yea, I HATE when someone promises you something and does NOT MEEN IT.................

Maybe the screws somehow keep it from spinning on the stand. My guess....

Another beautiful Curotto drum! Usually the claws and oval 'Stone' washers lose their plating first but this drum cleaned up nicely. Bravo!

The Blond Master-Models are the second most common after the black ones. Three of my twelve Master-Models are blond (one is refinished) and there are many more out there. There are also white lacquer examples and an 'oreo' version with black hoops and a blond or white shell. Less common are the pearl wrapped drums. I've seen one in silver sparkle, one in WMP, and one in gold sparkle with faux gold hardware which is particularly garish. Most rare are the all-metal Master-Models. I know of three, one of which is in my collection.

The three holes in the bottom hoop are likely after market. Never seen another Stone drum with that feature. I agree that it has something to do with mounting the drum on a stand.

Looks like the throwoff is missing the little metal tab that keeps the tension knob from loosening up. I think a lot of these got removed by drum owners who didn't like dealing with them. See attached pic.

Those snares are odd. I've seen something like that before on a '60s Ludwig concert drum. Stone shipped the Master-Models with curly wire or wire wound silk. I've used AK's repros to set up several of mine. If you changed your snares out with something more period correct, you could reassemble the butt plate as it was intended to be used. Just a thought.

For what it's worth, the top hoop should be oriented so that the badge is positioned over the grommet. That's how Stone's advertising illustrates the drum and the hoops were fitted to the shells accordingly.

The hexagonal tension nuts place this drum at 1925 or later but it could be as late as mid 1930s. There is also probably a four digit serial numbers stamped into the shell which can be used to date the drum more accurately. In addition, Stone commonly applied a three digit number, possibly handwritten, inside the shell. This is the Master-Model number. The Stone factory kept a running count of how many MMs were produced. More on that here:

http://blog.bostondrumbuilders.com/2015/07/stone-master-model-dating-guide-part-ii.html

Hope this is of some interest to other Stone collectors out there.

-Lee

www.BostonDrumBuilders.com