Hmm

I have always liked the look of the standards, but never heard them. The 84 Catalog has them as 3-ply die-mold shells.

From what I have always understood is that they were introduced to better compete with the Japanese drums of the day. Sort of a lower line of drums.

That being said I think the unqiue lug design and other compenents puts them way ahead of Japanese drums since they were just copying American drums anyway. Plus the shells are better then Japanese drums.

That makes them unique in lug design and finishes. They had some way cool color combinations making them more collectable recently since I "hear" they can sound rather nice.

Any way you look at it, they are for your enjoyment so if the price is right and you like the sound, you can't go wrong. Here is a 70's color swatch of the standard drums.

[IMG]http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/images/my_collection/misc/ludwig_color_swatch_standard_thumb.jpg[/IMG]

I was looking at them, one, because I like this kits looks and because of the wide variety of off the wall finishes they came in. I get tired of the same glitters, sparkles and pearls of the Classics. I would love a butcher block Rogers Swivo kit too. Not a very popular finish and looked down on by some collectors, but I think its kinda cool. And after all, thats what collecting is all about right? Finding the stuff you dig? I think I might pick up this Standard kit. It would get the typical "tear apart to small pieces" cleaning so that would give me a chance to really look at the overall construction quality. Maybe a soundfile after reheading. Thanks!

They are essentially the same 3-ply shells, but with a gray speckle coat paint instead of white paint. The lugs were not bad lugs at all. They were, however, MUCH less labor-intensive to buff out in the final finishing process than the Classic lugs were and that's why they were less expensive to produce.

The Standard line also included their own separate and unique line of pedals and stands, too -all much more simplified in their design -again, less man-hours needed in final finishing. I addition to hardware, they also had their own line of finishes. Some would argue that the Standards "Strata" finishes were even cooler-looking than the Classic's line of finishes!

Be forewarned....As of late, the Standards (especially a rarer Strata finish such as Avocado Strata) go for MORE money than the Classic line!

Sound-wise, there is very little -IF ANY- distinction between a Classic kit and a Strata kit.

P.S. I LOVE the Ruby Strata finish!

Thanks for all the info. I knew you guys would come through with the info I needed. This is off topic, but I should take a second to say how much Im enjoying being part of an ADULT drum forum. Its refreshing to have a mature conversation about the thing Im passionate about. That being said....

Bonzo Rocks!

Laughing H

Thanks again!

I have two Ludwig Standard drum outfits.

One is green strata (badge serial numbers vary from 52000 to 54207). It's a 5 piece kit 22" bd, 12" tt, 13" tt, 16" ft (snare is missing, but it's floating around town and I will track it down someday) - still have the standard bd pedal, which broke in 1988 at a show I was playing.

Second is a bronze strata finish - 3 piece (it's missing the 13" tom tom - yes, it has the double tom tom holder). Has 22" bd, 16" ft and 12" tt. Serial number badges are in the 81000 range.

Here's my question - I see on this site - serial numbers listed, but are those serial numbers for the Classic line (I assume those #s are).

If so, where can I find info on the Standard line serial #s ?

If not - then I guess the green strata finish is a 1964 or 1965 ?

What year did Ludwig start the standard line of drums.

Thanks in advance,

John

PS: I have some Vistalite questions lined up too.

I think the Standard line first appeared in the late 60's -like '68 or '69.

In Rob Cook's"The Ludwig Book", it says that the Ludwig Standard line went from the late 60's to the early 70's. The Ludwig Standard series also followed it's own numbering system. I found this link for a '71 Standard kit for sale with it's serial numbers. The serial number listing is at the bottom of the page.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Ludwig-Standard-Drum-Set-Kit-Blue-Strata-1971_W0QQitemZ220086474172QQihZ012QQcategoryZ119015QQcmdZViewItem

I would like to hear the Vistalite questions. They do not get talked about much and I'm wondering what to do with mine...

Click Here for a quick tour around the drums

David

Hey O-Lugs - I've read a lot of your posts - you're incredibly knowledgable. I was hoping for more comments out of you. :)

I knew when those Standards ran from - I'm just wondering about the exact year those started. From what I've read - the wood, plys of the drums are actually the same as the classic line...I see O-Lugs has some knowledge of this. The difference with the Standard lines was that the cymbal stands, snares stands, etc... was cheaper and of somewhat lower quality than the Classic line. Oh yeah, I do have all the Ludwig Standard cymbals stand, snare stand and original drum throne - legs and and main post form triangular shape when fully extended.

Thanks for the Ebay link - I saw those drums the other week. There's a blue strata snare on Ebay right now too !

I'm baffled about so many Ludwig Standard drums being date stamped. However, both of my standard sets DO NOT have date stamps anywhere inside, which makes me a little suspicious when someone has one with the date stamps.

Did Ludwig date stamp their Vistalite line ?

I'm sure some of the dates were wiped out with cleaners and such.

The Band