BHarrington!...

Yeah, I was also basing my thoughts off the size of the 9X13 tom in relation to the bass drum.. and .. in the Holland performance, damn if Buddy's bass drum doesn't "look" like a 22" ! Doesn't it look extra small? Almost too small to be a 24"... or ... angle? Smoke? Mirrors? LOL!!!!! It is fun to investigate this stuff and try to ferret out new information though! I've always enjoyed it. Regarding the Disneyland performance/drums from 1982:

The problem with your theory is, remember... Buddy HAD NO DEAL with Ludwig in 1982. What this "probably" means is Buddy couldn't just call Ludwig.. ( like he did so MANY times in the past ) .. and request a NEW set be shipped to that particular venue because he gave away the set he was playing the night before. ( which is also documented and true, and Buddy did it a LOT!... much to the agita of Bill Ludwig Jr. by the way! ) I would guess that one of those sets is possibly a rental, or backline type thing, especially given the different hardware on the two sets. I doubt that Buddy BOUGHT any of these drums though... he was quite public about that fact. One of those sets had to be one of his last sets from his third and final endorsement deal with Ludwig... which leads here:

I have the COMPLETE "Concert For the America's" on VHS... I'll have a look see as to the size of the bass drum. I don't recall it looking larger than usual, but then again I haven't seen this concert in a while. I'll let you know! I also have the "Parkinson Show".. ( actually a few of them ) .. on VHS. I'll have a look at those too and see if I can discern any difference in the size of the bass drum.

Tommyp