That is a head-scratcher...

The wrap on those is the same as the stuff Ludwig called "Lemon Strata" and used on their Standard series drums. It was a thinner, less expensive, wrap (yet VERY cool looking) which was one of the things Ludwig did to save money building the less expensive Standard line. Some import drums used these same wraps. The thin wrap is very prone to cracking, like on that floor tom.

The picture of the shell interior does not look anything like a Ludwig shell, and, as far as I know the only way a competitor (other than possibly W & A) could have sourced Ludwig shells to build drums out of would have been to buy complete drums and then strip them down to the bare shells and start over...hardly a practical business model.

I don't know anything about these as far as where or when they were made but I think the only Ludwig connection would be the coincidence of using the same wrap supplier. To me they look like typical "stencil" imports and in this case the importer/distributor (Miller?) paid to have custom lugs done up.

Still a cool looking set in a great wrap...and if your last name happens to be Miller so much the better.

I will try to get some better photos of the shells to show them more clearly. Thanks K.O. for your reply. The grain of the wood is definitely horizontal like u.s. drums so I am not convinced they are Japanese stencil drums. But I don't know...

A 60s Ludwig shell would most typically have a mahogany inner ply, but, again, Ludwig didn't sell raw shells. Companies that did buy shells from an outside supplier would go to Jasper or Keller for them.

That doesn't mean that these drums couldn't be of American origin but if so I would suspect that they are something more akin to Kents which were somewhat similar looking drums made in the USA. In fact if the only picture I saw was the picture of that inner shell my first thought would be that that was the interior of a Kent drum. Kents had a lot of variation through the years (and eventually they became another importer of stencil sets instead of building them themselves). Most (all?) of their shells were maple though. They were unique in that many of them were made from a single ply of maple wrapped over itself twice. It was a 2 ply shell made out of one ply of wood.

More pictures would certainly help, I'm no expert by any means, especially about Kent drums, but there are collectors that are and perhaps they could tell if there may be some sort of connection there.

The odd thing is that having those dies made up for making those lugs would have been quite expensive so not something entered into lightly, especially if done in the USA, yet these don't seem to be commonly found drums. Someone perhaps had higher expectations of success than what eventually seems to have transpired.

Very interesting!! K.O. is right about both the wrap and the dies to cast those cool lugs! Definitely an expensive undertaking. I notice the grain orientation is horizontal and not a cheap Philippine Mahogany, aka "luan". The tom holder is definitely MIJ. I also noticed those 3 square nuts, with also suggests MIJ. US made drums never used these. Your kit is definitely a head scratcher, which makes this even more fun to want more information about them!

-Mark

Look what I found!! A Miller set that sold just yesterday, 1-7-17, on eBay! Here's the link, plus I'll post some pictures...

What are the odds?!!

Well the link didn't take, so I'll copy and paste some of the auction description:

eBay auction 252706074030

"This is a "RARE" 1965 Miller drum kit. 14" x 20" bass drum, 8" x 12" tom, 9" x 13" tom 16" x 16" floor tom, 5.5" x 14" matching snare drum. 3 ply mahogany/poplar/mahogany shells with maple reinforcement rings/hoops.

Mfg. By Miller Band Instrument Company in Bethesda, Maryland U.S.A.

I was told by the former owner and a couple of collectors that Miller drum company bought 60's Ludwig shells and used some ludwig hardware , Slingerland hardware and other big companies hardware on there kits. ( Just like Walburg & Auge did ) They had there own lugs made with the letter "M" on each lug.These shells do appear to be 60's Ludwig shells. same white interior paint, 3 ply with rerings,"

-Mark

thanks idrum4fun, I had seen that kit but didn't know it sold. Those shells look like they could be ludwigs. I will try to take more pics tomorrow.

Those shells do look like they could be Ludwig but they also look different than the shells of the Lemon Strata kit (at least what we can see). Odd though because the WMP doesn't look anything like Ludwig's version and, at that time, Ludwig made their shells with the wrap already on them. If they made a bare shell it would then end up oversized if wrapped after the fact. So if they made these shells did they also wrap them in the process, as they did their own drums but with a different WMP, or did they somehow make them undersized?

I guess you can never say never about Ludwig but I'd still be surprised if those were actually Ludwig shells.

Looking at the initial set again what's with the bass drum lug at the top of the shell? Odd. Could these Miller lugs have been transplanted onto these shells? I guess all bets are off on what we're looking at.

Floor tom mounts/legs on the OP's set look like older Slingerland.