Well, that's you, I guess, leedy.

Leo Fender, Bill Ludwig, Bud Slingerland...et al....were businessmen looking to make a profit. None of the nitpicking that collectors do, now, has much to do with them or their thoughts on the subject. They did not build their businesses based upon a perceived future collector's market. They did whatever it took at the time, to get things built and out the door....PERIOD. That's why they might find it amusing that collectors go to such excruciating details, now. I'd be amused, too, if I were one of those guys.

But, meanwhile, back to the present-day.....Collectors love minutia....They love details....They love nitpicking. Personally, I find it very satisfying and enjoyable. And I also like discussing these details with other like-minded people. It's fun for many of us.

There is one key phrase that throws the proverbial monkey wrench into the collector's certainty that "this is how it was made back then". The two-word phrase is "running changes". Those changes may have lasted for a day, a week, maybe longer. Sometimes, those changes that were made due to parts availability issues, morph into being long-lasting product spec changes. I understand that some of us are trying to be helpful and informative to the person asking about the drums in question. The badge placement is one thing. But, the use of non-period-correct or brand-correct tom holders has been around for many years.

Since there were no collectors when these so-called "running changes" were in effect, it doesn't really matter to collectors, now. Most collectors look for the most ideal and pristine examples they can find.

What is "ideal"? Usually, in the case of drum collecting, it means the examples that are most complete, original and let's say..."pure" to the brand. So, if 99 out of 100 Slingerland drummers opted to change the Set-O-Matic mount to a Rogers mount, for example, then the collectors will try to find that ONE that made it through that era without being altered.

Even though it may have been common practice to special order stuff and have a music store change the mounts or whatever....doesn't change the fact that most collectors look for complete and OEM stuff....UNLESS you happen to be John Bonham or Ringo or someone famous....in which case, there is a different category of collecting for that kind of stuff which has nothing to do with original equipment or catalogue references or any of that.

It's the altered drums of the not-famous drummers that are less desirable to collectors...and there are PLENTY of those kinds of drums and kits out there. I had to sift through tons of that kind of stuff back when I was actively collecting.

I don't disagree with anything in your last post. Of my half dozen drum sets from the mid 20th century, two of them are original to how they were when the left their respective factories--Slingerland/Leedy Chicago in 1963 and Rogers/Covington in 1966 (Dayton tags). I think that they are both 100% all original for every component. The Leedy set came to me with heads that might have been on the drums when Henry Adler first sold them. The catalog-correct geeks should be OK with these two sets--Rogers Top Hat and Leedy Shelly Manne.

Makes sense- This weekend, I picked up the drums I was referring to. The serial number would indicate early ‘70’s production. Also, these badges are not perfectly smooth like the later ‘70’s examples, and I’ve read that these were used from 70-72.

Sorry, meant to attach these photos to my previous post.

That's a real.. real.. nice looking kit.....

Cheers

John

What an incredible looking kit! Is that an original warranty card I see on the bass drum?

In regards to your badges, you have the "etched" oval version, where the lettering stands up above the black background. My 1970-71 purple sparkle kit has the same badges! The next version were a more football shaped badge with smooth silkscreen lettering.

-Mark

Beautiful kit. Expected serial range is approx. 25xxx - 75xxx. Is that a 24" bass drum?

Yes, it came with a couple warranty tags. Yeah, definitely can feel the etchings. Love the purple sparkle wrap!