Hey now that is gorgeous. The thumbnail on the website is kind of dark so it didn't grab my eye but then when I finally clicked on it you can see what a beautiful kit that is!!

Is it blue and black marble lacquer??

Please give some details on every piece of this one if you have time... and a little sound clip would be awesome!

Hi, Jim,

I apologize for the extremely late response. I've been on business travel and haven't had much "free time" lately.

THANKS for the kind words! I picked up the tacked-bottom rack tom, floor tom and snare drum together a short time ago. They're Slingerland Radio Kings. I'd call the finish Diamond Black Pearl, but I'm not sure that's what they called it "back in the day." It is quite stunning, when seen in person.

The toms (9x13 & 16x17) feature beavertail lugs, rim clips and Harold R. Dodd dual-pad mufflers. There are no air vent holes or badges on either tom. The floor tom's a little unique in that it features wooden hoops with in-lays, similar to those normally featured on bass drums. I happened to find the IDENTICAL floor tom featured on Page 122 of Rob Cook's publication -- "The Slingerland Book." The basket holding my floor tom is also featured in this book. It's on page 171, listed as Item No. 1458, manufactured between 1940-1946. Both toms have their original Radio King calfskin heads still intact.

The Radio King snare drum is obviously my favorite piece of the kit. It measures 14x8 and features Slingerland's first Aluminum Cloud Badge, manufactured between 1944-1945. It's got a clamshell strainer, Radio King engraved batter side rim, 16 beavertail lugs and Harold R. Dodd muffler system.

The bass drum is the "orphan" of the kit. I did purchase a Slingerland Radio King bass drum with the other pieces. However, it was from the 1958-1960 time period and was only a 22 inch model. I happened to have a 16x28 inch Leedy bass drum that I thought would go better with the Radio King pieces, so I put them all together as you see in the pic that I posted. The Leedy bass drum is the company's Spartan Model, manufactured in Elkhart, Indiana. It's got its original calfskin heads and a dual muffler mounted on the exterior of the shell. Also clamped onto the shell is a dual cowbell - wooden block mount. I love the looks of this one! The drum also features Slingerland clamp-on spurs. I also happen to have the original Leedy and Slingerland bass drum pedals, with "fuzzy" beaters and metal cymbal strikers, which were quite popular at the time. Also mounted on the bass drum is a vintage Chinese Tom, made in Fatshan, Canton, China. Most of the major U.S. drum manufacturers imported these during this era.

The cymbals are a combination of those that I happened to pickup when purchasing some vintage Leedy and Slingerland items some time ago. The hi-hat stand is an original Leedy piece.

I was fortunate enough to pick up the temple blocks locally from a gentleman who found them in an antique dealers "trash." They're actually pretty sound, both functionally and cosmetically.

Appreciate your interest!

Unfortunately, I don't have a "sound clip" that I can provide. Sorry about that.

"Stunning!!" great word to describe your work on this one. That really is something to treasure.

Thanks for the great detail, I spent about an hour just working through the book on this one. That is really interesting. I can't tell you how much I would like to hear a little set that works through the pieces you have put together there.

VERY NICE!!Mind Blowi

Hey I recognize that chinese tom! LOL! Thanks again Gary, pics coming soon.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Floor tom's really 17" diameter ???[/COLOR]

Hello, Jaye!

No, the floor tom's diameter is 16". It's 17" in length. Sorry about the confusion!

Cool!

Out of interest - what do the hihat cymbals sound like?

They look like they'd be kinda thick - the kind with cups sound like bells. Can you do the stock "In the Mood" hihat pattern on them and sound ok?

Also, I've wondered if single tension bass drums (and that does look like one!) are actually a bit of an advantage because at a gig you could, from the set adjust the tension? Or is it not so good because you can't adjust the reso separately?

I've thought that you could tuck a front head with more tension on the flesh hoop and that could be used as the front reso on a single tension kick and that would give you as slightly tighter reso than batter (how I like it) with the same tension on the T-handles, if you know what I mean.