When I got my 1966 Ludwig's I put new heads on them. When I was replacing the bass drum heads I noticed a fabric strip stapled to the bearing edge. Although this did not affect the edge it did get me wondering if that was something that the original owner had done or if it was done at the factory on some models. It was probably the original guy mimicking someones felt strip and not knowing what he was doing but I thought I'd check with you Ludwig gurus and see if you have ever run across that before. It seemed absurd to me but guys do all kinds of crazy things to make their drums sound better. The pics show the drums the day I brought them home. They are now clean and with new heads but this is just to show the strips inside the kick.