Doug make a jellybean kit with different color ducos, I really love this color cmbo !

One neat thing is you could decide on "degrees of match". Maybe each shell must meet certain criteria like -

duco

dual colour duco

solid colour duco

solid black or white duco

center lug

Ludwig

Red white and black is cool, shipping colours. Whatever - it's going to be cool. :)

Mitch

I agree Mark. You can tell the paint is aged perfectly. That's a beauty of a drum. You could request about any color from what I understand. This is really nice. You could have extras painted. Or you could add some black lacquer drums and maybe a white snare. The options are unlimited. Very nice!

Mike

Thanks for the badge photos... that's a nice, clean, original badge. I really like Mitch's jelly-bean idea.

John

That is to cool! I would get two more painted and have a unique kit. Very cool indeed.

Curtis

Thanks for all your comments and expertise. I learned a lot ! I now know its not in the cards for me to find a vintage matching duco BD and FT.

BTW - I bought the drum from an ebay seller out of Chicago. He was not a drum guy. I received it in a custom built plywood box complete with a handle and hinges built some time ago. In the box was an old drum stand and some other "stuff". Next week maybe I will get it out and look it over more carefully. There may be some clues about the drum in there. I'll take some pics and post here if worthwhile.

My hat's off to Mitch ! The more I think about it the more I like your jelly bean duco kit suggestion. I'm thinking a 4 piece kit - all WFL vintage with single center lug design in 22/13/16 sizes with a 61/2 X 14 snare. Each drum will be a different dual color scheme. I'm in no hurry and will save my nickels and dimes. I want to find examples in good to very good condition. Something I can tear down and clean up with little repair or parts replacement. Maybe to preserve the duco finish I will clear coat the drums with laquer like I did my recent Slingerland project - yes - yes !!

A big part of the fun will be the search to find these drums. Yea just what I need .... 3 more drums ! My wife already thinks I've lost it with my drum collection. I remind her that she met me on a gig 30+ years ago - if it wasn't for them she never would have met me. Come to think of it maybe that's why she doesn't like them :-0

O well maybe I'll just "forget" to tell her about this project and I'll keep it our little secret ;-)

Doug

Hey Doug,

A friend gave me an old BD that was in his garage. It turned out to be a WFL bass drum painted red by a brush, yes a brush, sad. I was wondering how you dated your WFL. I'm thinking about 1956 or so. I'm anxious to get mine into playing condition.

Pat

Hey Doug,

A friend gave me an old BD that was in his garage. It turned out to be a WFL bass drum painted red by a brush, yes a brush, sad. I was wondering how you dated your WFL. I'm thinking about 1956 or so. I'm anxious to get mine into playing condition.

Pat

Hey Pat,

The drum date was stamped in red ink on the inside of the shell. I think WFL changed its name back to Ludwig sometime in 1956 after they bought the name back and could legally start making drums under the Ludwig name again but were still using the old WFL badges until they ran out of stock. Check to see if you can find a date stamped on the inside of the drum shell. If not it should technically be 1956 or earlier. Keep in mind I'm not an expert on this. There are a lot of guys on this forum that know more about Ludwig dates than me.

Thanks

Doug

A super fun project, and you'll have something uniquely your own when finished. I for one can't wait to see what you'll put together....but I'll be patient. :)

Mitch