1930's Slingerland, Should I play

[jujubead]

Hello all... New to the forum, and hope to contribute often. Now that I'm a vintage drum owner.

20 years in the drum biz and played Pearl most of the time.

I purchased a set of Slingerland's thinking they were a 50's model. Someone else paid and picked them up only to find it was a cloud badge 1930's set. And it came with everything.

Kit included: Clam shell snare (with original stand), 2 rack toms (w/ original mounts) and 1 floor tom with no legs but the orignal stand. 1 old Zildjian hat and ludwig stand, 2 Slingerland 12" (but logo say Aijian (spelled wrong) with bass mount stands. 2 Cowbells, I wood block with mounting hw. 1 slingerland epic bass pedal with orig beater, All Slingerland calf heads with extras, all with original radioking rims for snare and toms. Bass is 26 or 28 with calf heads. Original seat. All kinds of muffling devices which all are marked slingerland. A box of original brushes and sticks. Plus a whole bunch of other items. This set is complete just as he purchased it in 1950.

The problem is the lugs on the toms and snare are busted or busting. Wood is great along with the cover.

My question is this, should I replace the lugs with like lugs? I want to make this set playable, so I will need to make adjustments. Also want to put new remo heads on.

I will post a picture after I take it tonight.

Also the gentlemen I purchased the set from paid $300 in 1950 in a music store in Evensville IN. He was the 2nd owner. I paid $250. He lost $50 in 60 years, not bad.

[Bebop]

First off.
I think you got a deal
I would pay $250 or more in a heartbeat. (seriousily..i would buy them =)
amdrumparts.com has beavertail lugs which are probably really close to the lugs you have on that kit so I would replace them and play them..

[prestonprince]

I had a beauti set of 40's RK's and they sounded fantastic with Evans G2's on top and G1's on bottom, also worth trying the Fibre Skynn heads from Remo they have a wondeful warmth to them much like teh older calf heads. Good luck.

[jujubead]

Here is the pics. As you will see, I removed the bottom rim and head from the tom and snare to check for wood problems. And the pics are from my camera phone, so bad quality.

[Webmaster]

At the top of the page click the Cleaning and Restoring button before you begin the process.

Depending on the lugs and how bad, you might be able to find original replacement on Ebay.

If time is a time issue, then buy the new replacement versions so you can get them playable again.

David

[sabshga]

So truthfully, how do you feel about ripping the old guy off? No, sorry, just kidding. Great acquisition. I can't tell from the picture, is the bottom of the rack tom drilled for lugs? I hope so, it will sound better when you get a bottom head on it. I'm sure the kit will sound fat. Those are big drums. Get a new throne and pedals because I doubt what it came with is up to the task of modern music if that is what you will be playing.

Enjoy.

Regards,

Gary
Dix Hills, NY

[jujubead]

I really did not rip him off. I purchased these drums site unseen from 3 hours away. I had an aunt pick them up for me, she lived close.

As far as the holes in the tom, the lugs and holes and radio king rims are all there.

I think I will do the following:

Replace lugs on snare and a few on the toms with aftermarket remakes. No new holes.

Put floor tom and rack tom on Pearl optimounts, put the floor tom stand up for now. And move the rack tom to a stand, more sturdy.

Replace heads on top and bottom, leaving the front 26" calf bass head

Replace bass spurs with aftermarket more sturdy, may require drilling???

Puresound snares

And I think that is it. Along with seats pedal and cymbals stands and hats from my other sets.

[Webmaster]

This brings up a good topic and usually a debate amongst most vintage drum guys.

What you have is a pretty rare complete drum set.

sabshga was just joking with his comment, but your drum set was purchased below its value.

It is getting harder and harder to find complete sets from this era and making any modifications to the drums will just reduce the value and the historical importance of such an old set staying together.

If in the end your playing style and sound require something different then you are better off selling this set and purchasing something better suited for your situation.

There are vintage people that would keep it as original as possible and pay far more then your original purchase price just to have something from that era and complete.

So, the argument is, and many people have a hard time with this, is that they are your drums and you could do whatever you like and you might not have the same passion as most vintage guys to not modify or change the drums.

What happens is even if the modifications are changing hardware, stands etc. they will eventually find a new home and or get split from the set.

Drilling holes would take it to a new level and reduce the value even more.

Then again that is your decision and we can only look from the side lines, offer our advice and then move on to the next forum question.

