I recently came across a 40's Leedy kit I couldn't pass up for the money. It's complete, but the covering is a little rough on the kick, and someone installed a heater in the snare, as is pretty common on those old snares with the calfskin. Anyhow, I'm trying to decide whether to recover it or not. The snare has some decent splits inthe covering, around 3" long at most. The kick is a little worse, with some splitting and lifting around the drum. The two toms are in great shape, but here comes the odd thing....

The toms are tunable on top, tacked heads on bottom, but with 40s "blue" Elkhart badges and beavertail lugs. The kick has clip-on spurs with beavertail lugs, and the snare is a third generation Broadway. The snare is stamped "4601" on the inside, and the shells are ply, not solid. Everything but the tacked heads point to a 40's kit, but I thought Leedy stopped making them that way in the 30s..?.. Was the kit a special order for an old-school drummer, or something from the point when they changed over to double headed tunable toms? Endorser? Any ideas?

Since the covering is already a little beat, I'm thinking of restoring them with some new White Marine Pearl, but if the kit is something from some special order, should I try to keep the covering on the toms, and not worry about matching? I'm not that farmiliar with Leedy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

PS\: Still looking for a bloody Frank Wolf Lug...

Thanks.

[email]cmattoon@student.umass.edu[/email]

~Chris