The vintage sound comes from extra heavy die cast rims (nickle-plated) put on a thin 3-ply maple/African mahogany(no longer available)/maple with maple re-rings. This 62 year-old cured shelled with heavy metal on it can not be reproduced by new shells and modern hardware.Although the new Leedy is a fine modern drum and sounds good, it does not or can not reproduce the warm, woody resonnance of cured African mahogany surrounded by thin sheets of maple.-kelly
Kelly, your Leedy has Brass rims, and the magic to them, Is Old Growth natural grown tree's that took hundreds of forest growth years to achieve, Hide glue, Maple re rings and 30 degree bearing edge with round over which gives the heads more contact, the New Ones Are Hormone growth trees that are harvest in 10 year cycle's, Synthetic glue, China made hardware, Sharp bearing edges, and No re rings in them or formed not real ones! and for the cost of a New One. you could have a mint solid shell vintage leedy! simply no contest in my book!