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The first vintage & Custom Drum Magazine, since 1988
There were a few gremlins that the previous owner neglected to tell Mark about. The worst was that the two strainer thumb wheels were forced on, cross-threaded and frozen in place. This is when you need a good machinist or friend. In this case my good friend Al Schneider (the original Drum Doctor est. 1963) came to the rescue.
Read moreThere are two known examples of this particular Leedy finish on snares. The first first example belongs to Mike Curotto, which was previously referred to as "Antique Wallpaper", given the pattern and nature of the material, and the second being this featured drum only recently uncovered in October of 2021. It is also understood that there is an example of a bass drum that was seen however not documented to my knowledge as of this writing. The shell and wrap on these drums are what makes them so unique.
Read moreOne day in late 2020, I was doing my usual browsing through vintage drum-related social media posts and came across a 1936 Leedy & Strupe (L&S) white marine pearl drum kit for sale. This L&S kit consisted of a white marine pearl 14 x 28” bass drum (with calf heads), 9 x 13” tom (tacked bottom head), 6.5 X 14” snare, cowbell, and various hardware (original L&S bass drum pedal, hi-hat with lamb wool beater, Clamp-Rite trap holders, spurs). According to Harry Cangany (noted author, drum historian), this kit was, “a ‘Dictator’ model in white pearl (L&S name for white marine pearl)…1936 is probably correct.”
Read moreI read that Leedy made these from the 30's into the 50's for Montgomery Ward. The tom is stamped 5012 inside ( December 1950? )
Any insight would be appreciated.
Rob Cook, founder of the Chicago Drum Show and Author of "The Complete History of Leedy Drums" and "The Leedy Way", gives us the complete history of the Leedy Drum Company. The amazing story begins with U.G. Leedy producing snare stands in his apartment in Indianapolis and evolves into becoming the largest manufacturer of drums in the world. Rob also teaches us about George Ways involvement in the rise and fall of Leedy.
Read moreThe latest addition to the collection comes from my good friend and fellow collector Mark Cooper of Coopersvintagedrums.com I usually stay clear of Duco finishes as a good number of them have not fared well over the 80+ years but this one had two things going for it: 1. Red/Cream/Red Duco which I have never seen. 2. This is a 6.5 x 15 Broadway Parallel model which is somewhat rare.
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My good friend and local drum collector Jimmy Sisson found this gem of a drum in a little “Ma & Pa” store in San Jose, CA. Jimmy called me and wanted to show me his new find so I said “come on by”. After seeing the drum and complimenting him on his new acquisition I went into my drum collector mode and I asked him if he wanted to sell the drum to me. Although Jimmy really wanted me to see the drum he also knew that I would want to buy it...he was right! We made a great deal and here we are. This is a good ending for everyone; the store owner got the drum for a low price, Jimmy got it for a great price and I was able to double his money plus 200.00.
Read moreI am not a drumset collector but when this drumset was offered to me -- a second time -- I went for it. I usually don’t buy snare drums as an investment, I love to collect them so if they are worth more money in the future that’s a good thing but if the value stays the same or goes down I honestly don’t care as it has always been more important to me to own the snare for the collection rather than worry if the drum will eventually be worth more money. This drumset was purchased as an investment, especially since the snare drum alone is worth as much as I paid for the entire drumset. Don’t misinterpret this, I paid Mike’s asking price and he was happy with our deal.
Read more"This is one of the rarest Leedy sets you'll ever see. This set is from 1958 and consists of 9x13, 16x16, 14x22, 5.5x14 snare drum. Those wonderful mahogany/poplar/mahogany 3 ply shells with rounded bearing edges. And the set is finished in Starlight Sparkle! As some of you may know, SS was a finish in the Gretsch line from the late 50s until circa 1962. It was exclusive to Gretsch, however, I have had one original Slingerland kit in this finish, and now we have this Leedy kit. In all probability, a customer may have requested this finish and the drum shop or Leedy called the finish manufacturer or called Gretsch and asked if they could use it for a kit. Starlight Sparkle is a finish that looks silver/gray until it is under the lights and then it looks lavender. It’s a beautiful finish. I believe Leedy referred to this as "smoky pearl". Harry Cangany did an article about this set for Modern Drummer in Feb 2011. It is one of the rarest finishes for Gretsch and it is insanely rare on any other drum set. The wrap is in great shape and the chrome is nice as well. This is an extremely rare set and it sounds wonderful”
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