Drummer community & drum marketplace
The first vintage & Custom Drum Magazine, since 1988
There was a time many years ago when a 3-piece combo kit or “outfit” was all a jobbing drummer needed. There was no room for any “floor tom” in a cab. And certainly not on any subway train. So when the opportunity arises to purchase a set in the bass drum, tom tom, snare drum format: do we think one can find a matching floor tom to make our 4 piece kit dream normalcy come true?
Read more….One such finish was called DeLuxe Marble and it was a short-lived finish that was painted on the shells to look like faux marble. The finish first appeared in the 1941 catalog and it lasted through WWII. Because a 10% metals law was put into effect during WWII limiting the use of metals on products, WFL was forced to design a drum made mostly of wood. That means that there were very few sets made in DeLuxe Marble that featured all-metal lugs and hardware made pre- WWII.
Read moreI have just purchased this 1970s Slingerland Pop Outfit in recent days. The toms are standard sizes 12, 13, 16 and as you can see, single headed. The rockers in the 70s were removing the bottom heads to get a dry funky sound from their drums. Most of the drum companies decided to just make the drums with top heads only to basically get that sound the pop drummers wanted.
Read moreThe finish was Abalone Pearl! And, the Drum that this beautiful finish is attached to is a 1930s Leedy 5x14 Broadway Standard Model. I have actually only seen this finish on a Slingerland 1930s Radio King snare drum and a miscellaneous vintage bass drum. What a beautiful, stunning and striking finish this is. The Abalone Pearl has a three dimensional vibe that really illuminates with the change of natural lighting. The array of beautiful colors is what makes this finish pop. Apparently, there are only a handful of drums with this rare finish that exist. Also, I have not seen another Leedy snare drum equipped with the Abalone Pearl finish.
Read moreI recently acquired this 1948 Radio King set from someone who rescued it from a neighbor who was going to “throw it out”. It’s in pretty darn good shape. I’ll update my clean up and restoration of this kit as I go along. The first thing I want to tell you about is a great new rust remover that works better than any other substance that I’ve used, and I’ve used all of them; Naval jelly, coca cola, vinegar, ketchup - all sorts of household and commercial products. This one is the easiest and most effective by far. It’s called Metal Rescue by Workshop Hero.
Read moreDrum Workshop has purchased Slingerland, and the company will release a new generation of Slingerland instruments next year, it was announced today.
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These are my put together Memphis Ducos. 1949 BD, 1973 12", 1965 9x13.
Read moreI got this drum from a European seller who has sold me a drum or two before. I usually don’t collect European drums but this one was intriguing enough and somewhat historical so I went for it. A special thanks goes to my good friend, fellow collector and restorer extraordinaire Emmanuel of olDrums Vintage & Custom oldrums@sfr.fr for helping me to identify and date this drum.
Read moreDenny Hair is asking for help from the vintage drum community.
Read moreI got this one off of Reverb. This drum has been around for a while and the owner worked with me on an even lower price. WFL two-tone pearl drums are pretty scarce so this was a good drum to add to the collection.
Read moreI’ve had a half dozen these old NSMD Winkler & Aldridge badges hidden away in a drawer for years and forgot about them until I ran across them recently. I decided to have a graphic designer update it a bit.
Read moreA popular feature of our DrumSellers site is the free Want ads. Users can post to the drum community at large about drum items they are hunting for. You will not see that service on Reverb or Ebay. There was a flurry of new want ads this past week. Here some want ads from the last thirty days.
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Brad Bilhorn opens new vintage drum shop
Read moreAdolphe CIRICHELLI would have started to make drums in 1908, and created the IMPERATOR MONDUS brand in the 30s... But before IMPERATOR MONDUS, Adolphe CIRICHELLI was associate to create CIRICHELLI CONSOL & Co in the 20's... Adolphe CIRICHELLI was Jacques CAPELLE grandfather's, who manufactured CAPELLE drums until 2010, but also ORANGE drums in the 70s ..
Read moreLudwig first introduced Citrus Mod sometime in mid to late 1968 along with the finish Black Panther. When these two finishes were released, Ludwig was in between catalogs as catalog ‘67(printed in 1966) was the current catalog and it would be several years before catalog ’71 (printed in 1970) would be released. Citrus Mod was featured on the back of catalog ’71 but by the end of the year the color was discontinued and catalog ‘73 (printed in 1972) appeared and Citrus Mod was removed from the color options. This means is that unless a store had a set for display, a dealer had the color in a dealer swatch or you saw another drummer using a set in this finish, it was unlikely that it was known that the color even existed by most consumers when the finish first appeared. By
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I realize this flea market is open to more than just percussion but usually quite a number of drum people show up for the show. I myself will be a 'drum' vendor there. -Emory Grodek
The drums are Big Beat sizes 22" bass, 12" and 13" mounted toms, and a 16" floor tom. The snare was another story. I could tell it was a 1970s Black Beauty. Ludwig re-introduced the Black beauty snare in the late 1970s. They made Supraphonics both 5" and 6.5" and Super Sensitives 5" and 6.5". I don't know how many of each one they made. I'm sure that information is available. If you have one, they are great snares to own and very collectible. The snare was missing parts and the heads were taped up and cloth applied to kill any snare drum sound the poor drum tried to make. I could tell this drum was a diamond in the ruff.
In 1963 the Slingerland Drum Company introduced a new snare drum to their drum line. This snare was cataloged and advertised as the new Modern Artist model. Previously, Slingerland used the Artist model name on their earlier snare drum line from 1928 to approximately 1935. Some of these first models were hand engraved and very ornate. They were made with ten tube lugs and both solid wood and brass shells.
Read moreI happened upon this 3x13 Wilson Bros steel(?) snare at a free sale. I searched it and the first hit was an NSMD post . Perfect.
The calfskin batter head could be original. The calfskin res head is trash. There’s a snare adjuster but no throw off. The wires are probably functional. There’s probably missing floating lugs but I don't know how many there should be. Except for some dust this is how I got it.
You’ve always been a good source of info. What’s your take on this thing?
NSMD is my favorite email. I read it cover to cover.
Thanks in advance for any any info you can pass my way.
and more information about a Leedy and Ludwig drum set that I have. I have a few pictures I can forward to you that might help. It has a beautiful hand painted windmill scene painted on the bass drum. I believe it is from the 1930s belonging to my grandfather, I have a picture of him sitting at it. Very special.
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