"This is one of the rarest Leedy sets you'll ever see. This set is from 1958 and consists of 9x13, 16x16, 14x22, 5.5x14 snare drum. Those wonderful mahogany/poplar/mahogany 3 ply shells with rounded bearing edges. And the set is finished in Starlight Sparkle! As some of you may know, SS was a finish in the Gretsch line from the late 50s until circa 1962. It was exclusive to Gretsch, however, I have had one original Slingerland kit in this finish, and now we have this Leedy kit. In all probability, a customer may have requested this finish and the drum shop or Leedy called the finish manufacturer or called Gretsch and asked if they could use it for a kit. Starlight Sparkle is a finish that looks silver/gray until it is under the lights and then it looks lavender. It’s a beautiful finish. I believe Leedy referred to this as "smoky pearl". Harry Cangany did an article about this set for Modern Drummer in Feb 2011. It is one of the rarest finishes for Gretsch and it is insanely rare on any other drum set. The wrap is in great shape and the chrome is nice as well. This is an extremely rare set and it sounds wonderful”
Read moreLate 80s RSD 146G Rogers Gold Plated Dyna-sonic
This gold plated drum was produced for Island in the late 1980s. Photos of the gold plated Dyna-sonic and the following text is found in Cook's book. "Apparently only a couple dozen of the RSD-146G gold plated Dyna-sonics were made for Island Music. The retail price was a quite reasonable $495.00, but the poor quality of the plating impeded the sales."
Read more1926-27 LEEDY 4 x 14 COLONIAL GOLD “FULL DRESS” PROFESSIONAL MODEL (Cat. No. 700G)
from Catalog “O”: “Contrasting shades of gold always create a beautiful effect---so, here we have blended a satin and a bright Nobby Gold finish that attracts and holds the eye like magic. Drums such as these cannot fail to help you progress. ‘Full Dress’ finish Drums are not a fad---they are here to stay.” Once again I learned something new ; I always thought that “Full Dress” meant the diamond shaped (and other shapes) pearls and sparkles that were applied to the factory finish on a shell.
Read more1960s Mastro Plastic Snare Drum Kit
It's December and all I can say is, "where did the year go?" I can remember when I was young how it seemed like Christmas would never come. Now, it seems like the years are flying by. One thing never changes, when it gets Christmas time all the kids start thinking about getting some new toys. Even though I have joined the senior citizens rank, I like getting new toys myself. The drum from my collection I am featuring this month is sort of a toy drum. This Mastro snare drum was offered to the public as more than a toy and not quite a student musical instrument. It was another effort to supply young people, who had been influenced by The Beatles, with an affordable instrument. I have said it before, after The Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show, almost every young person wanted to play an instrument. The Mastro drum even had a connection with the Beatles.
Read more1939 WFL 7 x 14 WMP Twin Sensitive Hollywood Swing Model (cat. no. 421)
This drum is officially the first vintage drum that started my vintage snare drum hobby. I always had about 10 vintage drums lying around that I played here and there but I never paid much attention to the “vintage” aspect of those drums. This changed in March of 1995. I had been reading about vintage drums and my first vintage drum deal was with Sam Adato’s Drum Shop in San Francisco. Sam said that this drum is very rare so I took his word for it and traded a 1960s Gretsch Blue Sparkle round badge snare... the rest is history.
Read more1956 WFL Buddy Rich Model Super Classic drum set
This is the earliest known set in existence of the finish made famous by the Beatles Ringo Starr, 8 years before Beatlemania hit in 1964. This finish first appears into the Ludwig catalog in 1959 where it can be seen on the Las Vegas Stand Up cocktail outfit. In 1956 WFL Drums biggest star endorser was the one and only Buddy Rich.
Read moreMemphis Drum Shop
Nestled in the heart of Midtown Memphis, located in the ever popular Cooper-Young district, there is a special place with deep ties to music. With its flat white exterior, and black awning, 878 S. Cooper Street is home to none other than the world famous Memphis Drum Shop.
Read moreGaillard & Loiselet "Jazz Band" snare drum
Gaillard & Loiselet is the successor of several manufacturers who exist and succeeded since 1812... This brand has succeeded to "Couturier Pelisson Blanchon". Gaillard & Loiselet was created in the early 1930s and exist still exist on the early 1960s. The factory and the manufacture was in Lyon, at 273, Cours Lafayette and produced essentially wind instruments (trumpet, saxophone, tuba, etc…) and some marching drums and bass drums.
