Assuming that drum is the way it came from the factory...youve got a very desireable "PRE_WAR" (pre World War 2) Radio King. With that throwoff and the extended bridges [COLOR="Blue"]it should be one ply maple[/COLOR]...It looks real clean too! Also you have the earlier muffler knob...so I am guessing the muffler felt pads are red or green...not the later black/grey...another tell-tale sign of the Early Radio Kings. The badge looks real nice...uncleaned! That drum must have been stored in a case!

Jump For Joy

It was made 1937-1939ish! In 1940-41 They went to the Aluminum Badge to save brass for the war effort (had to beat Hitler down)

The tail gates on the bottom rim has the screws which makes it a pre-war drum. Around the time of the badge change they went to a riveted-on tail gate!

SWEET DRUM!

If I can help any more let me know. Al

my email is: [email]drums@bellsouth.net[/email]

PS Do the tension screws go into threaded swivel nuts or are the lugs themselves tapped to receive the threaded rods? Also, is the top rim engraved "Radio King"?

Well thanks. I don't have the drum in my possession which is part of the reason why I have the questions. Look at the strainer. It looks like the fine tension knob is the later 46-1949 version with a thicker profile. Also the slider has a single hole which was introduced in 1940.....? It does look pretty clean. Time will tell. Thanks again

Your Radio king is a 40's model the 3 point strainer is the later model as are the rims this is the wide gate rim. also the small beaver tail lugs date it, here is a pic of my 30's Radio King note the 3 point strainer and the Small rim gate ! and yours could be either a solid shell or a plied shell. everyone get the Radio king wrong it's not the shell that makes a radio king a radio king it's the 3 point strainer! aslo the last pic show the twin pad muffler it should look exactly like this one and the same color red!

...but they went back to a brass cloud-shaped badge from 1946 into 1948. My guess is that it's a late '40s drum (and a beautiful one at that).

While my guess is that the drum would have a single-ply shell, it is possible that it's a 3-ply. The 1949 & '51 catalogs on the Vintage Drum Guide list a "New Concert King Snare Drum" (shown HERE) with a three-ply shell, but otherwise pretty much identical to the single-ply Hollywood Ace shown HERE.

Actually, you've got it wrong.

First if it's not a single ply shell, it's not a Radio King snare.

Second, The snare with the new Clamshell strainer, introduced in 1940, was called the 'Super' RK to differentiate it from those snare drums with the older 3 point strainer, called simply, 'Radio King'.

The aluminum badge was not used until 1944.

Here is my 'Super' RK with the first version of the clamshell introduced in 1940.

Before the year was out, Slingerland had modified the bracket that held the clamshell to the drum's shell.

Third pic shows my 1939 RK with 3 point strainer; fourth pic is a detail showing the knurled brass snare height adjustment screws.... on both strainer and butt..., which Slingerland regrettably discontinued in '39.

Ron

Slingerland being Slingerland, it's kinda hard to speak in absolutes.

Radio King snares are generally single-ply maple drums, but Slingerland did use the Radio King name on a few drums with other shells, like the chrome-over-brass Radio King, shown HERE in the 1963 catalog. (And to give vintagemore2000 a little credit, note the catalog caption about the "ever popular Radio King Snare Strainer". Slingerland did refer to it as an identifier for Radio King snares.)

On the other hand, like you pointed out, Slingerland also made Radio Kings with strainers other than the three-point, notably the the "super" (aka "clamshell").

And if that wasn't confusing enough, Slingerland made some drums under other model names that used either a single-ply shell (e.g. the Artists' Model) or the three-point strainer and bridges (e.g. the Concert King I mentioned earlier).

This statement of the Main Identifying factor is correct, for the time period of this Radio King that is Being evaluated the 3 point strainer is the main Identifying factor not a solid shell, there are plied shells also in this same time period! that is what I meant

Yes. As I pointed out, 'Super' RK was the designation used to differentiate the clam from the older... but still in production RK with 3 point strainer.

By the mid-50s, they were calling their one-ply shell w/clam strainer 'Super Gene Krupa' model to differentiate it from.... aww, fegetaboutit!Help2Mind Blowi

Awww MAN!! Between you three guys my mind is so Cooked Egg I don't know now WHAT year my RKs are. I'm about ready to sell all my drums and take up the tuba!

LOL....Eddie.