If it's a wrapped finish, it's probably mahogany/poplar/maple interiors. Although it could possibly be maple/poplar/maple, but usually with the wraps the outer ply is mahogany.

cool ludwig dude thanks for the info!

ya it's a blue sparkle wrap so it would have to be mah/pop/map then.

that's what i'll let people know then.

whatever they are made of, they sound real nice.

they have great sustain.

I've seen the following combos on mid-60's Ludwig:

mahog/poplar/mahog.

mahog/poplar/maple

maple/poplar/maple

maple/poplar/mahog

There's also a good chance that the drums are not all the same makeup. You can usually tell by looking at an edge...a maple ply will be much lighter in color than a mahogany ply.

Thanks,

Bill

some more great info!

thanks for the input bill.

i think that i will check the edges when i get home today and try to really find out exactly what the wood configuration is.

thanks again!

Yep, mlvibes is correct. There are variations.

My red sparkle 1967 Downbeat kit has a bass drum that's mahogany/poplar/mahogany and then the rest of the drums are mahogany/poplar/maple -all the drums are painted white interiors and matched/original from the factory.

well i'll have to check mine when i get home but all this info just makes me a bit more curious.

so, did it not really matter to ludwig whether they used mahogany or maple or was there a rhyme and reason to mahogany on certain drums and maple on others?

It pretty much depended on availability at the time, but as a general rule the outer maple ply was reserved for a "finished" wood like cleared natural maple. However, there are exceptions to this rule as we all know.... x-mas3