My father and I worked in a full-line music store in Rocky Mount, NC in the mid 1970's and we sold the Ludwig and Premier drum lines. My dad was a bass player and I play drums. I purchased a Mach 5 set in 1975. The finish is BOP. I still gig with them today. In the early to mid 70's the colleges and high schools were transitioning to the drum and bugle corp style of performance. Ludwig designed a high tension lug for their marching snare drums and then duplicated the lugs for other tuned marching toms and bass drums. Then, Ludwig created the four and five piece sets and called them Mach 4 and Mach 5 (a suppose a play on the concept of breaking the sound barrier). The lugs do add additional weight to the drums and probably do strengthen the shell design. I personally like the appearance. One of the reasons they were not that popular in the 70's was because of cost. The kit from the factory included a super-sensitive snare - which was out of the price range of many players. I also believe the standard hardware was the Atlas line. Also pretty expensive for many players. During this period, Ludwig was certainly still riding the "Ringo wave" in North Carolina, and many of the new kit buyers were teens or parents - so the lower prices were more popular. I don't believe I've ever seen a complete set for sale on ebay. You do see a tom every now and then. Hope this helps.

Hello:My first thread.I was collecting Vintage Lud's (prior to 75) but life has got in the way.I picked up a set of machs about 4 years ago, a 14,15, an 18x18 (yikes) and a twenty four! I added a 12 and 13 and a 16. All are in piano black except for the 16 which is black panther. I was about to start to refurbish when I ran out of time. Anyone interested?

My father and I worked in a full-line music store in Rocky Mount, NC in the mid 1970's and we sold the Ludwig and Premier drum lines. My dad was a bass player and I play drums. I purchased a Mach 5 set in 1975. The finish is BOP. I still gig with them today. In the early to mid 70's the colleges and high schools were transitioning to the drum and bugle corp style of performance. Ludwig designed a high tension lug for their marching snare drums and then duplicated the lugs for other tuned marching toms and bass drums. Then, Ludwig created the four and five piece sets and called them Mach 4 and Mach 5 (a suppose a play on the concept of breaking the sound barrier). The lugs do add additional weight to the drums and probably do strengthen the shell design. I personally like the appearance. One of the reasons they were not that popular in the 70's was because of cost. The kit from the factory included a super-sensitive snare - which was out of the price range of many players. I also believe the standard hardware was the Atlas line. Also pretty expensive for many players. During this period, Ludwig was certainly still riding the "Ringo wave" in North Carolina, and many of the new kit buyers were teens or parents - so the lower prices were more popular. I don't believe I've ever seen a complete set for sale on ebay. You do see a tom every now and then. Hope this helps.