Hi,
Here's a quirky one, model #726, right out of Leedy catalog "M". This drum came to me as an "off-Ebay Buy It Now" deal. Hey, the seller agreed to the deal so that's that. A special thanks goes to my good friend and fellow collector Bill Wanser for helping me to pinpoint the correct date, correct strainer and correct model name. From what I am told, this drum is pretty rare as Leedy made many more wood shell snare drums in that era than metal shell snare drums, both were offered though.
1924 LEEDY 9x15 NOB STREET DRUM (MULTI-MODEL)
The Drum:
This drum, for its age, is in really great shape. The shell is "18-gauge special rolled brass and formed into shape by the special metal spinning process", has the dual "inverted" beads with the normal vent hole and has 8 of the early 1920s 2-screw lugs with self-aligning, separate tension rods. It still amazes me that Ludwig & Ludwig and Slingerland didn't see the advantage of the 1920s era self-aligning tension rod concept, hence, their "tapped" Imperial and Streamlined lugs of the 1934-36 era. I was astounded at the condition of this 88 year old nob shell, 2-screw lugs, strainer and butt plate. The nickel plating is in excellent condition and there are no dings in the shell. The nickel plating on the steel parts like the tension rods and Multi-Model rims are also in great shape. All that was needed to clean the shell and hardware was a little Simple Green, no polishing of anything was needed. I lucked out on this one! The drum came to me with a Speedway strainer but the catalog-correct strainer is the Utility strainer. All three Leedy strainers (Utility, Presto, Speedway) leave a lot to be desired in my opinion but then again, the drummers of yesteryear weren't playing a heavy, fat-back 2 & 4 either. Of-the-era Leedy calf heads and James Snappi snares rounded out this cleaning.
An aside:
Just a little Catalog "M" tid-bit here...I love it how Leedy describes their flat drum key: "Our rod can be used with or without a key. The one furnished with all drums is small and lays flat in the pocket---no bulkiness (because the other drum keys are so bulky; yeah, right). It is so constructed as to prevent falling off the rod when the hand lets go in turning same, and if you lose the key a coin will suffice, the slot being deep and wide." Sounds like Yoda wrote that description.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
