[COLOR="Navy"]prestonprince:
Great kit and congratulations. Your drums may have been made as early as later 1973 to as late as about a week or so before shipping. So a good estimate would be October 1973 (Christmas stock) to February 1974. The picture is small, but from what we can see the kit?s feature footprint essentially looks correct for a 1974 Buddy kit, and very nice. And any missing parts will not be really difficult to find.
In 1973 ? 1974 the correct snare drum sold with the Buddy Rich kit was the #153 Artist. Below are scans from the 1973 catalog ? of the kit with the #153, and for reference, individually of the #153 in the snare drum section. The snare drum in 1973 ? 1974 carrying the Buddy rich name was the 4x14, also pictured below in the 1973 catalog. Now during 1973 ? 1974, Buddy did also play the 10-lug TDR Deluxe Concert King, in 5x14, pictured below in 6.5x14 from the 1973 catalog. This drum, in 5x14, did not become the Buddy Rich model until 1976. Pictured below is the catalog page of the Buddy kit with Buddy Rich model TDR snare from 1976.
Whew - the story of all the Slingerland snare drums Buddy Rich used is a fun one, but a long one ? one for another time?
Tommy ? just by way of being a bit careful ? ?uni-mold? actually does not apply to Slingerland?s solid maple shell. ?Uni-mold shell? was a term Slingerland used for its 3-ply shell. You?ll see it used in many Slingerland catalogs of the period and earlier, often when referring to the shells on its 3-ply toms. As far as its use referring to snare drum shells is concerned, this really started with the Artist and Radio King lines in 1973. And in fact, when Slingerland started using the term ?uni-mold? in its catalog for the #153 Artist and #143 Radio King, this was the exact same time ? 1973 ? by which it had completely stopped making solid maple shells, not to pick it up again until the late 1970s!
Worse, in truth, Slingerland had all but completely stopped making solid shell snare drums at the very beginning of 1965. Never mind what the 1965 (#67), 1967 (#68), 1968 (#69), and 1970 (#71) catalogs say about the #153 Artist coming ?with a solid maple shell?. But for a scarce few (try to find one!), they were all 3-ply. So the language ?with a solid maple shell? was changed to ?uni-mold? for the #153 and #143 in the 1973 catalog. The distinction between ?uni? and ?one? as in one-ply, can confuse on the consumer side. There?s a whole story to this one too, also for another time.
Ah, shame on you Slingerland (wink)!!!
Hey Tommy - just took a look at your page ? you have some seriously gorgeous snare drums. What?s the serial number on your 1968 #153 Artist? Is it six digits, and if so what are the first three?
DrCJW[/COLOR]
