Assistance Wanted: Old Ludwig Refurb

[Aleksandr]

I am considering buying this drum set to try my hand at a refurbish project. I've been wanting to start a project like this for a while now on an old drum set I already have, and I've also wanted to invest in a drum set with a larger kick drum lately as well (26"-28"). So, this kit kind of takes care of both these issues for me.

The problem is, I don't know what kit this is or if its even reasonably decent. It could sound horrible, and as such I could be completely wasting my money.

To hopefully prevent the aforementioned disaster, I come to ask your opinions on said drum set. Can anyone identify this in any way, or perhaps be a decent judge of what the quality may be like? Would it be a wasteful money sink? I could be asking a lot, but I am hoping there are some vets on this board that might have an keen eye for older sets.

Its an old Ludwig kit of some sort. I don't know the year or the model.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3356/3270893334_b5cb687743_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3347/3270071903_9f64d0a989_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3532/3270072033_92b9037fa2_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3300/3270072131_5533f42078_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3301/3270072283_e8b65ffbb4_o.jpg

The dimensions are:

Bass- 26" x 16"

Rack- 13" x 12"

Floor- 18" x 16"


Your thoughts?

[trkdrmr]

Mid-late 70's era. Needs to be totally stripped (every drum) and refinished or re-wrapped to match. That kick drums finish is just gone....

[Aleksandr]

Yes, I would be re-wrapping these. I am mainly concerned with the shell quality.

[Leadfoot]

Much fun to be had there. Personally, I would strip them down & wrap them particularly if it were a gigging set. That way, you could add different size drums later & re-wrap them & not worry about finishes matching up. 90% of my Ludwigs I have refurbed from sets in similar condition. It's a lot of fun, & you get get Luddy orphans anywhere for very reasonable prices.

[drumhedd]

Mid-late 70's era. Needs to be totally stripped (every drum) and refinished or re-wrapped to match. That kick drums finish is just gone....

actually they're probably early-mid 80s, the power tom and bass drum depths give that away. they stopped using that badge in 1984 so that's the latest they could be.

[gmrakich]

Gig as is...put barbed wire around it. Apocalypse kit.

[harryconway]

Those are gonna be 6 ply maple shells. Fine project kit. My Rogers/Ludwig project here: http://harryconway.typepad.com/ Blue/Olive badge (round corners) would be 80-84, like Drumhedd stated. Pull the trigger.

[drumhedd]

Gig as is...put barbed wire around it. Apocalypse kit.

hahahaha yes! I like the way you think!

[trkdrmr]

actually they're probably early-mid 80s, the power tom and bass drum depths give that away. they stopped using that badge in 1984 so that's the latest they could be.

If it was mid 80's, the kick tom mount should look different... modular? Did that mount even exist mid 80's? What about the spurs, did they use double (two pair of) spurs on "power" toms in the 80's?

[harryconway]

With this situation, we have to treat the kick as an orphan, apart from the 2 toms. Pretty much, to a certain degree, dating Ludwig stuff is a crap shoot anyways. Seeing the bass drum doesn't even have a badge, modular hardware came out in 1980. If a customer didn't want modular....he could "special order" the older style flange. For that matter, that kick could have been a virgin that someone added a flange to. You don't have to be much of a rocket scientist to drill 5 holes. I've done it. When I "special ordered" my twin virgin clear Vistalite 22x16 kicks, (1980), they came with Blue/Olive pointy corner badges and the large double spurs. Double spurs, again, you could order large/small and with/without. Going to the eBay auction, the seller identifies the drums as 6 ply shell. So the kick 1976-1984.