Hi,

Well, another weird snare drum finds its way into The Curotto Collection. This drum was brought to my attention by three different parties, two of which would have probably bought the drum and then offered it to me as they know that I like these kind of quirky snare drums. One of the parties mentioned that the drum was at the Cleveland Guitar Center, so as there were no commitments on either end at this point, I decided to see if I could find the drum myself...and there it was in the Vintage section at the Cleveland GC. Bada-Bing, Bada-Boom...sold! I think 999.99 was a great price for this drum, at least to me, as I love these type of snare drums. This snare drum is definitely a weird one as you will soon see.

1926-29 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 5x14 6 LUG GOLD PLATED/ENGRAVED UNIVERSAL MODEL* (with a little Leedy? and Duplex? thrown in for fun)

*We're saying 1926-29 because 1926 was the first year that counter-sunk tube lugs were shown and 1929 was the last year that the Tango strainer was used on the Universal Models (a special thanks goes to Bill Wanser for helping me to date this drum).

The Shell:

The shell is the L & L two-piece, medium weight Universal Model brass shell. There is one air hole in the normal area where we would expect an L & L air hole to be located. The shell is black nickel (gun metal as L & L called it) but the intriguing part is the engraving pattern that is not normal to any L & L engraved snare drums of this era, or any L & L era for that matter. To me, the diamond-motif engraving looks more like the Duplex engraving pattern that is seen on one of the 4 known Duplex Black ***els (see attached). That Duplex is also on pgs. 42-43 in my book, VINTAGE SNARE DRUMS, THE CUROTTO COLLECTION. The shell only needed a light lemon oil cleaning but I decided to have the shell clear lacquer coated as a safeguard for the next 86 years. As always, Brian Hadnagy of Avenue Plating did the clear coating for me.

The Hardware:

I think a bonus here is that the hardware is gold plated! There was a little rust here and there so a lemon oil cleaning and some clear lacquer was needed to bring all of the hardware back to life and protect what is left of the gold plating. The rims are the era-correct single-band rims, the top rim has the "Ludwig Universal Model" stamp. The strainer is the top rim mounted (Duplex?) Tango strainer (Patented Jun. 2, 08) that was offered on the early L & L Universal Models and many other manufacturer's snare drums of this era. Here's the weird part, the tension rods are slotted ala 1920s Leedy BUT the tension rods on this drum are .21/12-24 (normal L & L threading) and not .18/10-24 which would be the 1920s-30s Leedy diameter/threading pattern. So what we have here are Leedy type (slotted) tension rods with a standard thread pattern and diameter that was used on L & L and Slingerland drums of this era. The lugs are normal L & L (counter-sunk) tube lugs. The butt plate is the 12-hole "tray" type butt plate that is seen on late-teens/early-1920s L & L snare drums. The collar hooks are the early steel versions and the cup washers are the later brass versions which lines up with the first appearance (1926) of the counter-sunk tube lugs.

So what we have here, for the most part at least, is a 1926-29 Ludwig & Ludwig gold plated and engraved Universal Model. The lingering questions to this mystery drum are: 1. Where did that engraving pattern come from?... 2. Was it a one-off/special order from the factory done by an engraver with a different "hand" other than the 3-4 known engravers that L & L used?... 3. Was the drum purchased without engraving and then sent to Duplex for an after-market engraving job?... 4. Was the drum purchased as a standard nob Universal Model and then sent over to Duplex for the black nickel, engraving and gold plating?... 5. What's the deal with those slotted (Leedy-esque) 12-24 (L & L-esque) tension rods? I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories regarding this snare drum.

Of-the-era calf heads and gut snares (a royal pain in the butt to install btw) rounded out this cleaning/restoration.

Enjoy!

Mike Curotto