My friend has this set that he bought off his roommate in college. He is trying to determine a ballpark value of what they are worth. He is not planning to sell.
My guess is they are 76-77 since they are the heavier shell with clear interiors. Any other input would be welcome!
I'd say more like 1980-83. The six plies came in around 77-78. The large lugs on the 12" tom were typically a later thing (although nothing is set in stone with Ludwig). Hercules hardware and rounded corner B/O badges definitely place them in an early 80's context (possibly '79 as the earliest). The B/O badges were replaced in '84 with the large keystone badge so 1983ish would be the newest they could be. Generally drums from that era had the modular tom mounts but not everyone opted for that and some kits were cataloged with the older style holders like this has (which is generally considered a good thing).
As to value I'd say $700-$1000...but I'm pretty cheap. White cortex probably isn't currently real high on anyone's list of wraps they want to find but was quite popular at that time. On the plus side it's a very durable wrap and also these don't appear to have the dreaded rivets along the wrap seam that Ludwig notoriously did around 1980-1983. No reason to have done so on a cortex wrap (which will not shrink like regular wrap did) but sometimes they still did put them in.
Nice kit, especially with the Supra. I agree with the above post.
The '81 Ludwig catalog shows rivets on the wrap seams. The '80 catalog shows pointy badges.
It would be interesting to find out when Ludwig began using the rivets.
Ludwig did a pretty good job of not letting the Rivets be visible in their advertising shots but I have a flyer from 1980 where you can see them in one photo. I'll see if I can track it down and post it.
K.O. is right on the money. One other way to identify Ludwigs from the early 80's until 1983 is the placement of the bass drum badge. As Kevin mentioned, the modular mounts came out on the early 80's probably around 1981. That big triangular mount on the bass drum forced Ludwig to have to move the bass drum badge from the front of the bass drum to the back. Even though this set has the 70's style double tom mount, Ludwig geared up production for all bass drums to have the badge at the players side. Ironically they never moved it back towards the front and to this day the badge sits at the players side(which is something I have always hated).
My only complaint about my classic maple set from 2012 is that the bass drum badge is at the back. I even asked if they would move it and I was told no. I have heard that you can request it at the front now but I am not positive about this and all the new sets I see from Ludwig still have the badge at the back.
