Hello, last week I registered and posted in the newbee? section about this Slingerland Leedy marching drum I aquired in 1976. This was painted all white so I decided to have fun and strip it down to find out what was underneath.
I found a stamped number inside 3307. The badge is missing but a partial Leedy decal is still visable.
I'm still taking more pictures...but I though what the heck get this on the board and someone might know more about it than I do.
Thanks for looking! band2
Hi. It looks like a Leedy or a Ludwig to me. The outer veneer appears to be mahogany (a nice piece, too!). The number indicates it was made in July of 1933. It was intended for use as a marching drum. The drum is a single-tension style -meaning that both heads are tensioned simultaneously as the t-rods are turned. This was more of a "budget" feature. Also, the fact that there was no snare throwoff -just a tension screw that tightened or loosened the snare wires, was also a less-deluxe aspect. Your drum would have been originally outfitted with a calfskin batter head and a "slunk" snare side calfskin. The snare wires are likely wire-wrapped cloth-core and the overall sound of drums like this is usually very dark and organic sounding in comparison to most modern "working" drums. I think we all end up with one or two of these drums in our collections. I have a similar one -except that mine is a Leedy from the 40's with individually tensioned lugs. The sound it makes would likely resemble the sound yours makes. They ALL kind of sound similar in that regard.Burger Kin
P.S. It looks like you did a very nice job on bringing the drum back from the paint-yard. Nice work!