I once traded off a very nice complete Vintage Gretsch drum set for a Brand new set of Custom Premier drums. The Gretsch were just not for me and I really love the Premier set and the sizes they are in.

So, in the end and not to create a drawn out debate, they are your drums and you do with them as you see fit.

but always remember many of us vintage drum guys look back at past decisions and wished we had someone giving us better advice.

If we listened to that advice is another story, but then we would have at least got the "I told you so"

Good Luck and Congrats on a very nice set of vintage drums. Let me know where your shopping next time!

David

[Bebop]

WOOAGH!!
Scratch my last post!
These drums are in better condition than I imagined
I would leave them alone... I mean its a complete set in fantastic
condition. you can do whatever you want to them but considering there are
limited sets out there in that condition I would leave them be.

[Rich K.]

Those old Radio King beavertails were prone to breaking, but can be found...there are a lot of old sets out there with good hardware, so it shouldn't be that hard, in time, to find a "donor" drum. I hear the repro beavertails didn't have the exact same hole pattern..unless that's changed, I'd recommend finding originals rather than drilling. Enjoy!

[Bebop]

I believe Rich K. is right. I have a 1951 wmp bass drum shell that I am recovering and one of the holes is a tiny bit smaller than the other one.. something like that. But that looks like a great kit.

[jujubead]

Wow, lots of great comments.

So what to do. Like I mentioned previous I was thinking it was a 1950's kit and could play it live.

I play drums in many bands and have 3 gigs each week on a regular basis. One of the bands I play in is an older 40 - 50's country band. The guitar player is Royce Morgan, old Jim Reeves original Blue Boy and Current Everly Brothers player. So He would love this set. And my first thought is to get them running and make some money. I love the idea of a great old set with the big fat sound. I have been dreaming of myself on stage with this set. And the radio king snare is to die for. It would look so good behind my Pearls.

On the otherhand I totally agree with the webmaster, this is a rare set that comes along only once if any in a lifetime. A complete and total set, with history from the owner, and his original sticks to boot. I personally have never seen a complete 1930's set, in the same config as the day it was sold.

Maybe I should entertain a trade for a 50's or 60's set beter suited for playing. Don't know. Or just put it up and hand it to the kids one day.

And as far as the lugs, I have not had a real success finding an exact match. Real close, but just a bit off. And I have not run accross any doner lugs.

However as you may see from the pic, I do have 1 more tom and all the rims heads and holder. I think it went on the right side bass mount. However I took it apart to see if it may donate to the others.

What to do......

[jujubead]

Just for kicks, I took a few extra shots with a good camera. And the toms are missing the lugs, but I just have not attached them back. Also you can see from the pics, the snare lugs which are busted.

[misteranderson]

jujubead, nice score. I wish I had room for a kit like that.

I don't think I could resist gigging those at least once, if they were mine. And anything you do to get them into gigging shape is fine, as long as you don't disturb the integrity of the drums. Keep those old calf heads, even if you don't use them.

--Dave A.

[jujubead]

I just bid on 2 sets of replacement lugs for the missing or damaged ones. One set is from a 50's RK and he has 12.

The other looks more period, so I will hopefully win both auctions.

How do you think these newer lugs, which are beavertail and size is the same, will do to the value or collectability?

db

[prestonprince]

I think you should sell them..........go on please I'm in a 40's era swing band and I've been looking for a kit like that for the last year.......nice drums nice work jealous. DO NOT DRILL THEM RECOVER THEM just enjoy them without modification a true gem you have.

[jujubead]

Prestonprince, do you live anywhere near Tampa, FL? I'm going to sell them. I really would like the restore and play this kit. But in order to make it ready for me to play, I would need to do several modern day mods. Price, I have no idea, I have yet to see anything like this on Ebay, and I will post the sizes of all the drums in the am on Tuesday.

My goal is to get a 50 or 60's era Sling or Ludwig or rogers in a gold broken glass finish.

[Rich K.]

My goal is to get a 50 or 60's era Sling or Ludwig or rogers in a gold broken glass finish.[/QUOTE]
Not to be too drum geeky, but the '60s Ludwigs and Slingerlands didn't use the "broken glass" style gold sparkle...they used the type with the little hexagon or octagon sparkles...

[jujubead]

Duh...

You are a drum GEEK.

[Rich K.]

oh well...