I got a migraine reading this mess .

As far as no date stamp I can say this from personal experience. I have Keystone's from the 1960's. When I got them they had the date stamp inside which I wrote down. After having cleaned the drum I noticed the stamp was gone. I've read before this happened to a lot of people. As far as someone adding a new coat of paint inside, well anything like that should have been noted by the seller. But I wouldn't doubt someone doing it. No Ludwig especially from that time should smell of house paint. If you can post a few photos that would be awesome.

Not all 60's Ludwig drums had date stamps inside. WFLII was quoted as saying that if they ran out of the white resacote paint, they would simply run down to the nearest store to get what they needed. Some 60's drums really have a strong interior smell and some do not. Serial numbers or lack of will help us date them as well. Replacement rubber tips are pretty easy to find too.

Mike

For a 60's Ludwig kit it is common to have "house paint" white interiors. It is not unusual at all to not have date stamps. Some rust is to be expected from a 50 year old (plus) kit. Rarely do these drums have the rubber legs. Getting two floor tom legs will be a cinch on ebay. $400 is a really great price for vintage Ludwig. See below for a serial number chart.

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/serial_numbers.html

You could take a rag with some acetone on it and gently rub one small area to see if a different shade of white is revealed. The kit pictured, with lots of rust, is $2700.00 on ebay..okay the snare is included but still. Notwithstanding your legitimate concern, I envy you those 12 14 20 silver sparkle Ludwigs...:)

Mitch

KCDrumdad has a book out on dating 60's-90's Ludwig drums. He's the guy to date your drums, if the badges have serial numbers.

ive seen the interiors from, beige to bright white, some with stamps. some without gary

Welcome to buying/owning a vintage Ludwig drumset! Where nothing is as it should be and the exception is usually the rule.

Even Ringo's down beat had the wrong size snare!

Thanks for the high praise.

Aussievintagedrumuser - if you post the serial numbers, several people here should be able to help.

Based upon the drums that I have encountered, I would venture a guess that only about one third of the Keystone badge drums with serial numbers have date stamps that have survived to today. Some appear to have never received them while others lost then due to cleaning accidents, because resonant heads were removed during the 70s and 80s and the stamps were wiped off or someone decided to paint the interiors black or some other color. Stamps are prevalent up until about 1971. Not surprisingly, many snares survived with intact stamps because heads generally remained attached.