Alan_ wrote:
I own a 60's Ludwig set covered in White Marine Pearl. I'm gonna have to disagree: mine are maple on the inner shell, and I'm gonna guess under the covering is maple as well, as it certainly doesn't look like mahogany from the edge.
As I wrote earlier above, sometimes maple was used instead of mahogany because the mahogany was out of stock. Especially after Ringo, they had to keep production up because they had a cash cow by the horns-- with an unknown life span. These were products for profit, and what teenage rock and roller from that time would have been able to hear or care about the difference in woods? Some Ludwig shells were made in Jasper, Indiana at Jasper Wood Products when Ludwig couldn't keep up with orders, thanks to Ringo. For the most part, Jasper Wood mainly made shells for Slingerland and for Gretsch, among others. Gretsch and Fibes right up until the time when the factory closed about six years ago. If I am not mistaken, that maple/poplar/maple is more like a Slingerland shell from the early '70s or maybe late '60s. Mahogany/poplar/mahogany was also used by Slingerland in the 60s.
