last few days ive been working on an early leedy engraved snare drum. not knowing much about them, ive been doing all the reading and searching for info that I can. i wanted to share it in case any of you could give me any information about it.
its a 5x15. I can't seem to find any other pics of examples in this size. mine has the 2 hole lugs which I think, along with the engraving makes it a 1924 model. my hoops are steel done in knobby gold and have no logos anywhere on them. ive searched and searched with a magnifying glass and can't find anything. mine does not have the extra curved beads around the tension rods on the hoops. I had read that by 1924, they had these. I'm thinking the proper name for my drum may be a mutil model classic or a utility model instead of the later used black elite name? mine has the utility strainer on it.
ive looked at all the engaving patterns that I can find and still can't find one that has the same pattern as mine. the panel around the air hole even has something like a banner that is open inside. looks like it was done to possibly engrave something else in it at some later point. just an idea though.
i'm looking for a few parts to complete it. it was missing the tension rods on the bottom hoop. they are slotted fillister heads that are 10-24 and 1 13/16 long. the bottom portion of the strainer is also missing. I picked up some brass machine screws for the bottom right now that match pretty well. also made a makeshift bottom for the strainer so that I could play it some. it really sounds nice.
as far as cleaning, it was dirty. I was very careful and mostly used dawn and water to clean it up. haven't used any lemon oil or 3 in one oil to polish it up yet. these are classy looking drums, to say the least.
mike
