Okey I have a 1971 downbeat bass or superclassic bass with rail mount. I found a 8x12 to match but it has large lugs? Why were all kits shown in the catalog have small lugs on the 12" toms and I'm seeing large classic lugs on 12" early 70's toms all the time? Could you have got a downbeat or superclassic with a large lug 12"? Also did they make a 20 12 14 superclassic?
Ludwig Large classic lugs on vintage 8x12? Help!!! Last viewed: 3 hours ago
The bass drum
Okey I have a 1971 downbeat bass or superclassic bass with rail mount. I found a 8x12 to match but it has large lugs? Why were all kits shown in the catalog have small lugs on the 12" toms and I'm seeing large classic lugs on 12" early 70's toms all the time? Could you have got a downbeat or superclassic with a large lug 12"? Also did they make a 20 12 14 superclassic?
20-14-12 were the Downbeat models, 22-13-16 were the Superclassic.
Small classic lugs were the norm on the 8x12 toms and some of the deeper 6 1/2" and up concert snare drums from the days of WFL up to the mid 1970's. Large classic lugs on the smaller size toms really didn't become a normal thing until the advent of the 6ply shells, although they did use them on some of the 3ply shells that were originally destined to be Standard series drums in order to use up the pre-drilled shells. I had a friend with a 1971 Hollywood model that had large lugs on the 12" tom.
1976 Ludwig Stainless Steel "Bop" (12,14,18)
1998 Ayotte "Ray Era" Wood Hoop Copper Sparkle (10,12,14,16,20)
Just to be clear, the names Downbeat and Superclassic just refer to kit configurations. The drums were all the same (well different sizes of course) layup and parts. There were no downbeat model toms or Hollywood toms or whatever.
Most 12" 3 ply toms have the smaller lugs, early on (early 50's) and then later on (early 80's) they had the larger lugs but through the 60's and 70's generally they would have had the small ones. However, someone could have possibly special ordered the larger lugs (if the difference bothered them for some reason) or a worker might have installed them by mistake, or drilled the shell wrong, or they may have run out of the small ones that day. With Ludwig there are myriad possibilities and they would not have junked the shell just because it didn't have the same sized lugs as the ones in the catalog.
My 8"x12" Tom I got with my new Hollywood kit in 1971 had the large lugs.
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