First, congrats on the sweet drums. Both 6ply and 3ply Luddys are fantastic drums to play. With that said, they are very different beasties. The 3ply are excellent near-field drums with that great Ludwig thump and just enough reso to make any recording nice. If you don't mic them, only you and the band know how cool they sound. The audience will hear a somewhat dead version of what pleases your ear. The 6ply are great all around drums. They still have that great Ludwig thump with good reso, but because they project well, the audience can enjoy that lovely sound. You, however will have to put up with a somewhat tainted sound. They are not near-field drums and as such the player doesn't actually hear what the audience hears. They do work well mic'd, but the mic'ing positions should be a bit different. The 3ply play exceptionally well. The shells are thin enough to breathe so they have a really good feel to them. The 6ply play very stiff. The shells are very very thick, consequently your stick doesn't play into the drum as well. It's a tough drum to finesse. They are both very good shells with very different physics involved. I'm sure many a' drummer out there has mixed and matched these. I don't believe I could. The difference in feel would be enough to drive me insane.

That's my two cents on these. You can search on this forum for a pretty good video of a set of 3ply's and a set of 6plys being played side by side. It's a nice little vid. Check it out if you like.

Thanks very much for the informative reply!

I just realized I may have been mistaken about the difference between the drums and may actually have all 3-ply drums. The difference is that the 16 FT is unpainted inside (early 70's, I guess?) and the BD, RT and 18 FT have the "granitone" painted interior, which I think points to a slightly later vintage.

I have been trying to research this and it appears that Ludwig used this paint during a transition period between the 3ply and 6ply era as a way of using cosmetically inferior shells. The drums I have are not the lower-end shells, but the top of the line, or "classic" shells from that time period.

So, if this is the case, is the only difference the paint? Will they play well together in a set?

If all the drums have re-enforcement rings, then that would mean they are 3-ply shells. If that's the case, then I wouldn't worry too much about the granitone finish. It would probably be close enough in sound to the rest of the kit that it wouldn't be a huge difference. If the 16" floor tom doesn't have the rings, then that would most likely make it a 6-ply shell, and might be a little mis-matched as mcjnic mentioned. Just my two cents...

Hi,

My old luddies were a collection of orphans. Some back to 1965, a couple creeping into the early 70's. Some clear, some white paint, one granitone. All were three ply--lucky circumstance.

I stripped all interiors and refinished interiors clear--basically to show all the plugs and fixes (like my scars, I figure these are part of the drum history).

Except for the badges, (two Keystone, two B/O). The drums match up very nicely, better perhaps than before. Toms have the same Ludwig character that makes me happy (something their thump gets me in the solar plexus).

Rewrap is Turquoise Glitter.

Patricl

Sweet! You've got Chris Ware! Nice. You gotta love that little depressed guy.

Beautiful finish!

And an even more beautiful girl! I take it she's your daughter. Mine is five months old and already I'm refinishing an old Club Date for her. ;)