal, throne, hoop mount cymbal arm, cowbell, woodblock and 10" splash cymbal all for under $300. Sometimes I just sit and stare at them, they look so amazing! I'm putting new heads on them right now. Have not played on them, yet.
Man you showed that old crusty kit some love... Way to bring her back my dude!!! I wish I had drawers full of drum parts like that, but I have to admit I'd never keep it straight. If you found that matching floor tom, and it had the same wear level, it would be wild!
Maybe build in May 17 1967 ? After '72 they changed the interior from white reso-cote to clear lacquer. From 1963-1972 they used date stamps on the interior, after '72 they were discontinued. Dennis Wilson was my drummer, even though he wasn't much of a drummer. (He had awesome cars & he could surf) :-) Cheers !
I was able to snatch a 70’s thermogloss Ludwig 4 price kit from Shop Goodwill in my town a few years ago. Someone had listed it wrong and it went for about $100. Best luck I’ve ever had. Cleaned it up and play her every day.
I bought a 5 pc late 60s early 70s Ludwig standard kit complete from Guitar Center online for $600. Love the kit. They are hidden gems vs the more expensive
Agreed, the rack tom seemed to sing nicely, and the floor tom had nice character. I'm assuming from the minimal mics that this is pretty close to what he was hearing, too, but to each drummer their own drum sounds.
That is a hell of a deal!!!! I love the wrap on those drums. Hopefully you can find a floor tom. That kit would go beautifully with my 1918 Ludwig 6 lug NOB snare drum!!!!! Ugh I’ll have to just keep dreaming for now
Today I drove two hours each way to pickup a 90s Ludwig Super Classic (Maple, Poplar, Maple) Made in USA Jazzette 18/16/14/12 for $350!!!!!!!!! I found it on Facebook Marketplace. I thought of you the entire way there and back. Thanks for the inspiration 🤘🏻
Those drums are beautiful. I have a 5 piece blue strata Standard. 12, 13, 16, 22 and 5X14 snare. I can attest the floor toms come with wing nuts. I can also attest that the mounting hardware is no bueno. I have the double tom mount and it is about useless, so basket that rack.
When I sighed up for my Union card, they had a set of Standard on the floor and the finish was just stunning, I think it was the blue strata. Unless I’m mistaken, they were Japan built like Yamaha if having stuff built in China to save costs. Congrats on the find Dave!
Man you have the Midas touch with drum finds. I usually find little kids drums or old CB-700 quality kits. I did find a Blackrolite online for $60 once. It was slightly warped but I lucked out and bent it back into round. I crank it up and use it on my bop kit. Sounds great, esp. when recording.
My first time on eBay ( 20 yrs ago ) I bought a 1967 sky blue oyster pearl Ludwig kit . One owner , he had them in his closet . When I got the drums , I couldn't believe it . I called the guy and asked if he was sure he wanted to get rid of them , he said he wanted them to go to a good home . 20" kick , 13" rack , 16" floor , chrome over brass 5 1/2 snare..........best $600 I've ever spent
I found a 1958 WFL kit in a pawnshop for $100. It was a gold sparkle, with 13" snare, 12" tom and "22 kick. Played for a few years in my blues band before selling it to a friend who collects drums.
I remember a long time ago when I was about 16 or 17. I found this late 70s Ludwig set in a second hand store. I want to say the sizes were 12, 13, 14 concert toms. 16 floor tom, and 22 or 24" bass. It also came with a chrome snare, and a high hat stand. All for 300 dollars.
A few years ago I bought a 6.5"x14" ludwig classic maple snare for $150 from a pawn shop. Cleaned the shell, new heads with die cast hoops and it was ready for battle. It looks brand new ($500). Greetings from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 🙌
rdavidr, Up until the Corona shutdown I used the kick and two of the toms from my beat up and abused 1970 Ludwig Standard kit I can confirm that the floor tom legs are wingnuts and tom mounts are hex. I believe they are mahogany, poplar, mahogany. I use Fiberskyn ambassador on top and Diplomat below.. Tune em' low and enjoy.
I think the acrolite is the official snare of the Goodwill. I got one there a few years back, paid like $5. Then turned around and sold it on eBay for I want to say $160.. don't quite remember. I think they were the most mass produced snare drum in the 70s. I like them though, my first kit was the old church youth group's blue acrylic vistalites and an acrolite snare.
I live in the same area as you and I’ve been playing drums for over 30 years. I use to take that same toll when it was cheaper and b4 they built route 2$8. I think you know which route I’m speaking of without typing the whole number. The stamp inside is for May the 17, 1967 and the only thing missing is the number set this was out of the 600 that were made. I wish I had known about this at the time it was on auction cause I would have went and bought it.
It reads "DATE" and that is May 17 1967 (5-67-17). The rattling on the floor tom is from the tone control YOU just re-installed. Old wise people got em off for good reason.
