I'm my experience and at at this point it depends on the particular kit. So many of them could have a shell that has bad edges or is tough to fit heads because of the lap joint.

My favorite sounding are the mahogany shells. I like the lower tones.

But for a Hollywood kit earlier that 1965 will usually have two 12" Tom's.

I do like the clear maple interiors on the 1968 and later kits. And the curved Spurs work better.

To me the quality issues were mainly in 1965, maybe into '66.

I've had three 67 kits and they are my sweet spot. keystone, white interiors, gull wing spurs, baseball bat mufflers, eyebolt tom brackets.

I’d say any white interior shells , is the way to go , that music grade Mahagonny make it nice !

I'm no Ludwig expert, by any means, but love 1965-66 . I do have a oyster black pearl set and a oyster blue pearl set from this era and find they have a warm, booming tone.....I am speaking to Super Classic sizes of 22/16/13.

IMHO, with respect to quality control, I think it is a hit-and-miss scenario, some drums are fine and some may have suffered with quality control. Mine seems to have been well built and stood the test of time.

I can't speak to earlier or later eras as I have never had or played them.

Best of luck with your search!

I like the bare mahogany interior shells from the mid 50's up to 1962 or so. Drums were a smaller business prior to 1964 and they weren't in such a hurry to get stuff out the door.

1969 clear, unvarnished 3-ply...wrap no longer tucked into the scarf joint...ever so slightly undersized.

For me, I'm a huge fan of the mid/late 50s, WFL sets with the bare mahogany interiors; 3 ply shells. To me, they just have that warm vintage sound.

My second favorites are the same as yours; the late 60s into early 70s 3ply maple shells. They sound great!

Of course, there's nothing wrong with the early and mids 60s shells either.

So to rank:

1. WFL shells and Trans badge kits

2. Late 60s to early 70s shells (clear maple interior)

3. Early and mid 60s shells (white painted interior)

It's a pet peeve of mine whenever anyone refers to any Ludwig 3 ply shell as a "maple" shell as all 3 ply Ludwig shell layups were at least 50% poplar (the fat center ply). Even the late 60's to early 70's clear interior, so called, "maple" shells usually had a mahogany outer ply if they were wrapped so those are only approx. 25% maple, or 50% maple at best if both inner and outer plies happened to be maple.

They do sound great, but they are far from being an all maple shell like folks think of today.

The odd thig is that Ludwig shells were never 3ply and they were never wrapped. The laminate outer finish was applied while the sheet was flat, then the finished section was rolled and secured with a scarf joint. After the re-rings were installed it was trimmed and edged into a finished shell. Consequently, the shells were 4 ply construction when you include the finish laminate. Also they were not wrapped, since that would be a process that would have occurred after the shell was constructed.

Ludwig was the only drummaker to use this method and it makes their scarfed shells unique.

But the 3 ply shells introduced in mid '68 and later did not have the wrap tucked into the scarf joint. They were wrapped after the shell was constructed.