I think it just depended on the "outfit". I just sold a Slingy kit for a friend that had a virgin 24 with 12/13/14/15 double headed toms and a 18 inch floor. The toms were held up by two double tom stands.

-Adam

I would defer to the experts, but from what I have read on here, sometimes drums were shipped "virgin" to pro shoppes and drilled to suit. But at 35 years young, it could be anyone's guess. And the fact that it's virgin now DEFINITELY makes it a rare bird. The fact that it survived different hardware crazes and such makes it a rare bird, for certain!!!!

Knowing what is available as NOS (the bronze shell thread comes to mind), I believe that shells were sold as spare parts at one time!!! You can't get Ludwig to give you raw shells these days, for sure!!!!

35 years old puts it at 1976. Thats about the age of the kit I had. Ive seen a handful of similar Slingys. Not sure about other companies, but I think I remember seeing a few sets of Ludwigs with similar set ups.

-Adam

I don't believe I could add much to your knowledge on this. There were several configs during the 70s that had virgin basses. I believe they averaged about three virgin bass configs per cat during those years. So, they were there, but they were usually associated with higher dollar configs, so it would stand to reason that less of them were sold. But, by the same token you have to factor in that one sale put TWO virgin kicks out there ... hmmmm. There's a non-linear equation that I don't feel comfortable tackling.

I have (4) virgin 24" Slingerland bass drums. Three of them with kits. One stand alone.