I found a set of "collar locks" brand drums. Made by DW for $100 at my goodwill. They are from the 80's I think and are surprisingly good quality. The hardware is beefy and the bass drum is "Virgin" (no holes drilled for mounts.) These were an odd footnote in DW's history. I guess they were the prototype brand for what is known as their PDP brand today.
Can't find deals like that around here, but did find a snare and bass pedal while cleaning out an old "storage/hoard" at work. They are still there somewhere.
my friend had a late sixties ludwig set with a similar wrap, except with a backround that was more light red/pinkish. he was missing the 13" tom, so he colored a random old wood tom with crayons! it matched the original wrap exactly!!
I found a 99 cents 10 inch Ddrum brand aux snare drum in near mint condition around Christmas time at our local Goodwill store. Later date I found a Tama snare drum case on wheels with a snare basket top part for $18 at same store. Pretty amazing I say.
Yeah there was one recently in the metro Detroit Craigslist for a grand. No hardware either. Luckily there was a Standard set of hardware in Ann Arbor for whoever bought the set. So in total it was $1,200 or $1,300
@@adderon Sounds about right. They are $12-1500. They do sound amazing. The thing is these were made to be "affordable" drums back then, but now that they're "vintage" and back on the radar the price has gone up. I also feel like the instrument world's inflation rate has exploded. There's trashy 90's kits starting at $400+ these days on the used market.
I have an old wooden Yamaha I got for 10 bucks at a thrift store stand included. Not sure when it's from. They had a Ludwig at one point but wanted $150 for it. It was gone when I went back sadly. Beautiful kit. Hope you find a floor tom
Found a 68 Ludwig Super Sensitive that had been brush painted black (yes brush painted black and a horrible job at that in a pawn shop about 1.5 years ago!! I understand why he decided to paint it. To match the S Series Black Bass, Tom & FloorTom Makes perfect sense to me LOL!!! Whole set was $130.00. with hihat and cymbals. I was going to restore it but after I removed all the paint from the shell and lugs I saw that the chrome was so pitted and I didn't want to rechrome so I pieced it out for those that are restoring old Ludwigs. By the way just the snare wires paid for the most of the kit!!! Crazy!!!
15 dollllars!!! Just recently I found a complete westbury Drumkit from the mid 70s with original high hat stand crash stand throne and snare stand in decent shape for 15 dollars considering they are about 45ish years old the shells where perfect the wraps are are definitely far past there prime and a little rust on the tensioners
I found a 50s Greta have round badge progressive jazz kit for $25 here locally in Ohio a few year back, it was missing a floor Tom but I didn’t care, I damn near ripped my pocket off trying to take out my wallet. It was a little beat up and needed some talc but other than that it was sweet! Came with some vintage Zildjian cymbals and hats too. 🤘🏻
love yard sales i picked up an early sixties gretsch round badge 5 piece with original hi hat stand ludwig speed king and era correct zildjian sizzle ride ,crash ,and 14 inch hi hats . the wraps were green satin flame . inside all of the drums was the trademark silver paint, cast hoops on all of the toms except for the bottoms were missing ,the snare was complete with muffler ,the kick was a little 16 x 18 . standard sizes on the rest of them . i didnt know what gretsch was at the time . i offered 250. 00 he took it . he seemed a little pissed at the time , i didnt know why .that was 1994 . i traded it off to a music store for a 6 piece mapex pro m complete with sabians xs cymbals . i kept the zildjians. my god that snare had the best pop/ crack you ever heard , i want it back. the drums were then purchased by a studio musician who with those drums recorded with mearl haggard and bob dylan was what the music store told me damn that snare fuck
That's an awesome score mate. The wrap looks great. The colour is unique. I bid on a Ludwig Standard Snare Drum last week. The price kept going up and I missed out. If you can source one I'll be happy to buy it. 👍
The standard floor toms had wing nuts on every kit I ever had. looks like the floor tom IS a standard as well since it has re-rings. as far as i know the rockers didn't have the re-rings (at least not any I owned).
I have a complete kit that's exactly that color. Came with Advedis Zildjian cymbals, the standard snare, and a speed king pedal. The hardware was... awful. The cymbal stands fold down with one center screw/washer combination that's supposed to keep it stable (it doesn't).
I know it's an old post, and this may have said.But the Ludwig standard line was the same shells that were used on the classic line of Ludwig drums. Check a 1970's set of classic Ludwig drum it will have the same gray speckled paint in side. The only difference between the two lines are the lug's and mounts.Just a little more info the first line of standards came out in the 60's and 70's when Ludwig changed the shells in the late 70's to clear maple interior with out the rings inside, Ludwig had to do something with the old shell's they also drop the Standard line in about 1981 came out with the Combo line same shells used on standard line. Also when Ludwig discontinued the Vista light drums in 1980 you could get a set of Vista light shells with the Combo badge... I can go on and on about the history of the Standard and Combo lines..
Those drums came out around 1968-1969, they featured the same shells as Ludwig's high end series drums, but those drums were produced to compete with the Japanese drums like Pearl that were being produced at the time.
What the craziest deal youve found at a thrift store?
Found a Furman Elite-15i for 20 bucks once, that was a good day. 95% discount!
Z custom 19 inches projection crash for 35 bucks
Found a 1965 champagne sparkle Slingerland Bop size Jet Set with Buck Rogers stand and Gene Krupa snare at a thrift store in 2005. $100 out the door.
rdavidr Found a 2006 American Fender Jazz Bass for $75. Needed work, but still came out way ahead.
Found an unfinished bare wood snare shell at a Goodwill with lugs and rims already on it. No badge, no indication of the manufacturer anywhere on the thing. There was also a bass drum with a bunch of cracks in the shell and whole pieces of the inside ply missing. They wanted $40 for the pair, but I talked the cashier into selling me just the snare shell for $20. I stained it red, and found out how much of a pain in the ass polyurethane is to put on a drum. The sound has little to no body to it, but it does have a great crack when you tune it up high. Fun times.
Every time Ludwig released an “entry level” or “student” series....they end up sounding fantastic!
Jabrond Gamble yea for students like you who can’t tell the difference
Mike Hawk haha. Okay bro.
@@mikehawk9461 Clearly a large penised individual
Mike Hawk You don’t like acrolites?
Alfie Linville-sibley dam right.
This man is the guru of drums.
I burst out laughing when I found out this maniac has an entire box filled with internal mufflers.
@@conormorrissey8987 one thing they all forget to put on drums these days are internal mufflers
Definitely not a good will guru.
That wrap is absolutely sick, nice find dude.
When i was in high school there were three old red sparkle ludwigs sitting in the closet of the music room at school. Only one bass drum hoop with claws, floor tom had one hoop and rack was missing both. Offered the music teacher $100 for them and took them home as fast as i could. Being in high school i did piece them together with non original parts and the sounded great. I also learned that they were a quite rare set of 1976 ludwig jazzette with the correct 18x12 bass drum, 12x8 rack and 14x14 floor. I loved those drums and really wish i didn’t have to sell them when i was between work 8 years ago.
bet your band director pocketed that 100 and probably never replaced them
Cool that Ludwig was still making the Jazzette in the mid-70's
ugh,.,, i know.. These stories get me. I do session work for both drums and bass,... When I was a teenager, I found a 1968 Oliver Powerflex 500 1 x 15" bass amp, All tube. $80. The head was on a motor that raised it out of the cabinet. (Jess Oliver worked for Ampeg.. This was basically a B15 on designer crack. ..I went on tour in France and the last week there, had most of our gear./cash stolen.. Made it back to the states and had to sell it.. ((recently found the same amp for almost 5 grand)). ,... gets me right in the feelings. Sounded so amazeballz for both guitar and bass. At least I got to make a record with it. so Yay. My Kick drum tho... nope. Never. It's a 26" Ludwig Pioneer, All Mahogany, white marine pearl Monster.. from 1929.
Wow!!! I’ve got a Ludwig Standard snare with the same wrap (gold Strata). Great find! My wife found an early 70’s 16” maple shell Ludwig floor Tom for me at a local goodwill for $30! It’s thunderous
I found a 60s slingerland kit a while back! 20” kick, 12” rack and a 14” metal snare drum to match for $15!!! No floor like yours too. It’s so weird that people do that?? The previous owner had pulled the wrap off and stained it, but it’s in great condition otherwise. One of the best goodwill finds I’ve had in a while!
That's just insane.
People need more floor toms. They couldn’t buy them separately back then, so they buy a full kit, just for the floor tom and sell the rest. That’s my only explanation
The Dutch Djentleman No it’s just the opposite actually. Many of the more affordable kits, especially slingerland came with bass drum, snare, and Tom Tom. Floor toms were an add on, and if someone lost interest or stopped playing, all of a sudden you have a lot of “incomplete” drum sets floating around. I know this because I have an old slingerland set from 65, luckily I found the floor Tom first, it’s super rare, and I’ve only seen one other in the last 7 years or so...
$15? What a steal man
I live in Ecuador, one day i found a Rogers 80s or 70s kit, wich is very rare here, i bought the kit and restored until was functional. I got rings for the reso side, somo floor tom legs parts, remo remo coated emperor on the batter side as well as remo coated ambassador for the reso side, it sounds killer. Im very happy with my rogers kit.
Lmao he pulled out the rack tom and I audibly went "oh my God" in my kitchen - he then said the same thing the same way a second later
lol, the camera saw it before I could.
Mmm, that rack....
