Blast beats are terrible. And I traded a brand new Tama kit for my Rockers. Even then I could tell how much better they sounded...and felt...and smelled... lol. What kind of heads do you use? I use coated diplomats on most of my kits...maybe you have a better suggestion? I am a Remo man I guess. I tried some Evans and Aquarian with not-very-good results.

I used to use Remo religously....although I have been using Ludwig's weathermaster coated heads on my 70's Ludwig kit, but that doesn't get used out too much anymore....I display it in my Apt more than anything else now. Anyway, for my gigging Ludwigs I use Aquarian heads now. A good drummer friend of mine turned me on to them. I think it brings out the warmth in my Ludwig 6-plys better than Remos ever did and they tune up nice and quick too! For the bass drum I use a superkick II and a black regulator head. The toms have classic clears on the reso side. The batter heads vary depending on the type of gig.....at the moment I have regular texture coated heads on them, but I have used performance II heads on a more regular basis. The snare has a texture coated with reverse dot for the batter and a clear snareside head with Puresound wires.

A good old pinstripe sounds good on my Rocker toms, but I want a more classic sound with the others. Not just that deep, fat tuning I usually use. How many plies were Rockers anyway? Were they 6 too?

Rocker toms were usually 4-ply and the bass drums were usually 6-ply.

i asked my old boss who used to work for ludwig,and he says its probibly a special order at the time.i don't think its was owned by a former touring drummer,but you never know.

the guy from the canadian band "the tea party" used a older rocker kit in wmp (the original wmp style pattern) in their first video.i assume it was a rocker kit.it had b/o badges but rocker lugs.

anyway...PICS please! i can't believe you got them for $150. i never come across deals like that.i'm jealous.and the guy at guitar center's a dumb ass.

maybe its reasons like that,that g.c. isn't a ludwig dealer.

as for repairing the wrap,pics would help.if its the original wmp style then from what i remember its a thinner wrap material.it depends how cracked they are and if you wanna keep the original wrap on them.

i used to work for a indie drum company,and off the top of my head,i would either try to salvage the wrap if possible.due to the riveted seams,which would not be easy.if not-re-wrapp the kit.

or if you know how to do drum repairs,to try and save the wrap,try to take the wrap off carefully-being real careful with the riveted seams,tape down the wrap on the OUTSIDE using glass protection tape. making sure all cracks are as close together as possible,as well as being flat as possible.

take off all the old glue from the wrap and shell and re-wrap.that's how we had to do it for a couple of re-wraps for customers who brought in older kits.

in these cases,we had no problems and they looked 98% better.

of course you could still see were some of the crackes were,but you had to get real close to look for them.

as for selling the kit.once you get the parts needed to make it playable (not incl the wrap issues) i would say you can possibly get $1,000. assuming its been cleaned up.

Ahh, I don't think I will rewrap it. Although I have given it enough thought. I think it has character the way it is. I think I may even leave the cracks and learn how to deal with them. The rivets are ugly as hell, but the more I look at them, I think "it could be worse". It is kind of a cool story, after all, and might make them a bit more rare (maybe). One thing I may do is your suggestion about rewrapping them with the original wrap, which could be feasible. Those rivets, though...

http://s769.photobucket.com/home/RoughDraftRecording/index

I couldn't figure out how to post pics on here, so here is the photobucket link. I created an account especially for this, after finding out I couldn't just add a pic from my hard drive, but had to supply a URL.

And that weird kind of upside down pic is showing a crumbling spur mount, you can see the crumbly-ness on the underside towards the shell. The pic of that crack is the biggest one of the 4-5 that are on the entire kit.

The Ludwig's with rivets are early 80's drums,as I toured 1728 N. Damen Ave then,and as we took the tour,I stopped the tour,and asked what the rivets were about.....

She said the wrap from Italy kept shrinking,so they had to put rivets in to stop it. (Didn't work too well,as you see!)

In order to add pix, use the "browse" button on the manage attachments box. That takes you to your hard drive and files on your computer. You do not have to use a url to post pix.

That had to be a custom order from the late 70s. Could it have been a Nugent drummer that ordered them? Or perhaps a backline rental kit for such large gigs as these? I mean let's face it. The late 70s saw the beginning of the huge concerts. I saw Three Dog Night at Altanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1972. I was 11 and went with my aunt. That was my very first concert. It was amazing and other bands played as well, it was like a festival, and all the Deep South Ladies and gentlemen, hippies and rednecks were there. It was a sight to see for sure, The stuffed shirts and the freaks...

So off to the later 70s, this had to be someone's stadium run kit. That would be the only place to rock drums this big, unless someone was putting together a Big Band tribute or something like that. But the 15 tom...that has me scratching my head...wonder if there is a 14 missing? Do you have the tom mount? That would answer another small issue...was there another tom? If there were a 14, that would make perfect sense..well, not quite, but it would make it more a late 70s style kit.