Paiste Ludwig Standard

Ludwig Standard

Introduction: 1965
Discontinued: 1975
Background: Made in Europe by Paiste, the Ludwig Standard cymbal line offers the high-quality, professional features of excellent tone, resonance and response.
These cymbals are carefully crafted by cymbal manufacturing experts to provide the best quality cymbals possible in their medium price range. They are available in a variety of sizes and weights to meet the requirement of any need. (1971 Ludwig catalog)
A joint venture by Ludwig and Paiste, the lower midline Ludwig Standards first appear in the 1957 Ludwig catalog.
The cymbals were originally made of the NS12 alloy in both the German and Swiss factories before getting an upgrade to B8 sometime around 1971. Well-preserved Ludwig Standards will have a red ink type stamp at the 3 o'clock position and later period cymbals also have a black ink Paiste logo above the bell.
We have been told by those at or close to Paiste that they stopped making cymbals for Ludwig sometime around 1970, although Ludwig continued to carry Paiste products in their catalogs until the mid-70s. The Ludwig Standards last appearance comes in the 1975 Ludwig catalog in limited size options as these cymbals are most assuredly leftover stock.

After looking at online posts on the Ludwig 3-Stars and reviewing the Ludwig catalogs of the time period again, it is quite possible or maybe even probable that the "Ludwig 3-Stars" are actually the first generation of Ludwig "Standards" made from ~1956-1964.

Ludwig didn't actually start using the name "Ludwig Standard" in its materials until 1965 and this could be when they started embossing the cymbals with this name.
It seems at this point they started to retroactively apply the name to cymbals that were previously called Ludwig Custom cymbals or Ludwig Imported cymbals.
If I am correct about this, cymbals with the Ludwig Standard emboss will have been made between 1965 (or late 1964) until the end of production of this line.
1975: Last appearance of Paistes in a Ludwig catalog and it's only the Standards in limited size options (probably leftovers after the companies parted ways), F602, Giant Beat and Stanople are gone. A. Zildjian returns.

Innovation:

Alloy: Nickel Silver NS12 - CuSn8 (most likely after 1971)

Quality:

Production:

Applications: Student, High school Band, marching and orchestra

Users:

Sound: