Vintage ludwig drums serial numbers

A drum was stamped when the shell was finished, providing the most accurate depiction of the age of wood due to the fact final assembly came later. The difficulty in date stamps is, more often than not, that the stamp has been rendered illegible or removed completely due to the wear and tear of the years. Aside from the exact date printed on the shell, the color of ink used will assist in identifying the era of the drum and indicate the possibility of forgery.

From the inception of date-stamping in through , Ludwig solely used red ink. From to , both red and black inks were used with black as the predominant color.

These are the gold standards for identifying a vintage Ludwig drum. In addition, the Keystone badge was reintroduced on certain models in the early '80s. Pointy badges - those with a pointed edge - are typically associated with models from the earlier '70s.

In addition, individual owners may have trimmed the badges themselves, so consulting a serial number will provide a better gauge on the drum.

These badges also adorned the aluminum Acrolite snare from to the mid s, when the drum featured a Black Galaxy Sparkle finish. One last thing to bear in mind: a drumset featuring sequential serial numbers tends to be higher in value than sets with era-correct badges and hardware but non-sequential serial numbers. To reflect our commitment, we updated our terms and conditions.

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Oops, looks like you forgot something. Please check the fields highlighted in red. Yes, that's correct Do not update. From the back of catalogs. Ludwig Badges. Ludwig Snare Drums. Ludwig Drum Sets. Ludwig Snare Drum Hardware. Ludwig Serial Numbers. Ludwig Rockers. Special Rockers Section. Ludwig Jazzette. Special Jazzette Section.

Ludwig Logos. Used on literature. Ludwig Interior Paint. Shell Timeline - Paint Type. Ludwig Company Timeline. Visual Timeline. Ludwig Vistalite. Flyers and Catalog Pages. Ludwig Black Beauty Snare Drum. Ludwig Supraphonic Snare Drums. Ludwig Standard Drums.