I will respectfully disagree and say that this was one of the Fab 4 sets from 1995. The badge placements are just like this set and the oyster black wrap Ludwig used in 1995 was crap. It would shrink and crap and most likely this set had those exact problems and was recovered in this WMP where new inlaid WMP hoops were added. I agree that date stamp is unlike one I have seen before but maybe Ludwig did something special for these sets. Certainly they went out of the norm for their set ups to move the badges. I'd say this is a real Ludwig IMO.

I think you've nailed it Kurt. The leg brackets in the ad appear to have the spacers. The bass hoops in the original post don't look to be actual inlays cut into the hoop but rather full width wrap sitting on top of the hoop (although it is tough to see too clearly) which could be done as part of a rewrap job.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ludwig reverted to the old style date stamp for the fab 4 sets which were a special limited edition intended to be "just like Ringo's" (a concept they have missed by a country mile every time they've tried). If anyone else has one of these sets they could easily confirm. Even if Ludwig didn't stamp them like that and someone else did (the person who rewrapped them perhaps) doesn't mean they are absolutely fakes.

I guess it's tough to say for certain based on a couple of pictures. It would be odd for someone to go to the trouble though. Really no way to come out ahead financially unless you had a set with all good hardware and trashed shells and even then it's kind of a losing endeavor, outside of retaining a playable set for yourself. These drums just aren't that valuable as used drums.

I remember when these came out too. I'll try to keep it short but I bought my first brand new Ludwig set in the summer of 1990. I had just graduated high school and wanted a top of the line new set. I knew nothing about vintage drums other than that I liked the way they looked. The colors offered in the late 80's sucked IMO. Red, black, white or some variation. I liked Buddy Rich with WMP so when I ordered my set I ordered it with WMP. Not realizing that Ludwig was having issues with colors like this I thought it looked great when they arrived. My only complaint was non inlaid bass drum hoops as I hated the solid black hoops.

I got the set in Aug of 1990 and after one NH winter the wrap had shrunk, cracked and looked awful. I also discovered that the hoops were put on before the paint dried which left a black ring. I had to send the set back for recover and the same thing happened again with the wrap cracking. It was not long before Ludwig said they were discontinuing colors like WMP and BDP. Most of the cool 60's colors went away.

It's too bad because the set sounded fantastic. I just know from looking at the set in the original post that it probably had the same issue with cracked wrap and all. I was actually fairly dissapointed in new Ludwig around the early 90's and went to mostly vintage drums as I got the bug real bad and started finding lots of cool old drums. It wasn't until about the year 2000 where I saw a band play and the guy had a new champagne sparkle Ludwig classic maple set. They looked and sounded amazing. I bought my next new Ludwig set in 2003 and have been super happy with the stuff they make ever since. I think the early 90's were just one of those bad periods for wrap. The drums have always sounded great IMO and I'm glad they are making stuff now better than ever.

I stand corrected! Yes Sir

My kit had a couple of splits in the wrap on the bass. It was near a lug and ran under the tom from what I recall. Mine has spacers under the FT leg mounts. I believe this was done to keep the legs from hitting the hoop.

I don't recall what the stamp looked like, unfortunately.