That's a nice find there.

Don't worry about the heads being broken. You can always buy new calf heads at Rebeats or Stern Tanning:

http://www.rebeats.com/calf_heads.html

http://www.sterntanning.com/

The thumb screws should be pointing down to the floor (snare side), so when you're playing your sticks don't risk hitting the hardware, just the head.

The snares (yes they are gut) are most likely just turned around on the mounting hardware. It'll just be an issue of looking closely, unscrewing the tension, and turning it around.

Bad news:

The super-old school drums that are all claw and thumb screw tension are definitely in the niche market if you're looking to sell. Yours might need a little love, so it's up to you whether you should make repairs first, then sell - or sell to someone willing to make repairs.

Good news:

If it's in decent shape, someone will pay a good amount for it. There was a similar drum on ebay a few weeks ago. I don't know what it ended up selling for, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least $100. Your drum has a lot of thumb tension rods which is good for the value.

All in all, ebay will give you the best market-price. Make sure to post 4 or 5 pictures after you dust her off!

I hope it goes well!

AMRAWCO = "American Rawhide Company"

The shell is a mahogany/poplar/mahogany 3-ply shell. Maple hoops.

The value is not real high (BUT WAY MORE THAN $4!!) -maybe $100-$200 on a very good day.

The drum is impractical by today's standards, but makes a great decorative conversation piece in a drummers home.

To refit it with brand-new calfskins would likely cost you more than the value of the drum. Most nice calfskin is very expensive these days.

What are your intentions for the drum?

Whoops! Maybe I misunderstood! The drum in the picture is NOT actually your drum?

If that's the case, then it's impossible to gauge the value. You say some pieces are missing and the calfskin heads are in need of replacement and that the drum is "dirty". I would need to see ACTUAL pictures of the drum in question. I was basing my assessment on the picture. Once parts go missing and "dirt" becomes "scratches", then the value goes down, considerably (but not as low as $4). So, you still did fine, in any case, but we need to see the real drum before an assessment can be given. And even then, opinions will vary.

+1 O-Lugs, I was just looking at the pic and it said uploaded in 2006. Huh?

I sure didn't mean to confuse anyone here. The devil is in the detail so you guys may have tuned me out by the time I said "I found a picture of the same model through a link on this site but it didn't identify it by name."

And yeah, I figured the lugs were upside down in that picture but then again, I just saw a black powder rifle Saturday that had a hammer on the bottom side, next to the trigger. Go figure.

I didn't want to mess with this drum until I had some idea of it's value. Since we're not talking about serial #0000001 here, I'll go ahead and disassemble it and get her cleaned up and proper measurements made. The head looks to be 14 inches and the shell in the range of 3 to 5 inches tall. I'll take some pictures along the way. After our last laptops died my wife and I decided to get MacBooks and it's not as easy for me to post pictures without a SD slot. We need to get new connection cables.

My intentions? I was kind of thinking of turning it into a short Civil War drum for my son for some father and son reenacting we're looking to do together. Would it be sacrilegious to "deface" it with a bald eagle / red white and blue motif? It's really way too short for authenticity.

If anyone is interested after I post pictures, I'll entertain offers.

So, was this a school band drum or a marching drum or what? Does anyone know?

Thanks for playing. You guys rock.

G

I stand corrected and apologize for the error.

When I saw the 2006 date on the photo I went back and looked at the text in your post around the link to the photo but that's not where your disclaimer was located.

I don't know much about older pre 50s drums. Good luck with your endeavor.

That's a cool idea for you and your son!

I was trying to think of what these types of snare drums were actually used for. I guess orchestral and dance band applications would be a fair guess -since that's what was going on with music back then.

It's interesting to note how they used to approach the problems associated with evenly tuning calfskin heads. The multiple t-rods would have evened-out the tension a bit better, I'm sure. But then again it's a single tension system -with less-than-h o m ogenous drumheads and gut snares. It can only go so far.

I remember asking vintage snare drum collector/guru, Mike Curotto, about how all the old drums with calfskin heads and gut snares sounded. He said something to the effect of "They all sound like old snare drums with calfskin heads and gut snares". -I think meaning that they all kind of had a similar sound that was kind of unidimensional ;) because of the inescapable influence of calfskin and gut snares and rounded bearing edges. If you've ever heard an old drum set up like that, then you know that sound.

I think that's why some snare drums are so highly prized. They look cool. They are kind of seen as sculptures or works of musical machine art. And many are definitely that! Some of the old finishes and machining are absolutely stunning! It's not so much how they sound in that regard. There are probably a few exceptions to the rule, too. I know that old Black Beauties are also highly prized for their sound by some drummers.

The game used to be "Come up with the better drum design and beat the competition's design". Then the marketing and business world changed and those old ideas went out the door, too. A basic evolution was achieved and that's what's kind of been settled on for the last 50-60 years or so. Things haven't changed much since those days. There are no more 16-t-rod, single-tension snare drums being made! The competition insofar as design goes, seems to be, "Who can come up with the most enticing way to sell the same general design over and over again?"

Your $4 find and your intentions for the drum show that things sometimes come together for all the right reasons! Good luck with the project and keep us posted!

Thank you both for your replies. I collected swords when I was younger and the worst thing one could do was to "clean them up". It's akin to the scene in "Raging Bull" when Jake LaMotta (Robt. DeNiro) destroys his championship belt with a hammer to free up a half dozen semi precious stones he wants to hock. The stones by themselves were worth a hundred bucks or so, but set in a championship boxing belt would have been worth thousands. Sometimes taking something old and making it new again, erases the history that made it unique.

The bottom head has a Y split, but the top head is more of a straight split which leaves about 70% of the head playable. There is a translucent spot on the opposite side of the split, near the hoop, which leads me to believe that it was played for quite some time after the split happened. It actually still doesn't sound too bad. It'll be interesting to hear what the gut snares will sound like once they are untwisted and free to vibrate.

I still think it may have been made for a school band, hence the "Economy" heads. I saw something very similar to it in a circa 1909 band catalogue advertisement from a different manufacturer. It is simple, but pretty enough to imagine it part of a John Phillips Sousa band playing up in the town square gazebo, or a dance orchestra, as you mentioned. I need a psychic to lay their hands on it and tell me where it's been.

Unfortunately, I have a lot going on right now so this project will have to wait a bit. I will take before, during and after pics and try to keep you in the loop. Thanks again.

Gary

Looking at that photo link again, I just discovered another difference. That drum has six more lugs than mine has. 16 vs 10. And again, mine aren't upside down. I'd still like to see a picture of what the strainer hardware should look like, so I could know how to fix it. Please keep me in mind, should one of you come across a picture of it.

G