Drums today are made beautifully.

Looking beyond the Asian kits that all manufacturers ship in containers for the amateur market, the flagship kits are as good as ever. The one main difference today is that many of the manufacturers are producing their shells using mechanical heat compression to quickly shape the shell. This differs from vintage products that were built slower by hand, ply by ply because the wood and the glue have been crystallised and put into a kind of flux. Maybe this is what gives new drums a different shade of sound and feel.

On top of that I guess there is the added element that vintage drums have been around in there form for many many years/decades, and maybe that time has allowed the wood to settle.

If you are interested there are companies out there that offer ambient hand built moulded ply drums just like they used to do. I am currently involved with a company doing exactly that called the British Drum Company(please check us out). Hand made drums made in old school moulds built layer by layer.

You also have Craviotto who are gently steam bending shells.

There's a bit more info on how Ludwig treat their shells here,

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88454

The Legacy series drums are close in sound to the old 3-ply shells, but are not exactly the same. I think a lot of it has to do with the types of wood they use now as compared to then, as well as the different bearing edge radius, and the way the shell is made in a mold now as opposed to "hand laid", as it were, back when the original 3-ply shells were being made.

Now, if you are asking about the Classic Maple series, that's a different story. Other than the number of plies changing over the years, they sound pretty much the same as the shells they started producing in the late '70's, commonly referred to as "6-ply" shells. Today's Classic Maple shells are made in those same molds as the original 6-ply shells were, finished to the same degree, same bearing edge, same wood types, same thickness. The only difference being the number of plies used to come to that final thickness.

The thicker shells sound good to my ears, closer to a Gretsch type of sound to my ears. And the earlier 3-ply shells sound good to my ears as well. (I own both types). Both are tonally good, yet drastically different. Both have their place in my book.

As to the issue of hardware, the lugs made today are much thinner wall material and are not exactly the same in a side by side comparison of the lugs they made up until about 15 years ago. So, the lugs are a bit more cheaply made today, not a good thing in my book. The hardware as far as mounts, some of it is better today than it used to be, some not. If you wanted massive overkill for a tom mount, you got a modular setup. I don't think anything made today can come close to the beefiness of that setup. The rail mount they make today is much better than those vintage setups of yesteryear. Although, I can't say longterm if this is the case. All the hardware made today is made in China thanks to the EPA's crackdown on toxic chemicals. This is both good and bad. The hardware that Ludwig used to make in house lasted for decades. Just check out the vintage market and see if I'm wrong. Today's hardware's longevity has yet to be proven. But if we look and see what's out there still for Ludwig hardware that was made in the 1990's & early 2000's, you'll find lots of heavy, but bashed up & broken hardware. It just didn't hold up as well as the early Modular, Hercules, and original Atlas series. To me, there's something to be said about Made in America.

Hope by rambling in helps a bit.......Coffee Break2

I played a Ludwig Club Date "Cavern Club" edition when it came out a few years ago. It's the cherry/gumwood version and it sounded amazing. I shuold check and see how those are selling on ebay because Ludwig has since revamped the new club dates.

Played a Ludwig Keystone oak.

If I were in a band that was vocally oriented,this would be the kit.

Big ,fat warm tone that is absolutely perfect for pop.

I'll second that. They can play loud but also very sensitive. Melodic. Not much buzz about them, surprisingly. Heavy though.

Try the Ludwig Signet series if you can spot any used. Super light, inexpensive for a maple set, with the latest Ludwig tom mounts, Check some reviews on Youtube. My go-to gigging set.

I absolutely love the sound of my 2009 Ludwig Jason Bonham signature vistalite set...It`s the newest set I own...I bought it last year, NOS...Only 100 sets ever produced...

Cheers