Hi all,
Two more blasts from the past that I never did articles on. The 4 x 13 Sparkling Gold RK “Be Bop” model was one of my earliest purchases (1995) from Ned Ingberman, The Vintage Drum Center and the WMP 4 x 13 RK Bop model was purchased from a fellow musician in SF about 20 years ago. A special thanks goes to my good friend and fellow collector Mark Cooper for helping me to date these two drums.
1948-50 SLINGERLAND 4 x 13 SPARKLING GOLD “BE BOP” RADIO KING MODEL (UNCATALOGUED/SPECIAL ORDER?)
This drum has a solid maple shell. The Sparkling Gold wrap is pretty funky with some “cancer” spots. The nickel plated hardware is in good shape. There is no mention of a 4 x 13 Radio King in early Slingerland catalogs which leads to the speculation that this drum could have been an uncatalogued special order.
EARLY 1950s SLINGERLAND 4 x 13 WMP BOP SNARE DRUM (cat. #444)
This drum also has a solid maple shell. The WMP is in very good shape, the same is true with the nickel plated hardware. This snare was offered with the Combo Be Bop Drum Outfit (cat. #445).
Both of these 4 x 13 Radio King “Be Bop” models are pretty rare. In all my years of collecting I have not seen any other late 1940s side-by-side lug 4 x 13 RKs and I have only seen one other 4 x 13 Bop Snare. I’d love to hear from any others out there that may have one or both of these drums.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto