Guidelines for submitting to Show Us Your Drums
-Up to only three pictures of one drum, drumset, cymbal, etc. plus a description, story, etc. per month
-Your email and other contact information you provide will be published at the end of the text unless you ask for it not to be published.
-No sales. The For Sale Section is for that.

Greetings George !!!
It’s Hugh Little ( Brandon,MS)
Enclosed are pictures of my Vintage Apollo Snare Drum
I purchased it in 1998 at a junk shop for $8.50
For years I used it as my only snare drum.
In 1995 I took it to Joe Partridge who worked at Morrison Brothers Music, I had Joe completely overhaul the drum.
Enclosed is a picture of the original sales order that shows everything that was done.
I am now 57 years old and have had the drum for 39 years ( over half of my life)
I don’t play it anymore because it’s very valuable to me and because it is very old.
You wouldn’t know it was so old upon first glance, rest assured it sounds great.
I am very proud of the drum and I will have it for the rest of my life.
Thank you to you and Joe Partridge for all that you guys did for me when I was young.
I couldn’t afford drum lessons and you and Joe always took the time to show me things on the drums with time permitting. I couldn’t afford lessons and I was always grateful for the opportunity to learn from you and Joe.
George, you taught me well on how to refurbish drums and most importantly you taught me that a drummer doesn’t need a big fancy drum kit in order to be a good drummer.
I remember coming to your house to buy drumsticks and drumheads.
You sold me my very first ( REAL ) drum set
I remember watching you and Quinous Johnson perform together at the old Dutch bar in Jackson MS( awesome performance)
I am still and always will be a drummer
I have a Tama Imperialstar drum set that I rescued from a Good Will store and rebuilt the kit into what it is today.
I hope you are doing well
With Respect,,
Hugh Little

Some of my vintage drum collection.

Top L-R
1962 Duco Slingerland
1965 Slingerland Student Snare
1966 Club Date Kit snare
1971 Ludwig Supraphonic

Middle 40s era Rogers Union Brand bass drum, 24x14 w/calfskin heads

Bottom
1940s WFL 14x10
1970 Ludwig Marching snare, 14x10

In addition to the items shown, I own a '66 Ludwig Club Date with original green sparkle finish, and a rare 50s era Slingerland 2N Jobber kit.

Got 'em from a buddy's garage solid white wrap all cracked up, fallin' off. Removed wrap, light mahogany stain, hand waxed, resonates great. Pix with big band. Last gig 3-shows, Redlands 4th of July Concert Band, used Acrolite SD on USA 250th! I have 9-other kits: Rogers; Slingerland; Ludwigs; Tama; Yamaha; DW; Pearl floating SD. Cheers Blessings Y'all! Patrick D. Tavarez, drum set, timpani

Here's probably the "RAREST" American manufactured drum in the world. (if not, show me another one! )
Leedy "Autograph of the Stars" 4x10 Chinese tack tom. Purchased from eBay years ago.
Ting Tinpoti

Hi George,
I want you to know that I really enjoy every issue of NSMD! Thank you for your tireless work publishing it. I particularly look forward to articles about difficult restoration projects and rare snares from the 20’s and 30’s.

While I don’t collect particularly rare or expensive drums, I do love to seek out, rescue, and restore classic WFL, Ludwig, and Gretsch kits from the 1950’s and ‘60’s. I particularly love to find out the story behind the drums and who owned them whenever I can.

I read that you are begging for readers to send in photos and stories of vintage drums. Here is one of my first restoration projects. You can decide if it might be of interest to readers.

1956 WFL Super Beat in BDP:

During the pandemic, life slowed down a bit and my younger brother and I began scouring Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist in our free time for diamond-in-the-rough vintage drum kits to rescue and restore to their former glory.

The first of a long string of these projects began in May of 2020. It involved a filthy, crusty, and neglected but oh-so-cool 1950’s WFL “Super Beat” kit (20” kick, 13” tom, and 16” floor tom)
in black diamond pearl and a surviving bass drum head that held the secret to its past being rescued from a barn in Minnesota in exchange for $75 worth of Stomper toys.

First the more recent history. I acquired the kit from its previous owner, C.W. of Clearbrook, Minnesota, and he kindly told me all he knew about the kit when I took possession of it. Apparently, as a teenager living in Dixon, Illinois in the late 1980’s, he became interested in drums and was given this set of WFL drums by a member of his church. They were already in very rough shape and had long since lost their WFL snare. Though he banged around on them for a time, he always considered these drums to be junk and quickly started looking for a more modern and much larger drum kit like so many of us young drummers wanted back then.

Soon thereafter, he acquired a set of Ludwig Rockers II which he felt were far superior drums at the time. Perhaps because it had been his first drum kit and had sentimental value, he held on to this WFL kit, storing it in various garages and barns for 30+ years as he moved around.

To my good fortune, he connected with my brother, Rob Moffitt, on a Facebook page for toy collectors. He saw that my brother had posted about a small collection of Stomper truck toys from the 80’s that he had found at a local garage sale and purchased for $75. Upon digging around on my brother’s Facebook profile, he discovered that my brother’s real passion was playing drums. Really wanting the Stomper toys, an idea popped into his head. He reached out to my brother and asked if he might be interested in an old vintage drum set he had in his barn and whether he might consider trading the Stomper collection for it.

My brother asked for some photos. Though it was absolutely filthy, was obviously missing some hardware, had no snare, and looked like a complete piece of junk from the photos, Rob noticed the WFL badges and the BDP wrap and was intrigued. He asked what I thought. We jointly decided to take the risk and try our hand at our first true vintage drum restoration. He would acquire it through the trade and I would agree to sink the money into buying missing hardware and heads and doing the actual restoration.

The owner in Minnesota noted that his business was incredibly slow due to the COVID-19 pandemic and yet gas was at historic low prices. Perhaps having a bit of cabin fever during the lockdown, he decided to take a road trip. To our surprise, he drove all the way from Minnesota and delivered the drums to me in Twin Falls, Idaho on May 9, 2020 after picking up the Stomper collection from my brother in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I felt like a kid in a candy store carefully photographing and disassembling everything in preparation for a deep-cleaning and restoration and making a list of everything I would need to return it to original condition.

I found that the snare was missing, all resonant heads had been removed, and resonant side bass drum and tom hoops and tension rods were long lost before he got them. The existing bass drum hoop was in terrible shape. One of the previous owners had drilled two new holes and moved the rail consolette from its original position on the left to be centered on top of the kick (like a Club Date) and then added a second tom arm. I assume he or she had added another non-matching rack tom to make it into a more “modern” five piece rock set-up. All of the hardware was corroded and rusty.

I couldn’t find any dates stamped in any of the drums, though the badges were obviously the later 1955-59 keystone versions that say “WFL Drums.” I loved discovering the handwritten chalk markings on the mahogany interiors indicating the diameter of each drum! I also discovered that the surviving batter hoops of the 13” and 16” were nickel over brass.

I sourced the two nickel over brass hoops and tension rods for the 13” and 16” toms, found a replacement 20” WFL bass drum hoop with original BDP inlay, replacement T-rods for the bass drum, an old style bass drum mounted cymbal arm clamp, two L-shaped cymbal arms, and all new Remo heads. I patiently searched the internet until I found a nearly-mint 5.5x14” WFL Super Classic snare in matching BDP stamped 11/21/1956 on eBay that I felt was well worth the price.

I removed all the hardware, washed off 40 years of grime and literal bird poop, used adhesive remover to get off some petrified tape remnants, carefully buffed the shells with an orbital buffer and some very mild rubbing compound, then hand waxed the shells. I found a few cigarette burns in the bass drum wrap that made me smile imagining some jazz drummer putting out his cigs after a break in the action.

To add a little color to that mental image of this kit being played in gigs, I found evidence that one of the previous owners used to play this kit a band called “the Tri-Fi’s + 1”. After removing the 20” calfskin batter head (which had been over with thick silver paint and had a duct-taped protective patch / muffling patch over the bass drum strike area) and holding it up to light, I could clearly see a hand-painted logo with a Treble clef and musical notes and the words “the Tri-Fi’s + 1”. I love that!

I soaked the nickel-coated hardware and rims in Dawn dishwashing soap, then a rust removing product, then hand polished everything with Simichrome.

I restored the existing abused bass drum hoop by repairing some cracks with wood glue and clamping, filling countless dings, sanding it smooth, gluing down the two original 9/16” black diamond pearl inlay strips, masking over them, and repainting with a couple of light coats of satin black. The newly sourced OG hoop was in much better condition and only required light sanding and a respray with the satin black paint.

It was glorious to reassemble it all with fresh new white Remo coated Emperor (batter) and Ambassador (resonant) heads and then to photograph it with vintage flat based hi-hat, snare, and cymbal stands like in the catalog!

I should add that the 3-ply mahogany, poplar, mahogany shells sound amazing with new heads and the kit catches the attention of everyone who sees it. It has been requested several times by drummers using my brother’s backline company for gigs in Utah and Idaho. It is so satisfying to see and hear it being played on stage by talented professional drummers when just a few years ago it was sitting neglected in a barn in Minnesota!

-Mitch

P.S. I have tons of photos of the restoration process so let me know what you would like to see.

P.S.S. if you’re interested, I also saved and restored a water-damaged WMP mid 1960’s Gretsch Playboy kit from a chicken coop I bought for $70. I also found an early 1960’s 20/13/16 red sparkle Gretsch time capsule kit locally that had been discovered in the basement of an elderly gentleman with all original hardware including bass drum pedal and hi hat stand, a late 50’s Zildjian K ride, and early 60’s Zildjian A hi-hats. It’s a beauty, and unmolested. I also saved and restored an abused 1967 Ludwig Hollywood in psych red that turned out really great but nearly drove me made fixing black spray painted interiors, petrified adhesive foam and duct tape, etc etc. The name of the original owner was scribed into a couple of lugs and cymbals so I was able to research who played it back in the day.

Let me know if any of these might be interesting for your readers.

Mitchell Moffitt
1267 Madrona St. N.
Twin Falls, ID 83301

Email: mitchell.moffitt@gmail.com
Cell: 208-961-1522

Hi George,

Glad to hear of your new "Show Us Your Vintage Drums" feature
Attached are some pics of my '80 Rogers Metallic Gold set featuring:
20" bass drum 10" + 12" rack toms 16" floor tom 14x5 Raw Brass Dynasonic snare

I played this set exclusively in 2024 and 2025. Incredible resonant sound with super funky kick.

Thanks, Ken Duncan
hken.duncan@gmail.com
(319) 631-5111
www.funkdaddies.com

Hello,

My name is Jack Gold-Molina and I am a jazz/rock drummer and percussionist from Seattle. Pictured here is my 1965 Rogers kit in steel grey ripple. The sizes are 9x13”, 16x16” and 14x20”. They are pristine and I have used them on albums and live gigs, always avant-bop jazz with these. Never rock and roll. The snare is a 5 1/2x14” stainless steel Keplinger that is lightly hammered, polished and was built around 2000-2001. The 21” and 20” Bosphorus ride cymbals next to the bass drum and rack tom respectively are about 25 years old. The 20” Bosphorus ride cymbal next to the floor tom and the 15” Zildjian A hats are about 15 years old.

Thank you for doing this.
Best,
Jack Gold-Molina

My babies!
Early 70's Teadrop, 3ply...20,13,16
Early 70's Teardrop, 6 ply 18,12,14, 6.5 Champion Rosewood inside and out..

TONY GUSCETTI <guscetti@msn.com>

Here’s my ‘68 set of Premier. I’ve been restoring more than playing, but, there’s always hope for an opening in the KC area playing old rock n roll.
Vixen 03 <md80spyderman@gmail.com>