This section was taken with written consent from vintagedrumguide.com

Ludwig Drum Serial Number Dating Guides - Information Below

Here are some references you can use to date by serial number. The web site link is available so feel free to visit their web sites and learn more. I only put them in one location to make it easier for people to get the information.

If you have this badge you can't use the serial number guides below. This is the Ludwig Standard badge and serial numbers do not work.



This guide is presented with consent from The Vintage Drum Center

Ludwig 1960's Serial Number Time Chart #1
DATE
SERIAL NUMBER
1960 to late 1963
no serial numbers used
February 24, 1964
12,219
April, 1964
31,505
April, 1965
142,581
July 6, 1965
171,268
October, 1965
233,838
March 19, 1966
308,863
August 30, 1966
361,292
November, 1966
390,690
March, 1967
427,211
June, 1967
493,426
November 15, 1967
519,728
February 6, 1968
578,990
June 21, 1968
604,865
November, 1968
650,521
January, 1969
673,078
February 26, 1969
689,430
September 4, 1969
743,080

Ludwig 1960's Serial Number Time Chart #2
DATE
SERIAL NUMBER
1960 to late 1963
no serial numbers used
1964
0 – 133,000
1965
133,000 – 266,000
1966
266,000 – 399,000
1967
399,000 – 532,000
1968
532,000 – 665,000
1969
665,000 – 798,000*
* Note: At approximately the 750,000 mark in the serial number sequence, Ludwig discontinued the brass Keystone badge and replaced it with the blue and olive parallelogram-shaped badge.

The Ludwig Drummer.com dating guide from their web site. Only presented because the web site has been going down so I wanted it documented here


Date Stamp by Year 1964

Serial Number Date Stamp

11362 2/10/64

15429 1/1/64

16860 3/12/64

19878 3/27/64

24024 4/20/64

71265 1/1/64

71488 1/1/64

72614 1/1/64

169647 1/1/64

267000 1/1/64

Date Stamp by Year 1965

Serial Number Date Stamp

108532 3/4/65

113969 3/1/65

114352 3/20/65

119267 1/1/65

122886 3/29/65

125635 1/1/65

155995 5/12/65

162700 6/8/65

184550 1/1/65

191777 6/8/65

195136 8/17/65

204494 9/13/65

226553 11/8/65


227491 10/1/65

228807 10/1/65

235091 9/23/65

252471 12/23/65

285700 1/1/65

291252 4/2/65

Date Stamp by Year 1966

Serial Number Date Stamp

268069 7/11/66

297582 2/10/66

311970 2/5/66

340798 1/1/66

351000 7/11/66

355000 8/2/66

389304 12/1/66

410265 9/1/66

419380 11/19/66

419900 11/14/66

449000 9/1/66

Date Stamp by Year 1967

Serial Number Date Stamp

397602 1/1/67

398288 1/1/67

436913 1/1/67

443000 1/30/67

466000 3/2/67

475412 2/28/67

493306 1/1/67

498000 1/30/67

517910 11/24/67

530903 8/16/67

552184 11/3/67

565135 12/29/67

Date Stamp by Year 1968

Serial Number Date Stamp

506371 11/2/68

562746 1/9/68

572335 2/6/68

588893 3/11/68

590071 3/14/68

590726 1/1/68

591310 1/1/68

607284 1/1/68

607288 1/1/68

607835 3/15/68

615915 5/20/68

656661 1/1/68

Date Stamp by Year 1969

Serial Number Date Stamp

673408 1/31/69

702661 1/1/69

709198 9/12/69

Date Stamp by Year 1970

Serial Number Date Stamp

802966 9/8/70

Date Stamp by Year 1971

Serial Number Date Stamp

816700 4/8/71

910000 1/1/71

 

Rebeats.com historian Rob Cook also a personal friend has an excellent book about ludwig drums you can find by visiting his web site.

Here is the dating guide for 60's and 70's Ludwig Drums. The Ludwig Book is invaluable to me as a collector and I strongly suggest you consider buying all of Rob's Books! His books are a complete guide and offers more insight then these tables.

Keystone Badges  
1961-1962: No Numbers
1963 No Numbers - 7900
1964 9xxx - 33449
1965 108532 - 259xxx
1966 260xxx - 449xxx
1967 450xxx - 548xxx
1968 549xxx - 665372
1969 670xxx - 741215
Blue & Olive Badges  
1969 765xxx - 834xxx
1970 out of sequence,unnunmered
1971 835xxx - 895xxx
1972 896xxx - 916xxx
1976 917xxx - 1290xxx
1978 xxxxxxx
1979 xxxxxxx - 2013537

 

 


 

This web site is not affiliated with the Ludwig Drum Company. It is an informational web site for the documentation of the Supraphonic Snare Drum. We have a large collection of literature, articles and photos of this model snare drum. The Supra Snare Drum history section will document the drum from the early chrome over brass (COB) to the Ludalloy version and the differences between the two snare drums. Supra, Supraphonic,Brass Supra,Brass Supraphonic Snare Drums

 

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