Hi all,

Here's the latest to enter into the collection:

1928-32 Slingerland 5x14 WMP/Artgold Tone Flange Artist Model/Lipskin Special Model

A special thanks goes to my good friend, fellow collector and vintage drum shop owner extraordinaire Steve Maxwell for his help in brokering this snare drum deal.

First, a little Lipskin Special Model history...and I do mean "a little" as I can't find squat about this company anywhere and for this I apologize but here goes. It seems that Lipskin Music was a 1920s-? drum store in the Midwest and the Lipskin Special Model was a "Private Label" drum made by the Slingerland Drum Company for this certain drum store. There you have it, the Lipskin history...thank you ladies and gentlemen!

This drum has a lot of cool stuff to talk about. First I'll start with the normal points. This drum came to me in excellent-plus condition. I still wanted to take it apart and do my "Curotto-izing" to it. The WMP looked really clean but I was able to get an extra layer or two of schmutz off of the shell using Maguire's #17 clear plastic cleaner and #10 clear plastic polish. The solid mahogany interior just needed a light coat of lemon oil. I was extremely pleased that the Artgold hardware was in excellent condition and needed only a light lemon oil cleaning. The tension rods were greasy and grimy and needed a little more cleaning, I hit the threads with a very light coat of gold lacquer to keep any future rust/tarnish at bay. The rest of the Artgold hardware was in amazing condition and only needed a light lemon oil cleaning. Slingerland Artgold and Leedy Nobby Gold are the hardest finishes to match up when restoring so I was very pleased (and relieved) when I saw the original Artgold hardware on this drum. The Tone Flange (hubcap) is the heavy brass, non-drilled version and fit nicely onto the shell. The extension lever is stamped with the "Slingerland USA" logo of the era. So those are the normal aspects regarding this drum.

Now for the unusual, not normal aspects. The WMP on this drum has the "Lipskin Special Model" engraved into the pyralin finish in the area that would have had a badge but there is no badge. Other than the 1930s Gretsch Gladstone Models I do not recall any other regular production wood/pyralin snare drums with any engraving into the pyralin finish. (There is one exception; see pgs. 4-5 in my book: VINTAGE SNARE DRUMS THE CUROTTO COLLECTION VOLUME I, Rare American Made 1900s-1940s.) The grommet looks to be original, is tight and shows no signs of being removed or tampered with. So here lies the potential for controversy; did this snare drum ever have a badge? My vote is no for a few reasons: 1. As mentioned, the grommet looks original and has not been tampered with...2. The "Lipskin Special Model" engraving would be redundant and most likely left out as the Slingerland cloud badge would also have had "Lipskin Special Model" on it which in my opinion would have then caused the area to look too busy...3. The 3 pt. strainer extension lever has the "Slingerland USA" stamp on it so we know that this is a Slingerland snare drum...4. Special order? Another quirk is the placement of small pin holes in line with all 10 tube lugs at the bottom edge of the shell only, there is also the same pin hole at the bottom edge that is centered to the grommet. The final oddity is on the top "bearing edge". I have handled a fair number of Slingerland Tone Flange Artist Models (and even a few Liberty Drum Co. TF Models) and it has been my experience to see brass flat head slotted wood or machine screws sunk into the top bearing edge (these allow the brass ring to "float" on top of the screws before attaching the Tone Flange). Well, this drum has rounded tacks (for lack of a better term) set into the bearing edge. These rounded tacks do the job but I think that the brass flat head screws provide a better surface for the brass ring to sit on. Was this an oddity, lack of correct parts, did Slingerland "job it out" for someone else? If this is a Slingerland snare drum then why change out the parts that Slingerland would use on their regular production models?

We all know that the top head for a Tone Flange Model has to be a bit over-sized and this creates a real problem finding a top head that fits. Well, I stumbled across a little trick that actually works. A previous owner of this drum cut 4 equidistant notches into the metal hoop of a Remo Ambassador drum head which allowed the head to fit onto the Tone Flange and still tune up nicely.

I hope this little discovery makes your life easier when dealing with batter heads for a Tone Flange.

I always welcome your thoughts, ideas and opinions so fire away on this one.

Mike Curotto

ps...3 more photos in the next post

mc