George,
New to me, parallel action strainer with rollers on this drum? Have you ever seen one before?
1940s Slingerland Gene Krupa Deluxe Radio King Ensemble 1-N
This set I'm featuring this month is the 1940s Slingerland Radio King set I bought from Brian Scoggins. It has a lovely white marine pearl finish. I think marine pearl looks so good on these vintage drum sets. Even if the finish "yellows" I still love the way it looks. To me, these drums are yellowed to perfection. One must consider these drums are over 70 years old. The Beavertail lugs, and all the hardware is nickel plated. The badges are beautiful brass clouds. The drum sizes are 24X14 bass drum, 16X16, and 13X9 toms, and a matching 14X5 snare. There are two cymbal mounts on the bass drum shell. The high tom mounts on the bass drum hoop with a clip-on holder. The bass drum spurs fit into a mount on the bass drum shell. The shells are 3 ply mahogany poplar mahogany with large maple re-rings. I opened the 13 tom to peek inside. The smell inside was just heavenly. The workmanship is second to none.
Read more1948-1953 Slingerland Radio King 5-Piece Drum Set in Original Black Diamond Pearl.
Allow me to introduce you to my 1948-1953 Slingerland Radio King 5-Piece Drum Set in Original Black Diamond Pearl. The set consists of: 9” x 13” Tom, 12” x 14” Tom/Floor, 16” x 16” Floor, 14” x 24” Bass, 7” x 14” Snare, Hi-Hat Stand, Pedal, Snare Stand, Cowbells & Woodblock. This set is 100% original and near flawless.
All NOB rims, original paint and inlay on the hoops. The exterior wrap and interiors are mint. The set arrived with ALL the original unblemished heads in place and intact. I kept the original calfskin resonant heads on, archiving the batters (see pic of the original batters and you will see why this set is so nice). A friend contacted me about this set in 2019 showing me a few photos and asking what I thought. After much back and forth discussion and consultation I mentioned that if he sells now or in the future that I am most definitely Interested.
The back story on this set is that the original owner had passed away and the children and grandchildren were sorting out his estate. When they went up to the attic of his home they discovered this set. Apparently they never heard or knew anything about it, or that at one time he may have been a drummer. From the near immaculate condition of this set and the original Radio King calfskin heads one can only come to the conclusion that he purchased this set and never really played it at all or very little. We will never know.
This set was in another part of the country so my friend had a friend pick it from the original owners family and ship it to him. When it arrived at my friends house he called me and said that he thought I should handle the cleaning of this set and that he wanted me to be the new temporary custodian (we are all only interim owners in the end). I was extremely excited to welcome this set into Studio 3T as one of the Crown Jewels of my collection for not only myself but for my clients.
After arriving at the studio I was astounded at the incredible condition that can only be appreciated in person. It was very dusty and the nickel hardware needed to be polished, but that was it. Zero fade, zero modifications, wrap is mint, interiors mint, the set and hardware are flawless. This is the finest example of this era Radio King set I have ever encountered in my lifetime.
As with all our sets and snares at Studio 3T, these drums will be put to work, I am not a fan of shelf queens or placing instruments under glass like an amusement attraction. They should be, and are, played, recorded and toured with as intended and allowed to sing, and please believe me when I tell you, these beauties SING!
You can see a few photos right after the initial disassembly and clean and how they look now set up in the studio. I added a few Radio King cymbal stands and cymbals.
Thank you for reading my column, I very much appreciate all the comments and interaction with everyone.
Stay tuned...🥁
Edward Tucker
Fate Up
Studio 3T
1940-41 Super Gene Krupa Radio King [1st Clamshell strainer] 8 x14
This is an 8“ x 14“ Slingerland Model 156 Super Gene Krupa Radio King snare drum in Black Diamond Pearl. Very special thanks to Brooks Tegler for his wonderful document explaining everything about this drum! Also, thanks to Mark Cooper of coopersvintagedrums.com; a great, educational vintage drum site.
Read moreThe Rare Slingerland Ben Pollack Radio King Model Snare Drum
According to Slingerland’s catalogs, the “Ben Pollack “Radio King” model was only produced for two years, between 1936-1938. This is a significant reason why this model is extremely rare and desirable. Also, the drum consumers of the day were placing overwhelming orders to Slingerland for the Krupa model. All of this was certainly because of Gene Krupa’s major popularity and drumming success.
Read more1960s Slingerland Artist model snare drum
In 1963 the Slingerland Drum Company introduced a new snare drum to their drum line. This snare was cataloged and advertised as the new Modern Artist model. Previously, Slingerland used the Artist model name on their earlier snare drum line from 1928 to approximately 1935. Some of these first models were hand engraved and very ornate. They were made with ten tube lugs and both solid wood and brass shells.
Read moreA Rare Slingerland Radio King 5x14 Brass Shell Snare Drum
Here is a wonderful example of a very rare late 30s, Slingerland 5x14 Radio King metal shell snare drum. The shell is heavy brass, one piece, and nickel plated brass. According to Slingerland’s catalogs of this era, this metal shell snare could only be ordered in 5x14 or 6.5x14 sizes The plating options available were either nickel or chromium. Unlike the popular “Krupa" model, there was limited information describing all options that were available when ordering the metal version. Most likely, these metal shells were much like a special order that was requested and specified by the consumer.
Read more1937-39 SLINGERLAND 8 x 14 BLACK DIAMOND PEARL BERNIE MATTISON RADIO KING MODEL
The Bernie Mattison Radio King Model was first introduced in 1936 and had the tapped (no insert) lugs. I’ve dated the drum in this article at 1937-39 because the lugs have inserts. The 1937-39 Slingerland catalogs list this drum as the Band Model Radio King.
Read more1939-41 SLINGERLAND 6.5 x 14 GENE KRUPA *SEA GREEN RADIO KING MODEL
Sea Green was in the Slingerland catalog from 1928-1938. Mark has dated this drum from 1939 to 1941. Mark has also mentioned this is the only Sea Green Radio King that he has ever seen...there is another...more on that later.
Read moreHow I Got My Radio Kings For Free by Adrian Peek
Being the house drummer for Los Angeles’ longest-running (and only) jazz jam at the late Billy Higgins’ non-profit The World Stage means playing music without or without charts, including original music, at the drop of a hat. We have many name and not-so-name high-level players sitting in on a regular basis. This isn’t the type of gig that will make a person rich, but the immense riches to be had just by keeping the rust off my jazz chops is priceless! Or at least I thought so until a short time ago….
Read moreSlingerland's Snare Drum "Hybrids"
In my early days of collecting, I often asked myself, “What is this model?” or “Why is this snare drum made like this and inconsistent with similar drums of this era?”, or “Why is this snare drum different than the one in the catalog?” As I grew more familiar with Slingerland drum catalogs and references, I became a vintage Slingerland drum detective of sorts. I learned to read between the lines of the typical and not so typical examples. I discovered that these hybrids came into existence because of the supply and demand issues at the factory.
Read more