thats exactly right, especially with ludwig. there were transition periods and unexplained things. the power of the internet has simply allowed more resources to be utilized to explore these things.
they were still using some red felts in early-spring 65.
mike
I had a stamped 1961 COB supra w/a baseball bat muffler(red Felt)!!!
I have a pre serial 62 with round knob muffler and my 63 pre serial number has the red baseball bat muffler.
nashdrum posted this link in my COB thread, very informative.FYI
The red BB mufflers pre-date the serial numbered badges which started in late 1963 as there are pre-serial drums with the BB mufflers.
I was pretty sure that the BB muffler came out in 1961. It's been a while since I looked at that kind of thing but maybe a refresher is in order....
Ringo's snare drum was dated from early 1963 and it has a BB muffler....
My 1962 stamped Club date 13" tom has a knob muffler...although maybe they were using up the old knob mufflers on the club date drums.
Have a mint '65 BDP J-Fest with the knob muffler that I have no reason to believe was switched out for the BBB muffler. W's strange is the inner mechanism does not lay flat but sits on the re-ring. Looks to have been there since '65,
c
It should be noted that Ludwig would outfit a kit in any configuration the customer (or music store) requested. The catalogs were just a showpiece for their most common models. Case in point: I have a Ludwig Super Classic kit date-stamped Jun. 1965 (13, 16, 20) that has DUAL 3/4" knob mufflers on both toms, top and bottom (ala Gretsch). Also of note, the bass drum has dual Club Date bass drum spurs - 2 per side (ala Slingerland).
My knob mufflers fit just like Hobb's: they don't lay completely flat against the shell, but rather rest at one end against the re-rings. I suspect this was because the shells were drilled for the baseball bats, which causes the mufflers to sit somewhat higher than normal. Doesn't affect performance at all, though. I've seen 2 other sets exactly like my configuration recently, so I expect it isn't as uncommon as I once thought. Just another Ludwig anomaly.
