Helo!

Here is Vicente, from Brazil.

Can't find the year of my Ludwig Octaplus Chrome Overwood.

The serial number is 2229370.

Please help me!

Thanks!

That date looks realistic to me, but what is he unsatisfied about?

There is no way to give an exact date unless you went to the factory and picked them up!

Dating drums is usually a range of years because all of the dum makers back then were not thinking we would be trying to do this now.

If they did then every drum would have clearly been marked and the serial number cataloged.

Serial numbers were intended for the end user to insure drums and keep track of them in inventory, especially in a school where they would have a lot more drums.

What we do know is that set was no longer called that in the 1980 catalog and the badge changed over to rounded corners some time in 1979.

So it is earlier then 1979. The set is in the 1973 catalog, I do not have the 1972 catalog so it is between 1973 and 1979.

Now take Rob Cooks B/O badge serial chart which is an estimation and that puts those drums after 1976.

So that set falls between 1977 and 1979.

Maybe with photos someone can get closer to the date.

David

Thanks, man!

And now i see in the ton 6', other serial number: 217 0133.

In the rest are 222 93 70.

This is normal? 2 serial numbers at same drum?

Vicente.

SticksandStones,

Tell him to check for himself.

http://www.ludwig-drums.com/features/hoamld/serialnumbers.php

The badges with serial numbers stamped onto them were probably poured into bins. They were more than likely pulled to install on drums without regard to the sequence. And you might find, as with Fender guitars, that as a bin was used up, older lower numbers at the bottom of a bin might have mixed with some newer higher numbers.

Serial numbers were also required by manufacturers as a mean of identifying inventory for taxing purposes.

Actualy The Badges Were In Little Boxes About The Size Of The Badges And They Were Actualy In Sequential Numbers, But They Would Be Several Boxes On The Table At One Time And What Ever Box And Group Of Badges That Were Grabed By The Employee's Would Get Put On The Drums In No Certain Order A Lot Of The Times, I Had Several Chances To Visit The Chicago Plant In Full Swing,

Thanks for the clarification! I imagined the badges were treated in the same manner as serialized neckplates on guitars.