Hi all,
Here’s a new one to enter the collection. I got this drum from a collector and nice guy named Chris Athanasiov from Australia. This is my 2nd Leedy 6.5 x 14 Full Dress Oriental Pearl Broadway Dual Model from Australia. A special thanks to my good friend and fellow collector Bill Wanser of Olympic Drums & Percussion for helping me to identify the various Broadway Dual parallel mechanisms. More on that later.
1937 (3703) LEEDY 6.5 x 14 FULL DRESS *ORIENTAL PEARL BROADWAY DUAL MODEL
*Collectors of the same 1930s era Ludwigs and Slingerlands know this finish as Abalone Pearl but Leedy chose to call their finish Oriental Pearl.
THE SHELL
The Oriental Pearl and Full Dress diamonds are all there and in very good condition. Since the drum was already disassembled I did do a light cleaning/polishing. The white interior showed its age with a nice 3703 date stamp. Badge placement on the Leedy, Ludwig and Slingerland Full Dress models varies. Leedy chose to place the Leedy badge at the butt side of the drum just left of the mechanism. As a point of interest, Ludwig chose to put the oval badge on their Full Dress models under a tube lug and on the Slingerland Full Dress models they chose to put the cloud badge right on top of a Full Dress diamond.
THE HARDWARE
The chrome plating is in very good shape with no missing, incorrect or broken parts. All of the hardware polished up nicely. Both mechanisms are very smooth with original top and bottom snares. The top and bottom rims are engraved which adds a nice touch to the overall aesthetics of the drum.
A BRIEF GUIDE ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEEDY PARALLEL/DUAL MECHANISMS
Hopefully this will help you to identify any 1930s Leedy Parallel/Dual Models that may come your way. Again, this will be brief as Bill Wanser will soon publish a very comprehensive article on the various Leedy Parallel/Dual Mechanisms.
Generation I: Both mechanisms pull away from the shell and have thumbscrews and spoon extension levers.
Generation II (version 1): Both mechanisms move side to side and have thumbscrews and spoon extension levers.
Generation II (version 2): Both mechanisms move side to side but the extension spoon levers are replaced by a single “trigger” arm.
Generation III: Similar to Gen II v 2 but there is a box shaped piece at the bottom of the mechanism where the snares are attached.
I’ve added a photo of two more Leedy Oriental Pearl snares:
1936 (3602) Leedy (Gen II v. 2) Broadway Dual (This drum also came from Australia, thank you Mark Cooper).
1937 (3706) Leedy (Gen II v. 2) Broadway Parallel (Thank you Steve Maxwell).
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto