I just had all the bearing edges redone on my 1964 Silver Sparkle Super Classics, and I just noticed for the first time that the 13" Tom is mahogany/poplar/mahogany, while the 22" Bass Drum and 16" Floor Tom are mahogany/poplar/maple. The Tom has the lowest serial number (210XX), but is within 80 numbers of the Floor Tom (211XX).
Is this right around the transition in shell construction? How normal/abnormal is this?
There was no transition, they used both maple and mahogany over the poplar core depending on what was handy. That is one reason they went to painting the interiors white, so that if they mixed a maple interior tom with a mahogany interior one they would look the same. Generally wrapped drums had a mahogany exterior ply and a mahogany interior ply as well but not always. Painted drums would always have a maple exterior and generally a mahogany interior but not always. Bass drums of that era sometimes have a clear maple interior even if the other drums have white interiors.
Customers were not paying particular attention to the types of wood being used to make their drums back then so Ludwig (and others) were pretty much free to use whatever they wanted and they would use what was on hand to get the drums built and out the door. Mixed ply sets are common (possibly the norm) especially in the "Beatle Boom" years when production couldn't keep up with demand.
Thanks! That makes sense, especially given these drums were probably made about two months after The Beatles first appearance on Ed Sullivan.
Any idea when Ludwig phased-out Mahogany? I thought it was by the mid to late '60s.
Mahogany continued as the typical outside ply on wrapped drums all through the 3 ply era (up to around 1977). In approx. 1968 they went to using maple exclusively on the interiors (although the occasional drums, often 18" floor toms, still had mahogany interiors) but the mahogany continued to be used on the exteriors under the wrap. Ludwig markets their Legacy maple/poplar/maple shells as being the same as this part of the 3 ply era but if you actually look at the drums nearly all (although not 100% of) the wrapped shells have the mahogany outer ply. Standard shells from this same time frame continued to mostly use the mahogany/poplar combination with not as much maple content.
I have heard that when Ludwig dropped the clear interiors for the Ganitone interiors that mahogany returned for at least some interiors. Hard to say as the Granitone hides things pretty well and I haven't owned too many of those to look at.
Regardless, mahogany content appears to have never really phased out completely until the changeover to the maple/poplar 6 ply shell design in the late 70's.
Thanks for all the information! From what I can tell, all of the rims are chrome over brass.
