Not to take away from the main topic of the OP,

but this might help in some way also, I was wondering what age the strainer on my W&A snare is? It looks a lot like the one thejohnlec has on his snare.

It came this way from W&A and I even think they produced these for Slingerland back in the day. Noticed my brackets only have 1 hole drilled on each side instead of 3.

Nice drum by the way.

Wayne

'64-'82 for yours DRUMR69. Here is a link: http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/drcjw/article_5_strainers_3point-12.html

Could be W&A made these for Slingerland or W&A bought these from Slingerland.

slingerfan, just saw your link, that helps, sorry about the post.

Great info on the strainers very informative.

Wayne

That Walberg is a beauty - I love that finish! I agree with slingerfan's comment on that.

I have a 1968 4x14 Walberg that I obtained when I was working and playing in Worcester (about 20 minutes from my hometown). It's a single tension design with a thin Jasper shell. I have all the original hardware - I replaced the lugs and strainer to make it more tuneable. It's a good one!

So, I had some basic working knowledge of Radio Kings but I've been digging real deep since acquiring this instrument this past weekend. What I appear to have is a 3-ply RK with what I believe is maple/poplar/mahogany (very thin inner ply) shell construction with re-rings. Cloud badge indicates circa 1948. Engraved top hoop (not stamped) appears to be original, as do the bottom hoop and lugs - aging appears congruent on hoops and lugs. Strainer has a couple replacement parts but snare extenders are equally aged so I'm assuming those are original. Depth is just about 5 7/8 inches. I hesitate to call it a Gene Krupa model, but at least one catalog pic hinted at it when comparing hardware.

I will need to spend a little time on the bearing edges and getting the rust off the strainer and butt assemblies but this will definitely be a player very soon - very excited to get this one set up.

Question: do the 3-ply RKs tend to be slightly more scarce than the solid maples?

Slightly more scarce seems a fair statement although 3-plies show up fairly regularly and the scarcity does not translate to more value. The solid shell is still the king.

Right on. As I was researching, it seemed to me that the 3-plies were a cool novelty, and I didn't know they existed until now so I've appreciated all the new-found info. The additional value isn't really an issue - I was looking to add a wood player snare with mixed plies to the herd anyway, so this snare is really filling the bill and probably won't be selling it any time soon. Pretty pumped to get this cleaned up and set up to play.

Thanks man!