Hi,

I purchased this snare drum many years ago from my good friend, drum collector and drum historian Harry Cangany. You can find this drum on pg. 27 of Harry’s book The Great American Drums And The Companies That Made Them, 1920-1969. Chapter 8, L & S (a. k. a. Leedy & Strupe) has some good background information about this short-lived company. For those of you that do not have Harry’s book here is a very short synopsis of what was going on back in 1929. Thanks again to Harry for allowing me to quote from his book.

The year 1929 was the start of the Great Depression. Leedy Manufacturing Co. along with Ludwig & Ludwig Drum Co. were both acquired by C. G. Conn, Ltd. After a while both owners wanted to start their own respective drum companies. William F. Ludwig Sr. started “The Wm. F. Ludwig Drum Co.” but was not allowed to use the Ludwig name per the contract agreements with C. G. Conn so it became “The WFL Drum Co.” U. G. Leedy had the same problem with the Conn attorneys so his new company’s name, “Leedy & Sons” had to be changed to “General Products Corporation, Manufactures of L & S Drummers Equipment.” The letters “L & S” unofficially came to stand for “Leedy & Strupe.”

1937 L & S 7 x 14 (DUCO) BLACK/WHITE/BLACK PEARL DICTATOR De LUXE MODEL

The SHELL:

The 7 x 14 “laminated wood shell” interior is clean with maple reinforcement rings. The duco pearl finish is pretty thin but despite a few minor cracks and separations the finish cleaned up and polished up nicely. My good friend Al Schneider (the original Drum Doctor est. 1963) repaired the small cracks and separations. The 1937 (copyright 1936) L & S catalog does not say anything about a duco pearl option. The catalog pearl finish choices are black pearl, white pearl and some sparkle finishes. The finish on this drum looks more blue pearl than black pearl but it could be that the black pearl has faded to “blue” in the 80 yrs. that this snare drum has been around. This shell is definitely 7 x 14, the deepest shell measurement listed in the L & S catalog is 6.5 x 14.

The HARDWARE:

The L & S catalog states that their parts are “heavily plated”, this is true for the most part. The cast lugs are pretty beefy and the nickel plating was in great shape, noticeably better as compared to the cast lugs that I’ve seen on 1930s Leedy and Slingerland drums. The rest of the hardware also cleaned up and polished up nicely. The tension rods are hexagonal with slots. From what I’ve read the L & S tension rods started out as only hexagonal and then slots were added. Yep, I’m thinking the same thing, try to find a hexagonal drum key. The L & S catalog did offer a hexagonal drum key though. I originally used and old banjo key that worked perfectly but on further inspection I located another hexagonal key in my collection that matches the catalog photo so a previously un-named vintage drum key now has a name.

Of-the-era top and bottom calf heads and snares rounded out this restoration.

Times were rough during the Great Depression, in 1939 General Products Corporation, Manufactures of L & S Drummers Equipment went out of business -- only 2 years after this drum was made.

I always welcome your comments so feel free to weigh-in.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto