Please allow me to introduce you to my WWII Restriction 1943-1944 Leedy Dreadnaught Victor Set In White Marine Pearl. I usually can finish a full set restoration in approximately two weeks, this set took almost two months. 11”, 13”, 15” 26”, 6.5” x 14”. It is simply gorgeous now.
What makes this set exceptionally rare is the fact that I purchased it from the original owners family. It was all born together as a 5-Piece set and it is wrapped in White Marine Pearl. I personally do not know of any other of examples of these sets that meet all that criteria. I received a message from a friend alerting me to this set for sale locally and, after thanking him, I contacted the owner, set an appointment and met the next day.
When I got there I was greeted by the grandson and great grandsons of the original owner who sadly passed away recently. They were clearing out his home via a hired junk man who just happened to pull this set out of the house and stick them on his truck as they pulled up to their grandfathers house days before. Thankfully they stopped him and reclaimed the set.
When I arrived for my inspection preceding purchase I realized that they were in extremely deplorable condition, but could see the diamond in the rough - they had good meat and bones.
I carefully loaded them in my truck after a deal was struck and monies swapped hands and headed back to the shop.
Thankfully, even though the original inlay was still intact on every wood hoop, the hoops themselves were all warped, bent and the plys were all separated. This was the major obstacle in the restoration process because every hoop had to be cleaned, straightened, glued, clamped and flattened over many days, all the while leaving the original inlay unfettered. It was a daunting and extremely time consuming task requiring great patience and many, many clamps.
When I removed the wood lugs from the bass drum the entire wrap fell off, it was as dirty and stained as it could be in your wildest imagination. The entire set required extensive compounding, polishing and buffing of all WMP wrap.
One of the wood lugs on the 13” tom was broken beyond repair and I needed a suitable replacement. I found a painted one and stripped and stained it to match, it’s undetectable and an original Leedy, so I was happy about that.
All wood was removed, hand polished and buffed to its current luster. All the original heads came with the set, although two tom heads were torn. I left both original bass heads on and put new REMO batter heads on the toms and snare so it can be played in any style. The shocking part to me was the fact that both original massive calfskin bass drum heads were in mint condition, albeit filthy, but they survived. Generally these are the first to be punctured due to the sheer size making them an easy target.
This set was a lot of tedious work but I am so grateful to be the one to bring it back and allow it a bright new lease far into the foreseeable future. This is a truly outstanding set I am proud to have it my arsenal of sound at Studio 3T, not only for my own future recordings when appropriate, but for my clients to rent for that true rare vintage sound or to rent for a show or movie set. Some amazing sets are still out there waiting to be discovered.
Thank you for reading my column this month.
Stay tuned...🥁
WWII Restriction 1943-1944 Leedy Dreadnaught Victor Set In White Marine Pearl
