Hey all,
I just picked up a silver badge Slingerland 4X14 3 ply snare drum. The serial number is 26XXX making it circa 1971 I believe. It is in pretty good shape overall. I bought the drum off a fella here in town who has owned it for some time. I'll run down the details.
Here's the good: It has a COS batter stickchopper hoop and the Sound King lugs are in excellent condition. The Zoomatic works fine but is losing plating on the lever. The shell has correct period chocolate milk paint on the interior. An incorrect muffler was on the drum but a Slingerland muffler fits the holes perfectly and TommyP said that you could order these drums with mufflers. Most imporantly, the drum sounds good!
Here's the not as good: The resonant side hoop is a generic triple flanged version. I believe most of the rods and washers are incorrect. Here's the funny thing. The person used 4 pieces (!) of white marine pearl to recover the shell. It wasn't one piece.
I believe the recover is old since it has creamed out but just wonder if by chance if it was original Slingy wrap stripped off another drum. I was ready to strip off the covering when I wondered that. The color of the wrap is nice, but the recover job is pretty bad. I know it is a long shot about the wrap but when the drum is assembled, it doesn't look bad. The wrap doesn't fit flush on the shell in some places, like if it wasn't rolled down properly or not enough glue was applied. The pieces of covering aren't centered on the shell, either.
Would you rewrap it? If so would you do COW or WMP? I like the Continental wmp wrap but I don't think it is very period correct. I also don't know if they make an actual COW metal covering.
I think finding a COS stickchopper bottom hoop would be difficult but maybe not impossible. If I can't find that, I might just do a sticksaver on the bottom. They don't look that different from a distance. In fact, I might pick up a pair and just save the stickchopper. I don't care for the feel of stickchoppers.
Thanks!
