A fortunate byproduct of gathering information from vintage drums to create serial number-based dating guides is the large database of information about individual vintage drums which results is a great resource for other inquiries. This study looks at vintage Ludwig drums from the time when they possessed both date stamps and serial numbers to learn about production by day of the week.
Date stamps appear for all seven days of the week, with the vast majority of drums stamped with dates from the traditional Monday to Friday workweek. Saturdays and Sundays are also represented, especially in 1966 and 1967, which is consistent with anecdotal evidence that Ludwig’s post-February 1964 Sullivan Show production increased dramatically, requiring Ludwig to add shifts and work weekends. The frequency of Saturday and Sunday date stamps drop off after 1967. Total reports of date stamps are also higher in 1965-67 than 1968 and beyond, which also mirrors the reported production decrease due to decreased demand in 1967 or so. Because of a general lack of reports of drums with date stamps from the second half of 1964 and first few months of 1965, the data does not demonstrate the production volume during that period.
Both Ludwig Main Line and Ludwig Standards use date stamps and display similar day of the week usage. Summary information is presented for each product line separately and then combined. For each dataset, there is a table showing the number of drums recorded for each day of the week for the relevant years. Totals by day of the week and percentage of total are calculated. The information is then presented in graphical form, with a pie chart, a bar graph and a line graph. Alternative visual presentations may spark greater understanding of the information.
Of the 3747 drums in this study, 1546 different dates are represented. Over the eight year span reviewed (late 1963 to early 1972), that is about half of the possible dates. This does not mean that Ludwig only worked half of the possible dates, just that the date stamps in this study have only been reported or observed for about one-half of the possible dates. Keep in mind that the 3747 drums discussed above represent less than 3.5% of Ludwig's apparent production during the time period. It is not surprising that drums possessing stamps from every possible date are not included.
This may be of interest to those who enjoy the minutiae of vintage drums and prefer to rely upon carefully gathered and verified information rather than just general stories and hazy memories. More studies using the accumulated reports of vintage Ludwig and Gretsch drums are planned. Suggestions are welcomed.
Notes About the Underlying Data:
1. The data for this study was originally compiled to support a serial number-based dating guide. Therefore, the time period shown is from late 1963 (when serial numbers were introduced) through early 1972 (when date stamps were discontinued). This is the period when date stamps and serial numbers were both present. This study also uses information from drums with date stamps where the serial numbers are unknown.
2. This study utilizes data collected since 2011 as well as data provided by Daniel Assis, Steve Black, Rob Cook, Mike Layton and Mike Machat. Also included is information gleaned from publications from Paulo Sburluti, Rob Cook, Ned Ingberman and Clay Taylor Greene.
3. The data used is not a scientific sampling of the drums made during the time period, but it does provide a glimpse into the distribution demonstrated by the dates which appear on drums themselves. It is largely populated with information from eBay and Reverb listings, published information and reports from internet drum forum members and other drum enthusiasts.
4. Only date stamps which can be read clearly and possessed month, date and year are used. A serious attempt is made to use only verified and genuine complete dates.
5. Roughly one third of Ludwig drums during the study period reported complete and readable date stamps. This estimate is based upon a companion list of drums which either had no reported date stamps or date stamps which were incomplete or unreadable.
6. All date stamps are taken at face value, so any failure to advance the date stamper from the prior day's production and incorrectly stamp the date are included as they are seen.
7. This study looks at the day of the week shown on the stamp inside the shell. It does not necessarily represent which day of the week the shells were made or the drums were assembled. It is safe to call this the stamping date. There is conflicting opinion about when shells were date stamped. At least one published source (Ingberman, Ned, “How To Date 1960’s Ludwig Drums by Serial Numbers,” DRUM! Magazine, September 2002) states that shells were stamped when they were made and placed into shell inventory. Dick Schory, a Ludwig employee during this time frame, when asked about the date stamping process, indicated that the date stamp was applied at final assembly. There is also no certainty that the procedure did not change over time. This study works with the stamps as they appear in the drums decades years later and does not attempt to answer the question of when the date stamps were applied.
8. The data available for date stamped drums from the second half of 1964 through the end of February 1965 is quite sparse. There are very few drums reported with date stamps during this time frame when compared to all other time frames. It hampers one’s ability to draw meaningful and supportable conclusions about what was happening at Ludwig during this time frame. Based upon the use of serial numbers, production volume was significant during this time period, but it is not clear why so few drums from the associated serial number range are reported with date stamps.
9. With a few exceptions, dates were last stamped inside drum shells in April 1971. Dates were stamped on paper labels in wood shelled drums during April and May 1971 and in metal shelled drums from April 1971 through early January 1972.
10. Ludwig’s total production from late 1963 through early 1972 is believed to be approximately 950,000 Main Line and 60,000 Standards. Unknown numbers of badges without serial numbers and unused badges hamper attempts to further refine this estimate.