Hi,

I got this drum from my good friend and fellow collector/drum historian Harry Cangany. Harry was thinning out his collection and we struck a deal. I recently contacted Harry for an update re this drum and here’s what he said: “Hi, Mike...it's all a blur. In the late 80s and for 10 years or so I bought everything I could find. The story at the time was that it, a non-cataloged size, was made for an endorser. Since Louie Bellson had Rogers make him a number of snare and tom sizes, I figured that it made sense as the bebop craze brought smaller sizes. It's a good story and I accepted it.”

The “endorser theory” makes sense but with no provenance that is hard to verify but the “special order concept” makes sense to me as some non-famous drummer may have wanted a drum this size.

This drum is also on page 130 (bottom of left column) of Rob Cook’s book The Slingerland Book.

For a while this drum was the only 4 x 14 RK that I had ever seen or heard of but I recently talked to my friend, fellow collector, Slingerland expert and author of GK The Tools that Built the GENE KRUPA Legend, Brooks Tegler. Brooks was kind enough to let me quote him, here’s his take on this: “I can confidently say that it’s an immediate postwar or very late war drum. Probably, as you suspect, somebody’s special order. I’ve come across quite a few during that period that were not just the conventional stuff. Snares, full sets, etc. that many who were coming back from being overseas special ordered upon their return. Speculating on the reason behind it, etc., etc. could go on forever. Definitely not standard Slingerland stock. Whomever the aforementioned ‘endorser’ was, he certainly seemed to pull enough weight during a period of time when Slingerland was struggling (like all other drum making companies) for materials. Very nice looking instrument.”

Brooks dated my drum to be 1945-46. Brooks also owns an 8 lug 4 x 14 special order RK with 4 air holes and no badge.

1945-1946 SLINGERLAND 4 x 14 8 LUG WMP RADIO KING MODEL

The solid maple shell is in round with a nice tight cloud badge. The WMP is very clean with no ”ivory-ing”. All of the nickel plated hardware is in very good condition. The Streamlined lugs fill up the shell and leave a smaller space for tensioning vs. a 5”, 6.5” or 7” shell but the of-the-era RK calf heads are still tight. Obviously modern day heads will make it easier to tension but I like to keep things original especially on drums that I don’t play.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto