From what I was told by the local drum shop, these old Ludwigs were designed for skin heads and the rims were much smaller.
All the modern heads I looked at had the same style of rim and they all have the same problem...
The problem is that the claw hangs up on the head rim (is that what it's called?).
So, instead of having the hoop provide a nice even pressure all the way around the head, I have 16 pressure points to tune the drum.
And, before you say, "just jump them over it", you obviously have not had this problem. I would have to do some serious bending on the claws to get them to jump over that ridge on both sides. Real real serious bending.
It's obviously not a common problem because I couldn't find anything with the search engine.
The guy at the drum shop just not to worry about it but, I'm not one to forget about something I know isn't right. LOL
Check out the pics. You can see how the claw hangs on the rim of the head. I know it doesn't look like much but it really is.
LOL Those close-up pics show I left some wax in the threads. Looks like it's time to pull out the toothbrush again. LOL
TIA