My father used to tell me: "Never question your luck!"

You got 3-ply with re-rings... you lucked out! It was the tail end of that stock before they switched to the newer 4 and later 6 ply shells. You got some of the last of the old 3-plies, doesn't get much better than that.

John

That sounds almost as good as winning that huge lottery.That would only be good because I could buy more drums.

Anyway,thanks.It seems this is another example of the"there are no hard fast rules when it comes to Ludwig drum making".That may be one of the draws.

Thanks,just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost the rest of my mind!

I agree with John. You lucked out!

My dad said"if you have the choice between being good and being lucky....Take lucky".Seems it worked this time.

As I recall the changeover to 6 ply shells was more like 1978. I think Rob has it pegged a bit early in his book.

Also the serial number charts currently in circulation aren't particularly accurate. Between those two "gray" areas your drums probably fall into the regular production. Either way nice to have the 3 plies.

The project I have been working on is not going to cover ALL of the hardware changes or shell changes. However, it does try to link some of the major changes to serial numbers ranges or date ranges.

The switch from three to six ply shells has roughly been linked to the 163XXXX - 164XXXX serial number range. I welcome more reports of 3 ply drums with high serial numbers and 6 ply drums with low serial numbers to improve this estimate. Based upon the preliminary conclusions, gonedrum's 1760XXX serial numbers are a ways outside of the typical range. I would add that I would not ascribe a 1979 date to these drums but suggest that they are likely from the 1978 time frame. This would fit with K.O.'s timing of 1978 as the year that the shells were switched over. Also, the 965XXX serial number range is not likely from 1976, but probably several years earlier. One of the deficiencies of Rob Cook's date guide is that is is not based upon very many drums. It skips several years and then seems to put too many serial numbers in 1976. I will be presenting an improvement to the dating guides very soon.

Hard to know exactly where the 3-plies left off, I'd guess 1977.

Also, there was a 3-ply transition shell, not made in Ludwig's "glue wrap to a piece of plywood and bend into a circle" method that resulted in Ludwig's trademark scarf joint and hump. There was a short period where 3-ply shells and rings were "laid up" in the more common manner. nice round shells, no hump! They must have just preceeded the 6-ply shells.

Bermuda

Unless I completely missed something, the serial number range of 965xxx should put this kit in 1971. I say this as I have a factory matched Super Classic with the following serial numbers...

769027 14x22 Shell stamp: JUN 3 1970

812168 5x14 Shell stamp: NOV 13 1970

823949 9x13 Shell stamp: NOV 9 1970

900260 16x16 Blue/Olive label: 60717 - No shell stamp, but most likely early 1971

Hope this helps!

Mark