Vintage corner: my newest project, updating a vintage snare drum for modern use.

I scored this drum from a Reverb seller for the very reasonable sum of $145.

The drum was made in the 1940s by Leedy and Strupe, under the auspices of the Indiana Drum Company, for Sears and Roebuck to sell in their catalog under the model name Drum Master (did you get all that?).

Here’s a little more history for ya.

The drum has some interesting bits for an American-made drum, especially the tuning bolts (slotted instead of square) and the snare throw-off mechanism, which appears fussy and over-engineered for what it’s being asked to do.

The incorporation of the snare bed holes into the wooden hoop is a nice touch, and I was glad to find this drum with the wooden hoops intact and in good repair. They won’t last forever, but they’re solid for now.

I plan to take the drum to Revival Drum Shop this weekend and get some more insight into its design. My original goal was to clean it and set it up as my personal snare drum, because the 14” x 7” depth makes it great for that use. Only six lugs means I can’t tune it very high, but I don’t think that’s a problem for my  purposes. The slotted, oversized heads may require me to change the tuning bolts to newer, standard square heads, but I think I can keep the beautiful old lugs. The throw-off is incomplete, and may have to be upgraded to something more standardized because, according to a friend, this is made delicately and tends to break down. 

Stay tuned, this is going to be an interesting little adventure.

UPDATE: since I don’t own really nice tools, I decided to let the guys a Revival update my drum a bit, by replacing the tuning bolts with square-headed ones and installing a more sensible throw-off. They left everything else alone, and I’m told the drum sounds great. With my in-store credit my cost will be quite affordable and I will have a splendid drum to play.