To answer your question, yes. Ludwig started offering the internal tone controls as an option by the late 70's rather than standard fitment. Today when you custom order a kit, they are an option still. Most drummers by this time went with some kind of "pre-muffled" head rather than the rattley internal tone control.

Oh.....you mean the heads that are always dead sounding because they are pre-muffled? A "rattley internal tone control" usually is the result of operator error by the person holding the sticks. I (and many others) know how to use and tweak internal tone controls. I take exception with your judgemental generalization that all internal tone controls rattle. We can deaden or enliven our drums on the fly. We don't need to change out the drum heads and remove original equipent to do so.

Remember please that this is a VINTAGE drum forum. There are many of us here who cling to, and love, vintage features on our drums. We also learn the work-arounds for dealing with issues like a rattling part or two.

The man asked a question as to if Ludwig deleted the tone controls in the era in question. The answer is yes. What is the problem?? Eye Ball

And yes, some of Ludwig's tone controls from that era when not in use, or in the off position if you will, rattle. Obviously the drums in question have no holes in the shell for tone controls, so he was asking if this could be factory.....again, what's the issue here??

Group Hug

I am with ya brother i love tone controls and if they squeak or make noise it is a lazy operator who has not kept them in tip top shape same with a speed king pedal.. and in answer to the question I believe they became a option in around 77-78 maybe earlier so yes some sets have them and some do not ..

I'm not spoiling for a fight here. I responded to a post that categorically stated that internal tone controls rattled. They CAN rattle. So can the springs inside lug casings if your ears are capable of hearing it. The parts inside a snare drum's strainer can rattle. loose screws, nuts, and bolt can rattle. The drumer's watch or ***elry can rattle.

Internal tone controls were eliminated from drums as a cost reducer in manufacturing. The manufacturers could spin that story any way they chose to spin it.

Unfortunately, it looks like I started some form of "bad blood" between a couple of fellow forum members somehow and that certainly wasn't my intent. I apologize for that. I was simply trying to find an answer to my question regarding the Ludwig tone controls.

Ludwig-dude: THANK YOU for for providing a direct answer to my question. I appreciate your time and your help.

OldSchool, you are welcome. Anytime I can be of help with as simple an answer as possible, I will be.

No worries or need to apologize, not your fault that Mr Leedybdp has it in for me for some reason. For some reason he always likes to contradict my statements just because, always stating that "those are my opinions". Well Mr leedybdp, in this case, rattling mufflers inside Ludwig drums of the mid-late 70's is a fact. Yes, I know how to fix the rattle and do choose to leave them in when they are equipped as such, but that was not the question or issue here. It is common knowledge amongst anyone who has ever owned and/or played Ludwig drums from that era that the mufflers loosen up over time and rattle, some worse than others. As far as Ludwig removing them from the standard equipment list as a "cost cutting" measure, that is your opinion, and not necessarily fact. That could be one reason why it was done. The other reason is more likely that Ludwig realized that drummers were removing them from the drums themselves using different muffling techniques for the studio, so why bother making something standard anymore that would be removed in most cases anyway. You have to remember that this was the era of concert toms, evans hydraulic heads, duct tape, and extreme close miking in the studio. Even in the on position for maximum "dead sound" these things could rattle.

And that is my :2Cents: on the matter at hand. Don't like it? Oh well! :p