They don't look like New Beats to me. The lathing is different.

It looks like the first word is "Sound"....something... I know they aren't Paiste Sound Edge hi hats....but did Paiste have other lines that started with Sound________(something)?

I know, right? It definitely doesn't say New Beat Bottom, or Hi Hat Bottom. It looks like it's a word that ends with a D or an O. I was thinking Dyno Beat, but I don't know if they were even around in 69.

I’m not even sure when Zildjian started inking their cymbals. I thought it was later than ‘68 and was just on the top surface (which that would be), but regardless, that does not look like the bolder blocky ink stamping Zildjian did on the early ones that were inked that I have seen.

Devils advocate: perhaps it was hand-written by someone…

Now THAT'S a good point! It could have been a stamp from the studio or music store rental place, etc.

So, if the drums have "Drum City" stickers on them with what looks like blue label maker rotary tape below it, wouldn't that suggest a rental kit? They are clearly visible on the mounted toms.

The little blue things below the keystone badges are indeed the 1960s Dymo Labelmaker adhesive tapes.

Gary Astridge mentioned that they were inventory numbers, but looking at them, they have 3 digit numbers, and I wonder why someone felt that it was necessary to apply numbers to drums that already had badge numbers. One exception to that: Ringo's go-to 1963 no-badge-number Jazzfest is numbered 133, although it was Ringo's first Ludwig snare. Go figger.

Sounds like a make-work job that the Beatles may have assigned to Mal Evans to keep him busy during slow times.

When I saw Ringo's kits at the LA Grammy Museum in 2013, the "Drum City" stickers were gone, but the Dymo Label tapes were still attached! Amazing...but then again, I still have my Dad's set of plastic drawers of nuts and bolts, fasteners, etc., from the 1960s and he had used a Dymo labelmaker to identify the contents of every drawer, and most of those labels are still attached.

Regards, MB

Very cool and interesting Marty.

Mal's life had a very sad ending in LA just a few years later. It looks like either a huge mistake or "suicide by cop".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal_Evans

So is Ringo in it ? Is asking him out of the question ?

Harking back to the off-topic discussion of the plastic number labels on Ringo's drums that were perhaps inventory numbers of some kind, I have asked Gary Astridge if he has asked Ringo about these, or otherwise learned of their purpose. I'll post again if I hear from him.

Today, while cleaning out some pics in my i-phone I found two pics that may be of interest for Ringo fans. Ringo's 1964 "Downbeat" kit (seen on the Ed Sullivan show) and his 1967 "Hollywood" kit were on display in 2013 at the Grammy Museum in LA.

The 8X12 OBP tom has a black & white "flat" number label (not embossed or raised) 147, and the 9X13 Maple tom has a black & white "flat" number 152 and a blue embossed label TT 290. Also, you can see where the Drum City store (London's Ludwig distributor) rectangular sticker was applied (and since removed.) That sticker can be seen in the "Get Back" documentary. A Drum City sticker remains inside the bass drum.

At some time after the 1969 "Get Back" filming was done, Ringo (or Mal Evans?) removed the lacquer finish on the maple drums in a rather sloppy manner, and I remember being disappointed in that drum kit's appearance. The logic behind removing the lacquer is explained in Gary Astridge's website: www.ringosbeatlekits.com

Anyhow, see attached - for the hard corps Ringo fans.

Regards, MB