I believe Ludwig stopped integrating wraps in the scarf joint in 68. But, I also believe they went to maple exteriors in 68. Hmmmm

Lynn

The tom mounts were interchangeable, using the same holes, so the mount could have been switched.

Maple exterior plies were generally only used for natural finish drums or those meant to be painted, such as in a duco finish. Again, i said generally........

Mahogany outer plies were usually relegated to being covered by a wrap finish, although they also used them for natural mahogany finishes as well, although by the era of this drum, natural mahogany was rather rare to find aka not that popular. Again, I said usually........

There are exceptions to these of course.......it is Ludwig ;)

Mini lugs would be correct for a 12" tom made between the mid 50s to sometime in the mid 80's.

A drum that was originally painted would have a maple outer ply. Most wrapped drums from the 3ply era (even after 1968) would have a mahogany outer ply. A drum made after (approximately) 1968 would not have the wrap going into the scarf joint anymore. An exception to the non wrapped outer maple ply would be a natural mahogany finish drum.

The type of hardware (lugs and mounts) aren't conclusive for dating because they can very easily be swapped out without changing or drilling any holes. No way to truly know if it is original or not.

Edit: sorry to be repeating stuff, I didn't see page two before writing a reply...

Well folks, it has been a while since my last post in here, but i wanted to record the progress I have made with my kit, and specifically with the 12" tom I purchased on -bay.

As you could tell from the picture the poor tom was in a really poor shape. I proceeded to completely strip the paint ( as you can see from a previous picture) and I realize the exterior was mahogany. The quality was not good enough finish so I decided to put a sheet of Maple veneer over it and finish like the rest of the kit I was working on; all was proceeding good until 3 weeks ago I got an email from te guy who sold me the tom. He said he had found the badge he had lost that belonged to the tom and was willing to sell it to me for $40.00 After reviewing the picture I agreed to $33.00 including the $3.00 shipping. Now I do not know if that indeed was the original badge that was on the Tom ( probably not) but according to the serial number it could have been. When I got it it was pretty dirty and full of patina but I was able to clean it really good . So here it is the final product.

(Still looking for a 13" to complete my kit)

[Attachment: 102202] [Attachment: 102203] [Attachment: 102204]

Sweet kit. The Acrolite is a nice touch, too.

Top notch job.

Ditto, here.....a great finish, looks like one of the pack.

Thank you guys... After I'm done with this lud I will start on my Fullerton Londoner..