That's a really nice looking set of drums. I think they are legit, after all.

Yeah, probably about $800.00, tops, for those sizes.

I bought a ludwig kit new of the floor in 1977,they were 3 ply clear int 14 mt 15 mt,24 bass, 20 floor 3 ply with granitone inside,serial #s were all 16000s same bd spurs as photo.b/o badges even though luddy went to unimold 6 ply 1976? i think they used up what they had shell wise,mine were unusual sizes,10x14 12x15 18x20,24x12 it might be they had more of those sizes left over,as a matter of fact is it possible the 14 and 15 and bd could have been marching sizes?

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Wow, huh...they do seem to be a factory set. No, not rewrapped...the wraps would look newer if they were, and that triangular-diamond pattern has only been available retail for a couple of years...before that only drum mfr's had access to it.

It does seem nice. I would say $600-750, realistically. You may not get to the high end only because some folks might consider a 20/13/16 a bit incongruous as far as sizes go (typically either 20/12/14 or 16 or 22/13/16)

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Really appreciate the help guys. I decided to buy the kit, had to over-pay 200-300, but I've been trying to find a downbeat in canada for too long and the seller is going to save me $100 in travel by meeting me at a ferry.

I'm REALLY curious to see how that kick and floor tom are going to sound together, but I'll have to make it work.

Thanks again!

Given prices in Canada, "overpaying" by $200-$300 isn't really overpaying here. There just seem to be fewer vintage kits to go around, and the prices are accordingly higher. Every time I read about someone in California snapping up a vintage Luddy for $600, I seethe with jealousy. ;)

Then again, I did find my 50s Gretsch for under $600, but that was 16 years ago--long before eBay.

Enjoy the kit! It'll sound gorgeous, I'm sure.

But your set is not a Downbeat configuration. The configuration you have is not a named one. It would be a Downbeat if it had a rail consolette and a 12 X 8 tom tom and a 14 X 14 tom tom. But, even then, the Downbeat configuration wasn't even included in the later catalogs -at least by the late 70's.

But the drums do match, so they are a matched "set". There are some possibilities why they are configured like that:

1. The customer ordered them that way.

2. The drums are part of a larger, matched set

3. Someone has done a great job of refurbishing some old 3-ply shells and parts! ;)

As to the value....You'll love them, so they are worth it! As far as collectible value goes...They've got some things going for them and some things going against them. They really look nice from what I can tell from those pictures. Those are some LATE 3-ply shells, though. Curious

Ya, I'm well aware they aren't downbeats. I was getting desperate and I meant it was close enough. The bass drum size was the most important thing to me.

I picked up the drums today, and they are in a lot better shape than I was expecting. There is literally one scratch on the entire kit. If the guy refurbished them, he spent the time to add traces of rust and oxidization and should be rewarded for his master forgery... but if he was that good he probably wouldn't have used late seventies badges for an early seventies replica ;)

Going to play some bop on them tonight and see what type of tuning range they have. Thanks again guys!

Excellent that you picked them up. They are a later 70s kit that will sound unbelievably sweet. Nice move. Let us know how they play tonight.