The combination of a 3-ply shell, white Resa-Cote interior paint and a baseball bat style tone control point to a Keystone badge era drum.

What are the shell dimensions? What wrap/finish?

12x8 in champagne.

A pic or two might be useful so we can see where the hole was drilled, and see the grommet condition and that B/O shaped shadow effect for ourselves.

There are two different hole positions depending on whether the shell was intended for a B/O badge or a KS badge. However, during a transition period there are exceptions. I've seen a few 12x8 shells drilled for the KS but with a B/O installed. Like mine where the badge sits a bit low:

[img]http://black.net.nz/drums/jazet72.JPG[/img]

I've seen a few of these, and some on 5" deep snares as well. They all seem to be from the transition period from KS to B/O.

In these pictures you can see the general shape of the fade and the brighter champagne. The muffler is directly across from the vent hole.

That interior looks as if it were painted by someone other than the factory. Is the hardware nickel? If so, don't usually see that after '67. If it were an original keystone drum, maybe someone removed the badge and installed a b/o for it to match with other drums they owned...just a theory.

Mike

The hardware is chrome. I wondered about it being an at-home paint job. Wflkurt had this to say on DFO:

"Thanks for posting these pics! The only conclusion I could come up with is that the shell was left on a shelf and discovered years later. Clearly this is a 60's shell and the drum was drilled for a B/O badge later on. If this originally was intended to have a keystone badge then the hole would be centered in the middle of the drum. The hole drilled higher up was clearly meant to accommodate a B/O badge.

There are several things that don't seem to make sense to me production-wise. I can see a raw undrilled shell covered in champagne sparkle sitting on a shelf waiting for drilling to happen and the drum is discovered sometime after mid 1969 but that does not explain the BB muffler. If this was the case then I would expect to see everything we are seeing here with a round muffler instead. It seems unlikely to me that the shell was drilled after 1969 and a BB muffler was still lying around as they were discontinued by early 1968. If the shell was pre drilled and waiting for assembly and discovered after 1969 then I would expect the badge hole to be centered. It could still have a B/O badge but not intentionally drilled where it was as it would have been planned to have a keystone badge when it was drilled in pre March 1968(The white paint was phased out by March-April 1968).

This may be one of those completely oddball mysteries that are impossible to figure out. Does anyone know if the hole pattern for a round knob is the same as a BB muffler?"

Doesn't the grommet hole appear to be in the correct position to center a B/O badge? Disregard, posted same time as above.

It is generally believed (based upon old videos of the Ludwig production process) that the badge holes were drilled freehand and not with a template or chuck. Therefore, there is some natural variation in the placement of the hole. Because of this practice, I am not sure that we can conclusively conclude that this drum was drilled for e B/O badge. It might have been, but everything else points to this being a shell from the Keystone badge period.

Interesting. Do you think the paint looks like it was done aftermarket?