That wrap is gorgeous. Definitely looks better than the original colour that was under that lug. I've never bought any gear from a thrift store but godamm, I'm gonna start looking.
I love the vibraslap that is included in that floor tom.
The only drum I found at a thrift store was an old pearl marching snare
🤣 same lol. Early 80s 12 lug Maple Snare by Pearl. It was a rare Keller shell made in U.S.A. Unfortunatley, every lug is busted 🤣
@@Xtremecarfan10188 oof
@@brodynations4243 Yeah lol oof. Although I made up for a couple months later. Found an oversized Late 80's Liquid Amber Pearl MLX on my local OfferUp for $265. 24 inch kick. 13×11 & 14×12 Rack Toms, 18×16 Floor Tom. People say I could get $265 just for the floor tom alone. The rest is free haha!
I found an Acrolite years ago at our Salvation Army in great shape. Most of the rest I've seen since are First Act and entry level kits.
Even if those drum heads are “dead” this kit sounds REALLY good!!!
really gives it that vintage 60s sound
My first kit in '77 was a 5 pc Ludwig Standard with gold strata wrap. It looked more gold like a tiger stripes than than that. The wrap there looks great tho! I'll tell you what else the Ludwig Standard leather strap drive pedal was flimsy as a wobbly old foot bridge and the bottom of the pedal clanked on the bolt, but it was super fast.
I haven't found a kit anywhere, but I have found an old Ludwig acrolite snare in my church's storage room!
Dude, where the hell you live? Cuz I'm moving there. Last year..."I found this DW snare in a dumpster"...."I found this Pearl double kick pedal in the men's room at Burger King"....Really dude
I wonder the same thing cuz where I live ain’t happen things like that either.
You'll never know.
I can tell from the highway signs because I grew up there, but I'm not saying.
Richmond, VA
I got my Standards from a friend who rescued them from a dumpster. They weren't nearly as nicely kept as yours, but they now look and sound amazing. Great find.
Back in 1991 I picked up a 1964 Ludwig Oyster Black Super Classic kit like the one Ringo used to play for $100 at a garage sale. It still had the original calf skin heads and it came with all zildjan cymbals one of which was a monster 24" ride with a monster bell, it also had a speed master bass drum pedal.I got hard up for money a couple of years later and sold it for $300,I kick myself in the ass for selling it to this day. Those kind of deals are almost unheard of now days....
There's a Ludwig standard FB group, might help with a ft.
Also, I had a standard kit and did a bunch of research on them.
Date stamp most believe is month day year then a random number. So yours could be may 6th 1971.
Those are awesome kits. Exact same shells as the top line kits at the time just cheaper hardware.
I have found two great finds. A 13” WFL WMP tom for $4.99 and a Slingerland 14” snare in blue & sliver duco for $10!
Found a mint condition Taye Spotlight kit for $60 at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store! All 3 toms + Kick with a random MIJ steel snare! Was a good find!
I had a set of Ludwig Standards in the 70s. The wrap was Ruby Strata. They were gorgeous and sounded amazing. I still dream that I’m playing them sometimes and would dearly love to have them back. Thanks so much for this video. It brought back a lot of memories. Now excuse me while I have a good cry.
I have to thank you, rdavidr.
You might've seen me inquire about a Ludwig floor tom I used to own back in the 90's on some drum forums you and I have belonged to in the past.
I used to refer to it as "The Ludwig Mystery Floor Tom" and it was attached to a 20/12/14x4 red sparkle Stewart kit (and I've loved 20/12/16 kits ever since).
Well, THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED.
Even though that 16x16 floor tom had a b&o badge, Mahogany Cortex finish and large classic lugs, it was all applied to a Standard shell, because the inside of that drum looked EXACTLY like the inside of your Standard drums!
This leads me to believe a story I once heard about how, in order to help get a new Ludwig dealership going, Ludwig used to offer dealers, drum kits that looked like a regular Ludwig drumkit on the outside, but used the less expensive Standard shell. Thus lowering the price for the dealer to get them.
....so, thank you very much rdavidr. I've only been puzzling over this for about 34 years now. =)
As for getting a matching floor tom, there's one on Reverb - reverb.com/p/ludwig-s-140-standard-series-16x16-floor-tom-1969-1974?hfid=82625199&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxQlKNyywefrDomYNyj0kX1TmWxsGSQOMHd-nZoxqbKpNFAdb1_-XDxoC_BEQAvD_BwE
As for the date stamps, I think you're absolutely right. I've heard in the past that Standard never carried the traditional date stamps Ludwig is famous for.
rdavidr, I have a 1969 Ludwig Standard in Gold Strata I got for dirt cheap from Reverb. 22x14/13x9/16x16. Original hardware. One of the best purchases I have ever made. My advice if you can’t find a floor tom? Have some fun. Get a 16x16 floor tom in a different unique finish and make a jellybean kit out of them. Fantastic find! Good luck in your search and have fun! Cheers!
That is the dream! Finding a vintage kit at a garage sale... awesome! One of my students found and old Rogers from the 60s and got it for $400.
Cases? They came with cases? Wow.
Also, RUclips can eat me for inserting an ad after ONE MINUTE.
I haven’t found any crazy deals at Thrift Stores but I worked in a music store up until 2015. I had a customer that had been shopping with me for a while come in one day and he said that he was moving and needed to sell a few drums. My manager wasn’t interested in them so I asked him what he wanted for them. He had a 5x14 Pearl Free Floating Maple Snare AND a DW Collectors 5x14 Black Brass snare. He said $100 TOTAL FOR BOTH. I told him they were worth more than that and he said that he knew that but he just wanted to get rid of them. I gave him $100 on the spot. Pretty much brand new condition on both of them. I still own the DW snare and it sounds incredible. Great deal. Also had a guy sell me a Ludwig 5x14 Super Sensitive that was missing the snares for $50. I put a P85 on it and used that drum for years.
I've got a 5 piece Ludwig Standard set that I bought new sometime around 1969 -1970 or so. Same gold/brown color as yours. I haven't played it (or any other drums) for 50 years. I'm never going to part with it even though it just sits stacked up in a room. You wonder if there were originally wing nuts for the floor tom legs. There were. I'd love nothing more than to get some new heads for them all and start playing again. I really loved it and was good enough that I could play along with the records from that time with no problem. I wasn't great by any stretch but good enough that it was fun and I didn't embarrass myself.
Those ludwig Standards are awesome. My introduction to vintage drums and Ludwig were through a set of Standards, wish I kept them. I love the strata wraps and they sound amazing
Not sure how correct google is , but those drums are from the ‘71-‘72 era. Back in the early ‘80’s we had a full five piece set pretty similar to those in our church. It’s the set I learned to play on. And I’ve never played behind a set of drums that sounded any better than those , in my opinion anyway. Cool video.
👍👍👍✌️✌️✌️
Great find! in 2010 or so a bandmate found a late 50's Gibson in the bin, it only had an electrical short that took 5 mins to fix...
My beat up 1970 Ludwig Standard kit often gets compliments on how good they sound. There is magic in their mahogany poplar mahogany construction. I use Fiberskyn Ambassador top and Diplomat bottom. Tune them LOW for massive rock sound.
This thing would look gorgeous with the Meinl Classics Custom Dark. Almost matching the wrap!
Found an old Rogers Banner snare drum under a pile of junk left on the sidewalk next to my apartment building years ago. I think it was made in 1962 because as far as i know that was the only year they offered the white mother-of-toilet-seat finish on that model. I still have it and after watching this video I just might order some parts and bring it back to life.
I like that you used the thrift store snare on the thrift store kit. Great find there, man!!🤘🏻🤘🏻
Even though The Strata was Ludwig's entry level kit, over the years they seem to have become as rare to find as the genuine article. Side note from an old man who remembers and if anyone cares....The SECOND Chris in The Partridge Family can be seen playing a Strata kit in a few episodes. If you consider what he was doing "playing" lol
I put together a vintage MOP Ludwig kit (13, 15, 20) year and years ago for 200 bucks through three seperate Craigslist purchases within about three months. All three drums were from late 50s to early 60s. The 15" tom was actually a Ludwig marching snare that someone converted into a floor tom; sounded awesome. It was my gig kit for years, and everyone always complimented it at every show (especially the drummers). The wraps weren't in particularily good condition, and a lot of the hardware didn't match, but didn't matter; I had a vinatage Luddy kit for what I would've paid for a pile of junk student kit at a used gear store.
Are you kidding met? Don't change a thing. The best sounding kit I have heard in a long time.
A number of years ago when I was teaching drums I was driving to one of the schools I taught at. I passed a yard sale with some drums sitting out. I pulled over to check them out. They were a 4-piece set of Ludwigs with Paiste cymbals. It was an older set that was blue lacquer with a silver stripe around the center. The sizes were 5X14 SD, 14X20 BD, 8X12 MT, 14X14 FT, 18" ride, 16" crash, & 14" hh. Plus all the hardware and stands. All was in pretty good condition. They were obviously well taken care of.
A girl came over and asked If I played drums to which I replied, "A little. How much are they?" She said $25! I just about nose dived into my back pocket! When I looked in my wallet, I only had $15 cash on me. She said that's good enough and I practically yelled, "SOLD!" As I handed her the $15. I loaded them in my car and off I went.
I cleaned and touched them up a bit and polished the cymbals, then sold them for a SUBSTANTIAL profit.
I also just recently just bought a full set of PDP's Double Drive for WELL under the "book value" (I don't think they knew what they had). I parted out the components I didn't need and got a nice set of Sabian Cymbals to go with them. I then just a couple weeks ago picked up a like new PDP 16X18 concept maple floor tom for under $100 to go with them, so I now have my single mounted, triple floor setup.
$15!!! That's not even stealing. Thats a straight up Felony haha! Ridiculous. I am realizing some people don't truly know what they have. A buddy told me a similar story. Drove past a yard sale and saw an old drumset for $75. It was some 60's Japanese Stencil kit but the cymbals were three vintage Zildjian K's, the expensive ones. Needless to say when he recognized it, he bought it and ran. I think he said he sold the ride cymbal for $1,700 if I remember correct. Or maybe it was even north of $2,000. I am 100% confident it was between there. But yeah, some people need to research and find out what they have before just practically giving it away. I always research the value of something before purchasing or selling something. Also I love learning!
Oh man I let out an audible gasp when you pulled that first tom out. Love that wrap!
Excellent! That’s a Ludwig standard kit, late 60s early 70s. I’ve got one just like that! Wouldn’t mind adding those to my collection!
If I cant find a floor tom Ill most likely sell them
My best find, and I really don’t look, was a Ludwig Black Galaxy Acrolite in a soft case with the snare stand for 100.00 at a pawn shop. Granted many have found better, but that’s my best.
David, to your question about goodwill finds, I have a good one. I was doing community service at a goodwill in Charlotte North Carolina in about ‘03. A red sparkle wrapped slingerland snare drum came in one day and I wanted it. I came back after my service time and picked it up for $15. I played it for a while but never could really connect with the drum. I ended up eBaying it for in the mid $200’s. Good flip. Good drum.
I bought a early 90's era Ludwig Rocker set earlier this year from Guitar Center (online) for under $300 and it sounds fantastic. Similar to your Standard, it had dead heads on it and a missing wingnut, but other than that it was essentially complete.
Great find! I think the Standards have the same 3ply shells as all their other vintage drums. Nothing like the sound of those shells! I'm also using my old Acro with my old 60's Ludwigs right now...it just sounds right. What type of mics did you use to record this video? I'm in the market...
Nice find. I would love a set of Standards. I just bought a set of Rocker IIs....but Standards are on my list.
Beautiful drums! Great pick up! I had to laugh at not wanting to touch the grimy, gross cases when your shorts kinda look the same! 🤣
I recently found and purchased a complete set (incl 5.5"x14"snare) of the infamous 1951 Leedy and Ludwig Knob Tension Drums with the black pearl finish, in nearly mint condition and including original stands, Speed King pedal, throne, hoop mount cymbal arm, cowbell, woodblock and 10" splash cymbal all for under $300. Sometimes I just sit and stare at them, they look so amazing! I'm putting new heads on them right now. Have not played on them, yet.
Man you showed that old crusty kit some love... Way to bring her back my dude!!! I wish I had drawers full of drum parts like that, but I have to admit I'd never keep it straight. If you found that matching floor tom, and it had the same wear level, it would be wild!
Maybe build in May 17 1967 ? After '72 they changed the interior from white reso-cote to clear lacquer. From 1963-1972 they used date stamps on the interior, after '72 they were discontinued.
Dennis Wilson was my drummer, even though he wasn't much of a drummer. (He had awesome cars & he could surf) :-) Cheers !
I was able to snatch a 70’s thermogloss Ludwig 4 price kit from Shop Goodwill in my town a few years ago. Someone had listed it wrong and it went for about $100. Best luck I’ve ever had. Cleaned it up and play her every day.
I bought a 5 pc late 60s early 70s Ludwig standard kit complete from Guitar Center online for $600. Love the kit. They are hidden gems vs the more expensive
I like the vibraslap sound the floor Tom makes. Cool effect.
best sounding toms you've had on the channel and theyre old heads that are "untuned" lol
Agreed, the rack tom seemed to sing nicely, and the floor tom had nice character. I'm assuming from the minimal mics that this is pretty close to what he was hearing, too, but to each drummer their own drum sounds.
That is a hell of a deal!!!! I love the wrap on those drums. Hopefully you can find a floor tom. That kit would go beautifully with my 1918 Ludwig 6 lug NOB snare drum!!!!! Ugh I’ll have to just keep dreaming for now
Crazy to see you taking the roads I do all of the time, sometimes I forget you're RVA! Always have loved your killer content. It means a lot to me!
Today I drove two hours each way to pickup a 90s Ludwig Super Classic (Maple, Poplar, Maple) Made in USA Jazzette 18/16/14/12 for $350!!!!!!!!! I found it on Facebook Marketplace. I thought of you the entire way there and back. Thanks for the inspiration 🤘🏻
Those drums are beautiful. I have a 5 piece blue strata Standard. 12, 13, 16, 22 and 5X14 snare. I can attest the floor toms come with wing nuts. I can also attest that the mounting hardware is no bueno. I have the double tom mount and it is about useless, so basket that rack.
