I have a 1961 Ludwig School Festival snare drum that has snare beds exactly like yours. I've always wondered if they were original or were cut in later. I'm interested in any responses you get.

i just sold adown beat with cut bed like that but painted still a 63

I have a 60 Auditorium, 62 Jazz Fest, and 65 Pioneer, all with painted snare beds. But, with so many variables coming from Ludwig during the 60s, who knows? Perhaps Bobby was the guy on the line who cut the beds and THEN painted them, and across the way was Billy who preferred to paint the inside before cutting the beds. I dunno.

So, 60, 62, and 65 with painted beds, for those keeping track...

I had a 4x14 Downbeat, No Serial transition badge, shell date Aug 31, 1960, it looked exactly like that.

I have a 62 Downbeat and the snare beds look the same. I believe the interiors of the shells were painted with the white resocoat prior to drilling for hardware and cutting snare beds. At some point they began cutting the snare beds and bearing edges prior to the paint process though... Just the order in the assembly or build process and what was done 1st...I often wished Camco would have drilled the screw holes for the lugs 1st, before drilling for the floor tom leg brackets, so they would be centered or spaced evenly between the lugs...

Ok, thanks for the replies everyone. It really doesn't look "modified" to me, but I'm no "Guru" and figured I would check on that considering it's my first one.