1928- SLINGERLAND 5x14 WALNUT TONE FLANGE FANCHER ARTIST MODEL

July 29, 2024 Mike Curotto

Most of these drums have 10 brass wood screws or 10 brass brads on the top bearing edge that are in line with the tube lugs and are there to allow the brass ring of the Tone Flange to seat. This drum is a tad different, there are12 brass brads that do not line up with the lugs (see photo). I also noticed a difference in the internal attachment hardware. On Slingerland snares of this era there is usually a washer, a lock washer and a screw. This drum has a larger washer, smaller washer, lock washer and a screw for the lugs, 3 point strainer and butt plate.

1937 (3703) LEEDY 6.5 x 14 FULL DRESS *ORIENTAL PEARL BROADWAY DUAL MODEL

May 30, 2024 Mike Curotto

*Collectors of the same 1930s era Ludwigs and Slingerlands know this finish as Abalone Pearl but Leedy chose to call their finish Oriental Pearl.

1969-1970 Gretsch Gold Snares

April 30, 2024 Mike Curotto

“The gold Gretsch snare was circa 69-70 and done right on the cusp of the transition from Round Badge to SSB.” -Steve Maxwell

2000s Craviotto Timeless Timber 600 + year old birch solid shell snare drums….all #1s.

November 27, 2023 Mike Curotto

Johnny created a lot of interest back in the early 2000s with his acquisition of a stash of 600 + year old birch that had been discovered at the bottom of Lake Superior.

Rare 4 x 14 Slingerland Tone Flange Artist Models

September 27, 2023 Mike Curotto

I haven’t been able to find any new/old snares lately so here’s some cool and rare 4 x 14 Slingerland *Tone Flange* Artist Models from my collection. In my 28 years of collecting I have only seen three of these 4 x 14 Artist Tone Flange models. Common logic has to be that there are more of these out there so feel free to send me photos/stories of your 4 x 14 TFs.

1920s Leedy Elites Family Portrait

July 31, 2023 Mike Curotto

Certain shell depths are more rare than others. The 5 x 14 is the most common size. It is a toss-up between the 4 x 14 and 6 x 14 as to the 2nd most rare of the Elite sizes, but the rarest of all is the 7 x 14 Elite.

1923-25 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 4 x 14 8 LUG DeLUXE/SCROLL ENGRAVED DANCE MODEL (Cat. no. 5C)

February 28, 2022 Mike Curotto

Hiro said that he wanted to buy the drum from me. I said it wasn't for sale, but then he turned the table on me and said, "What if I offer you STUPID MONEY"? At this time I had gotten into a little money crunch so I asked him what kind of STUPID MONEY was he talking about. Hiro said he would pay me 10K for the drum. SOLD! That was a huge chunk of money that gave me a good head start on my financial situation.

Vintage Duco Family

June 30, 2021 Mike Curotto

One would think that the less expensive drums would have the DuCo finishes but these four snares are perfect examples of higher end (and somewhat rare) drums whose owners chose the less expensive shell finish option. In my opinion this is like putting Sears tires on a Ferrari…but I still will not pass up a rare snare drum with an inexpensive finish.

1925 Leedy 4 X 14” Black NOB Multi-Model Marvel snare drum

April 30, 2021 Bob Campbell

This Multi-Model Marvel is truly a lovely drum and extremely well-preserved. The Marvel strainer works quite nicely and smoothly, applying even tension across all snares. So why do I think it wasn’t successful? First off, the bridge mechanism extends about 1 3/8” from the bottom. For snare stands of the time, this overhang could be problematic.

1929-30 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5 x 14 DeLUXE ENGRAVED STANDARD-SENSITIVE MODEL

July 31, 2020 Mike Curotto

--For those of you that are not familiar with 1920s-30s “Sensitive” models, all that you have to remember is that the “Sensitive” mechanism is the set of snares that are internal and under the top head with the exception of the New Era-Sensitive that has two sets of internal Sensitive mechanisms.

1926-27 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5 x 14 NOB/12 pt. FLORAL ENGRAVED DeLUXE SUPER-LUDWIG MODEL

February 27, 2020 Mike Curotto

I think that this drum could have possibly been an un-cataloged special order. Everything points to a mid-1920s L & L DeLuxe snare drum (black nickel plating, 12 pt. floral engraving and DeLuxe copper plated/gold lacquered hardware) with the exception that the shell is nickel plated with the 12 pt. floral engraving showing through.

1939 WFL 7 x 14 TWO-TONE (BDP/ROSE/BDP) TWIN SENSITIVE HOLLYWOOD SWING MODEL

October 30, 2019 Mike Curotto

I 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.

1940-43 SLINGERLAND 7 x 14 SILVER SPARKLE HOLLYWOOD ACE MODEL RADIO KING

August 29, 2019 Mike Curotto

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Hi all,

Well, Mark Cooper comes through again with this excellent example of a Silver Sparkle Model Hollywood Ace Radio King. Mark finds a lot of Radio Kings that are always in very good-excellent condition. This one will be added to the “Mark Cooper” wing of the Curotto Collection.

1970s 5 x 14 POLMUZ BRASS/NICKEL PROTOTYPE “IRON CURTAIN” SNARE DRUM

October 31, 2017 Mike Curotto

“I have an interesting snare drum: it is 5" x 14" bare brass shell and hoops. It was made in 1970's in Poland by Polmuz - government owned musical instruments manufacturer. Best to my knowledge it is a prototype drum. I got it from a guy who used work for Polmuz as a brass wind instruments maker. He acquired it when they were closing in 1990's. As you can see the lugs look similar to Ludwig Imperial lugs. Hoops look like a copy of Slingerland hoops. I've never seen a drum like this before - being a user of Polmuz in 1970 myself. No Polmuz stamp/markings on the drum - that again makes me think it was a prototype drum. The condition is very good. It still has original Ever Play /Premier/ made in England heads and New Era made in England wires. Polmuz was working with Premier back than. Let me know if a piece of rock hardware from behind the Iron Curtain will be of interest to you. The full name of the company is Polmuz Warsaw Wind and Percussion Instruments Factory founded 1953 Made in Poland. Best regards, Marek Piotrowski”

1929-30 Ludwig & Ludwig 6.5 x 14 NOB Standard-Sensitive Model

May 16, 2017 Mike Curotto

In 1929 Ludwig & Ludwig offered four new snare drum models that can be found in the Fall 1929 Ludwig Drummer Magazine. The new models were the Super-Sensitive, New Era-Sensitive, Super-Power and the Standard-Sensitive Model, the drum in this article. From what I have researched it looks like the Super-Sensitive Model was around from 1929 through 1936, whereas the New Era-Sensitive, Super-Power and Standard-Sensitive Models only lasted for 1-2 years (1929-30). Super-Sensitive Models are very collectible and somewhat rare in certain instances but the other three Sensitive Models are extremely rare and, in my opinion, highly collectible.

Database of Articles 11/13 to current