When I sighed up for my Union card, they had a set of Standard on the floor and the finish was just stunning, I think it was the blue strata. Unless I’m mistaken, they were Japan built like Yamaha if having stuff built in China to save costs. Congrats on the find Dave!
That wrap is gorgeous. Great score.
Man you have the Midas touch with drum finds. I usually find little kids drums or old CB-700 quality kits. I did find a Blackrolite online for $60 once. It was slightly warped but I lucked out and bent it back into round. I crank it up and use it on my bop kit. Sounds great, esp. when recording.
He has so many drums! I wish I had that many drums 😂
My first time on eBay ( 20 yrs ago ) I bought a 1967 sky blue oyster pearl Ludwig kit . One owner , he had them in his closet . When I got the drums , I couldn't believe it . I called the guy and asked if he was sure he wanted to get rid of them , he said he wanted them to go to a good home . 20" kick , 13" rack , 16" floor , chrome over brass 5 1/2 snare..........best $600 I've ever spent
I found a 1958 WFL kit in a pawnshop for $100. It was a gold sparkle, with 13" snare, 12" tom and "22 kick. Played for a few years in my blues band before selling it to a friend who collects drums.
I remember a long time ago when I was about 16 or 17. I found this late 70s Ludwig set in a second hand store. I want to say the sizes were 12, 13, 14 concert toms. 16 floor tom, and 22 or 24" bass. It also came with a chrome snare, and a high hat stand. All for 300 dollars.
My best was a 13" x 3 brass pearl piccolo from a prawn shop in new Orleans . Shipped to me in Ontario CANADA for 60 bucks,amazing
A few years ago I bought a 6.5"x14" ludwig classic maple snare for $150 from a pawn shop. Cleaned the shell, new heads with die cast hoops and it was ready for battle. It looks brand new ($500). Greetings from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 🙌
rdavidr, Up until the Corona shutdown I used the kick and two of the toms from my beat up and abused 1970 Ludwig Standard kit I can confirm that the floor tom legs are wingnuts and tom mounts are hex. I believe they are mahogany, poplar, mahogany. I use Fiberskyn ambassador on top and Diplomat below.. Tune em' low and enjoy.
a 1969 Ludwig Standard in Champagne Sparkle was my very first drum kit. 13/16/22 brand new for $250 plus a Supe snare.
I’m telling you, you are the luckiest drum buyer ever! Love your videos, keep up the great work. 👍🏼😎
Do a video about how you tune your drums! They sound amazing everytime!
I think the acrolite is the official snare of the Goodwill. I got one there a few years back, paid like $5. Then turned around and sold it on eBay for I want to say $160.. don't quite remember. I think they were the most mass produced snare drum in the 70s. I like them though, my first kit was the old church youth group's blue acrylic vistalites and an acrolite snare.
I live in the same area as you and I’ve been playing drums for over 30 years. I use to take that same toll when it was cheaper and b4 they built route 2$8. I think you know which route I’m speaking of without typing the whole number. The stamp inside is for May the 17, 1967 and the only thing missing is the number set this was out of the 600 that were made. I wish I had known about this at the time it was on auction cause I would have went and bought it.
Wow, to be with old heads and de tuned, sounds amazing, the classic Ludwig Sound
It reads "DATE" and that is May 17 1967 (5-67-17). The rattling on the floor tom is from the tone control YOU just re-installed. Old wise people got em off for good reason.
Forget the drums, that ride cymbal is out of this world.
My first kit in ‘82 was a ‘68 Ludwig Standard 5 pc kit in the exact same color wrap.
This would be amazing sounding with some new heads. Nice find Dave!
Still waiting for a video called ”all my drumsets and cymbals“...
I found a set of "collar locks" brand drums. Made by DW for $100 at my goodwill. They are from the 80's I think and are surprisingly good quality. The hardware is beefy and the bass drum is "Virgin" (no holes drilled for mounts.) These were an odd footnote in DW's history. I guess they were the prototype brand for what is known as their PDP brand today.
Can't find deals like that around here, but did find a snare and bass pedal while cleaning out an old "storage/hoard" at work. They are still there somewhere.
my friend had a late sixties ludwig set with a similar wrap, except with a backround that was more light red/pinkish. he was missing the 13" tom, so he colored a random old wood tom with crayons! it matched the original wrap exactly!!
I found a 99 cents 10 inch Ddrum brand aux snare drum in near mint condition around Christmas time at our local Goodwill store. Later date I found a Tama snare drum case on wheels with a snare basket top part for $18 at same store. Pretty amazing I say.
Holy crap I'm jealous. Standards sound freaking phenomenal and they do not come cheap these days. Wow.
Yeah there was one recently in the metro Detroit Craigslist for a grand. No hardware either. Luckily there was a Standard set of hardware in Ann Arbor for whoever bought the set. So in total it was $1,200 or $1,300
@@adderon Sounds about right. They are $12-1500. They do sound amazing. The thing is these were made to be "affordable" drums back then, but now that they're "vintage" and back on the radar the price has gone up. I also feel like the instrument world's inflation rate has exploded. There's trashy 90's kits starting at $400+ these days on the used market.
Bass drum build stamp looks like 1957, July 17th- 57-7-17. That was pretty common back in the day. I could be wrong, but makes the most sense.
I have an old wooden Yamaha I got for 10 bucks at a thrift store stand included. Not sure when it's from. They had a Ludwig at one point but wanted $150 for it. It was gone when I went back sadly. Beautiful kit. Hope you find a floor tom
Found a 68 Ludwig Super Sensitive that had been brush painted black (yes brush painted black and a horrible job at that in a pawn shop about 1.5 years ago!! I understand why he decided to paint it. To match the S Series Black Bass, Tom & FloorTom Makes perfect sense to me LOL!!! Whole set was $130.00. with hihat and cymbals. I was going to restore it but after I removed all the paint from the shell and lugs I saw that the chrome was so pitted and I didn't want to rechrome so I pieced it out for those that are restoring old Ludwigs. By the way just the snare wires paid for the most of the kit!!! Crazy!!!
15 dollllars!!! Just recently I found a complete westbury Drumkit from the mid 70s with original high hat stand crash stand throne and snare stand in decent shape for 15 dollars considering they are about 45ish years old the shells where perfect the wraps are are definitely far past there prime and a little rust on the tensioners
I found a 50s Greta have round badge progressive jazz kit for $25 here locally in Ohio a few year back, it was missing a floor Tom but I didn’t care, I damn near ripped my pocket off trying to take out my wallet. It was a little beat up and needed some talc but other than that it was sweet! Came with some vintage Zildjian cymbals and hats too. 🤘🏻
Brian foster played a Ludwig stander drum kit blue sparkle and different wrap finishes from the partridge family 🥁
love yard sales i picked up an early sixties gretsch round badge 5 piece with original hi hat stand ludwig speed king and era correct zildjian sizzle ride ,crash ,and 14 inch hi hats . the wraps were green satin flame . inside all of the drums was the trademark silver paint, cast hoops on all of the toms except for the bottoms were missing ,the snare was complete with muffler ,the kick was a little 16 x 18 . standard sizes on the rest of them . i didnt know what gretsch was at the time . i offered 250. 00 he took it . he seemed a little pissed at the time , i didnt know why .that was 1994 . i traded it off to a music store for a 6 piece mapex pro m complete with sabians xs cymbals . i kept the zildjians. my god that snare had the best pop/ crack you ever heard , i want it back. the drums were then purchased by a studio musician who with those drums recorded with mearl haggard and bob dylan was what the music store told me damn that snare fuck
found a 16" floor tom, but sadly it's sold out. sorry man
That's an awesome score mate.
The wrap looks great. The colour is unique.
I bid on a Ludwig Standard Snare Drum last week. The price kept going up and I missed out.
If you can source one I'll be happy to buy it. 👍
That wrap is absolutely gorgeous 😍
The standard floor toms had wing nuts on every kit I ever had. looks like the floor tom IS a standard as well since it has re-rings. as far as i know the rockers didn't have the re-rings (at least not any I owned).
Agreed. My first set was a Ludwig Standard, purchased new, and the floor tom had wing nuts.
I have a complete kit that's exactly that color. Came with Advedis Zildjian cymbals, the standard snare, and a speed king pedal. The hardware was... awful. The cymbal stands fold down with one center screw/washer combination that's supposed to keep it stable (it doesn't).
Sound of the kit reminds me of "when the levee breaks" 100%.
a 13" rack tom can really change the sound of a kit in a way a 12" cant
I know it's an old post, and this may have said.But the Ludwig standard line was the same shells that were used on the classic line of Ludwig drums. Check a 1970's set of classic Ludwig drum it will have the same gray speckled paint in side. The only difference between the two lines are the lug's and mounts.Just a little more info the first line of standards came out in the 60's and 70's when Ludwig changed the shells in the late 70's to clear maple interior with out the rings inside, Ludwig had to do something with the old shell's they also drop the Standard line in about 1981 came out with the Combo line same shells used on standard line.
Also when Ludwig discontinued the Vista light drums in 1980 you could get a set of Vista light shells with the Combo badge...
I can go on and on about the history of the Standard and Combo lines..
Great find Dave!!!!
Those drums came out around 1968-1969, they featured the same shells as Ludwig's high end series drums, but those drums were produced to compete with the Japanese drums like Pearl that were being produced at the time.