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An interesting Slingerland snare

Posts: 1 Threads: 1

I bought this Slingerland snare on the German ebay. I didn't know much about it, but decided to take the risk, because I liked the photos.

It looks like a Buddy Rich model from the late 70s or early 80s. It has the three air vent holes, a TDR strainer, and COS hoops (the magnet sticks to them). The serial is six-digits starting with 4. It is lacquered inside and out and has a natural maple colour, but that may not be its original finish. The lacquering is far from being perfect and it's not the same quality everywhere. Maybe it was wrapped and somebody refinished it.

Now comes the interesting part. I disassembled it for a cleaning and took a close look at the bearing edges. And Wow! As far as I can see it is a single ply maple shell with maple reinforcing rings! If you take a look at the photo showing the edge from top view, and follow the grain of the wood you'll see that the grain goes all the way through the shell and you can only see two "layers": the shell itself and the ring.

So how is it possible? If I'm correct no single ply snares were produced in these years. Could this be an older shell used for a project by somebody who mounted the TDR strainer, maybe refinished it and so on?

I've got a few questions:

1. Was a Slingerland snare like this produced at all or is it sure that this finish is not original?

2. Should the inside be lacquered also (it is)?

3. I don't like the look of the bearing edges. See the macro photos. It seems that the top part is not leaning outwards but its totally flat. (It may have some small angle but that's not visible to the naked eye). This flat top surface has some scratches as well. I'm just scared that maybe -Lord have mercy! - someone has sanded off the edge??? Could somebody make a similar photo of theirs and post it here? I just don't seem to understand how it can be flat.

The shell is round and flat, and the drum can be tuned perfectly and sounds good so there are no problems there.

Posted on 16 years ago
#1
Posts: 239 Threads: 36

Quoted post

I bought this Slingerland snare on the German ebay. I didn't know much about it, but decided to take the risk, because I liked the photos.It looks like a Buddy Rich model from the late 70s or early 80s. It has the three air vent holes, a TDR strainer, and COS hoops (the magnet sticks to them). The serial is six-digits starting with 4. It is lacquered inside and out and has a natural maple colour, but that may not be its original finish. The lacquering is far from being perfect and it's not the same quality everywhere. Maybe it was wrapped and somebody refinished it.Now comes the interesting part. I disassembled it for a cleaning and took a close look at the bearing edges. And Wow! As far as I can see it is a single ply maple shell with maple reinforcing rings! If you take a look at the photo showing the edge from top view, and follow the grain of the wood you'll see that the grain goes all the way through the shell and you can only see two "layers": the shell itself and the ring. So how is it possible? If I'm correct no single ply snares were produced in these years. Could this be an older shell used for a project by somebody who mounted the TDR strainer, maybe refinished it and so on?I've got a few questions:1. Was a Slingerland snare like this produced at all or is it sure that this finish is not original? 2. Should the inside be lacquered also (it is)? 3. I don't like the look of the bearing edges. See the macro photos. It seems that the top part is not leaning outwards but its totally flat. (It may have some small angle but that's not visible to the naked eye). This flat top surface has some scratches as well. I'm just scared that maybe -Lord have mercy! - someone has sanded off the edge??? Could somebody make a similar photo of theirs and post it here? I just don't seem to understand how it can be flat. The shell is round and flat, and the drum can be tuned perfectly and sounds good so there are no problems there.

i think slingerland offered solid shell snares right up to the point of their demise. the reason i say that is, there was an outfit called musical closeouts that had all the leftover stock from the closed down slingerland factory in the early 80's for sale on the web (they even had a shell former!) and i can remember seeing solid snare shells for sale there.

the slingerland bearing edges were kinda flat on the top. not a nice 45 degree like you see now. my old slingies have a round-over bearing edge which almost looks flat

Posted on 16 years ago
#2
Posts: 186 Threads: 0

[COLOR="Navy"]m127:

Just saw this post - hopefully I am not too late to offer some feedback.

During 1979 - 1981 Niles Slingerland briefly reissued solid maple shell Radio Kings. They made them in 5.5x14 and 6.5x14 shell sizes, and with the classic Radio King 3-point strainer and brackets, or with the TDR strainer system. It appears you have found one of the latter, specifically the Model #209 - 6.5x14 solid maple 10-lug TDR in clear lacquered Maple finish. This is an extraordinarily rare Slingerland snare drum.

The scratched or filed bearing edges you show would need to be analyzed with some additional photos if you have them. The bearing edge shown in the picture with the tone control in the background looks factory correct and unmolested. The edges on these Radio Kings were 30 degrees or so - thus fairly "flat". Some strong advice - don't touch those bearing edges - any change from factory will devalue the drum drastically.

In any case you found some rare Slingerland treasure - take good care of it, and congratulations!

DrCJW

http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/drcjw[/COLOR]

Posted on 16 years ago
#3
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