Read moreTruss Tension Drums
The late 1880s – 1900s was what was known as the “transition” period for snare drums and drums in general. This was the transition from rope tension to metal rod tension. It originated from the European or “Prussian“ designed drums consisting of sometimes highly decorated wood hoops over a metal shell. Metal hooks and long te
Read moreThe Barry Collapsible Bass Drum
Picture this: The year is 1920. You’re a drummer in the big city. Plans for owning your first automobile are still on the drawing board, so you ride the municipal trolley car to and from gigs. Consequently, the size of your set is limited to what you can manage to carry on board with you. A challenging dilemma? Not if you own a Barry Collapsible Bass Drum!
Read moreMarcel FAIVRE Mambo drum set - French circa 50s
The brand: “Marcel FAIVRE Pigall’s Swing” was a music store in Paris. Their drum sets were manufactured by a little Parisian craftsman (P. Casadei who manufactured “Gary” brand)
Read more1960s Ludwig Downbeat Drum Set in Oyster Blue Finish
The bass drum on this set has two sets of disappearing spurs. Maybe they added the second set to keep Joe Morello's bass drum from creeping off during his solos! :-)
Read moreLeedy 1949 "Broadway Standard" Snare Drum - a rare solid shell
...a rare and unusual aspect of this drum is it was made with a solid one ply maple shell construction instead of the normal plywood shell.
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2008 5x14 Leedy USA Custom Shop/Craviotto solid Mahagany Relic Series Special #1
Fred Gretsch still owns the Leedy name, and several years ago I asked Fred Gretsch if we could do some special Leedy USA drums using Craviotto solid shells. I liked the idea because Leedy was one of the companies that used solid shells for their snares at various times, and I thought it would be great to do some solid shell snares made in the USA with the Leedy name, but with Johnny Craviotto's incredible shells.
Read more1966 Ludwig Super Beat set
The Superbeat is an uncataloged set consisting of the optional 20” kick with the Super Classic 13” tom and 16” floor tom. So, 20/13/16. This set appears to be a special order set as well as both the floor tom and the tom have dual mufflers, one for the top and one for the bottom heads. The bass drum also has dual front and rear sets of spurs. All these options were available when you ordered a kit back then.
Read more1900s F.E. dodge drum kit
Recently a client of mine gave me a 100 year old F.E. Dodge drum kit that was in their attic that belonged to a relative. Knowing I am a drummer they gave it to me to see it would go to someone who would appreciate it. The kit included a bass drum with an almost mint wooden pedal & bass drum cymbal, two snares, snare stand dated 1901, a triangle and even three original pairs of drum sticks: wood, rosewood & ebony wood. The snares on one snare drum were the original cat guts.
Read morePennsylvania Drum Show oct. 22, 2017
1970s Ludwig Standard S-330 drum set finished in bronze strata
Standards have their own unique triangular shaped badge. The interiors of the bass and toms are coated with grey speckled paint, but some Standards have white painted interiors. Standards usually have smooth low mass lugs. If your Standard kit has Classic lugs that might also be correct. Ludwig would use the Classic lugs if they were low on Standard lugs.
Read more1920s-30s DUPLEX 5 x 14 “ARTIST MODEL” ALL METAL ENGRAVED/GOLD PLATED BLACK JEWEL (CAT. #410-A)
As of this writing there are now five known Duplex engraved Black Jewel snare drums. The previous four Black Jewels are on pages 36-43 in my book: VINTAGE SNARE DRUMS, THE CUROTTO COLLECTION VOL. I. There is another way to look at this Black Jewel situation. Of the five Black Jewels only two actually have the name “Black Jewel” engraved on the shell so one could argue that there are only two Black Jewels in existence at this time, the one on pgs. 36-37 in my book and the drum in this article. Noted drum historian and black/engraved snare drum expert John Aldridge is of the opinion that the “un-named” drums are also Black Jewels so I am going with John’s evaluation. I have included a photo of the other 4 Black Jewels.
Read more1968 Ludwig Super Beat kit in black panther finish
Black Panther wrap was introduced in 1968 along with the mod wraps. It first appeared in the 1970 Ludwig catalog and was offered throughout the 70s. It’s really a one of a kind wrap. It has this fake leather look to it and, personally, it reminds me of the old Marshall amplifiers which is why I like it. It is a thin material that is unlike any other wrap used by Ludwig. The most famous drummer who used this early on was Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
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