vibeguy56!...First... THANKS for your kind words!, and I agree, sometimes posts and/or responses can be a tad, how shall I say... venomous. Never saw the need for that to be honest, coupled with that old adage: "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" ... indeed! Regarding your drum:Mystery solved!! It is indeed the Slingerland Buddy Rich Model/TDR as your pics have confirmed. Interestingly though, yours is the FIRST ONE I have ever seen in a natural finish, but that makes perfect sense as you did mention that Slingerland sent a replacement shell which was in it's "raw" and natural state. GREAT on the dating through the serial number too!... and we now know that it is indeed the BR/TDR based on the way the drum is set up and the serial/timeline. I had a feeling that this was the case based entirely on your description of the drum with just the 1980 build date being suspect... Cool! :-DTommyp
Well, that is good news! Interestingly enough, the shell came finished this way AND replaced one that was identical to it! As a matter of fact, Charlie may have had a good number of this drum finish. To top this off - I bought an entire set to match a year or so later - but hated it. slingerland quality was not at the top at that time.
Well it is good to know I have a special drum!