I recall hearing that at least during the period right after the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan show, that the factory was so busy that workers would just grab a handful of badges out of a bunch of open boxes. This resulted in less than ideal badge number to build sequence.
Michael Phillippi yes it seems 1965 is a bad year for quality control on Ludwig. Badges were moved to the upper part of the shell on floortoms and are usually off center.
I would suggest bringing the batter head up and the resonant head at the same frequency or a bit lower for that 13x9! Might give it more depth. Nice kit like sir Mitchell's!
gnrdp tuning it higher doesn't seem to do anything for resonance. Changing positions on the consolette has sometimes worked. The drum sounds better in your hand obviously.
Nice overview! I just purchased Ludwig Super Classic Silver Sparkle drum set and right away started to dig deep into the history of each drum. Bassdrum is from 30th of November 1960, rack tom from 1970 (with WFL 55-59 badge!) and floor tom is from 1969. Would also like to do a playing demo and historical overview. However, I wonder why those heads won't fit properly on your drums, because these drums should have no problems with fitting contemporary drumheads? Have you tried Remo Classic Fit heads?
Lauri Põld I have not tried the vintage fit heads, I suspect that the lap joint in the shells might the problem. The drums could be out of round in that sense . The 13 had original weather master heads on it when I got it.
You should check out the Weatherking Classic Fit series from Remo. They're a little bigger than your average modern drumhead, and designed to fit old vintage drums that may be out of round or a little bigger diameter than the standard sizes today.
