I am no expert on all things vintage, but I think the Zappa sticker is just an end-user applied sticker. I don't believe Ludwig did a Zappa edition. I could be wrong.

Everybody is going to bug you for pics. Get them up. I still can't get them to post on here, but I am old and am using a Mac. I link them to my blog.

Resonant drum heads were very popular to remove in the '70s and '80s, and the kick drum is no exception. Just pray the damned thing isn't too badly out of round. Measure the drum diameter in several places- I bet you'll find it's a 20...

drumfactorydirect.com has the cheapest prices on heads and hardware. A lot of people on here like drummaker.com. I like them, too.

You have come to the right place to learn about vintage drums. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome! As for the heads, go here for a good deal on good heads.

http://www.drumfactorydirect.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=15_118_433

Please provide some pix, and no, they are not any special issue such as above. It is just an old sticker.

Thanks Jonni and bunnyman. Yea I've spent too many a night staring and drooling at old sets online. It's no slingerland but I'm glad that one of my first is a vintage set. I guess its not mine completely but its kinda of an indefinite loan to plan and record with, so im excited either way.

I'll put up some pics first chance I get, though it wont be till tommorow evening, Sorry guys! Definitely a-sap. :D

I'll check out those links, thanks agian.

I will tell you this: some older kits will sound better than others, but there is magic in almost ALL of the older stuff that is just not present in most of the new stuff no matter what the price point.

Have fun with this new to you kit.

I think you're right Bunnyman, That's something that's always drawn me to these older kits. There's just some mistique about them.

Here are a few pics I took of it, in a strange twist this may not be the Ludwig I thought it was. I didn't bother looking for badges at first, I saw the crazy wrap on it, and ludgwig written on the snare head so I went so far to assume. But in photographing I found a badge that says "Made Exclusively for - Zimgar Brooklyn NY"

I've never heard of Zimgar, I'll have to look into it now.

Ahhh... Zimgar's! One of the holy grails of MIJ drums! That looks like a pretty sweet wrap as well. Did the neighbor give you the drums or are you borrowing them. If they are loaners, fine, but see if you can acquire them. Those old things will sound pretty sweet with the proper heads and look even sweeter with a proper cleaning and light restoration. Jonnistix will be able to tell you more about Zimgar kits.

Either way, have fun, take some more pictures and ask lots of questions.

Pleased to meet you!

As I thought. I actually deleted part of my last post because you mentioned Ludwig and for some reason I was thinking these sounded more like an MIJ kit to me. As fish recommends, I also recommend you give a good run at acquiring these drums. I would like to see a clean shot of the strainer and lugs on the snare. These are an anomaly in the MIJ world. Zimgar was distributed by Brooklyn Music Supply. The wrap is Tiger's Eye, used by both Pearl and Star. So, the only way is to see the the snare parts.

WOW, a sticker from the Bongo Fury tour! At the Armadillo, no less! That is a seriously cool thing, probably not very valuable, but seriously cool.

They're just on loan, but I'm ganna fix 'em up anyway. We'll see what happens in the future. I think they may have some sentiment to the owner, but obviously he rather have them played than sitting rotting. It's a good friend, so anything is possible.

I'm really diggin these MIJ kits, so cool. I spent some time researching them at work. I'll take a close up of the snare lugs as soon as I get a chance.

Yea and that sticker is pretty cool, I'll have to see if any recordings exist of it.

How available are these MIJ Stencil kits in general? Seems like they maybe a hit and miss thing, finding them in odd places. I wonder if there are any original stands and stuff floating around. Keep the kit some what original. The owner may have them in his basement but its a mess so they havn't been located yet.