Yes.... Black and silver badges. 8x12 Serial Number 19851, 14x14 Serial Number 19877, 14x20 Serial Number 23564. I thought that they were late 60s. Please enlighten me. According to the serial number timeline by Dr. Wenck in this forum, the bass drum is probably from 1968-69 and both toms from about 1966-68. In all three cases, the chart shows them to be from before 1970. Now, to add to the confusion, the same Dr. Wenck series of charts says that White Sparkling Pearl was first used in 1970. Remember...I replaced the damaged White Sparkling Pearl with a vintage WMP. The original Blue and Red Glass Glitters are near perfect.
Your black/silver badges were used '70-'72. Your serial numbers are most likely later '70 to earlier '71. Look at Dr. Wenks chart again and you will see the serial numbers reset to zero in 1970 when the first black/silver badge was introduced. Also, now the White Sparkling Pearl wrap being first used in '70 makes perfect sense.
Thanks for your comments. I'm willing to accept the probability that my drums were badged in 1970--possibly 1971. But, there are certainly some anomalies for the features, badges, and dates. Even with these inconsistencies for determining the ages of the drums, it's almost for certain that they were made more than a few years before the bicentennial year of 1976.
What anomalies are you referring to? Everything I'm seeing says early 70's. You are correct that the kit was produced several years before the bicentennial.
Hi guys,
Just finished the polishing of the shells and hardware and thought I'd post a few pics. I was able to find a spur on Reverb and have some new heads on order for the toms. I'll post more pics when it's 100% done. Thanks Zach for educating me that I should refer to the kit as COW rather than stainless. I am still developing my vintage drum vocabulary....when is the test anyway? I should really study.
AL
Those Ludwigs are very nice they look in great condition, I'm not a vintage guru but to me without the re-rings they look 1976 or later, do you have a close up picture of the badges
You scored very well with that "barn find". Enjoy your newly acquired drum set.
Here is a pic of one of the badges...the rest are pretty close in number. Late 70's?
