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1930's Leedy Reliance kit

Posts: 449 Threads: 81

Here's my 1930's Leedy Reliance drumkit I picked up a few weeks ago.

I just finished cleaning and putting the kit back together.

The snare sounds fantastic, and the bass has a really nice tone to it. I believe the bass heads are original. They are Leedy calfskin heads wrapped around wooden hoops. I thought they were metal until I went to clean them the other day. Both of the snare heads were broken and also had wooden hoops. The bass has the cymbal beater that you use to hit a cymbal attached to the hoop.

The sticks, brushes, and maracca are vintage as well. The China 13 inches and the other cymbal is 10 inches. I can't find any markings on them other than the China is stamped "Made in China" in ink on the bottom. It looks like the China may have been repaired at some point on the flat top near the hole.

I am not sure if I am going to keep them due to space issues (I have 6 kits). If I do sell them I would sell everything together, as I couldn't bring myself to break up something that has been together for close to 80 years.

Posted on 15 years ago
#1
Posts: 449 Threads: 81

More pictures:

Posted on 15 years ago
#2
Posts: 10714 Threads: 579

From ConvertedLudwigPLayer

More pictures:

this is a great kit.

Your drummers not much good is he!? What you need is someone that's as good as me. ! John Henry Bonham !!
Posted on 15 years ago
#3
Posts: 449 Threads: 81

From vintagemore2000

this is a great kit.

Thanks Vintagemore2000. It is surprising what some elbow grease and TLC can do. I used Safest Rust Remover (www.safestrustremover.com) on all of the hardware (except for the cymbal spring and one bolt) to get rid of the rust on everything. I was impressed how it brought things back to life so quickly.

The bass was really dirty and looks like it was exposed to some sunlight at some point as the paint has yellowed in one area as opposed to being whiter in other areas. It could probably use another light cleaning, but I didn't want to get too much moisture on it. I used a warm soapy cloth that barely had any moisture in it, and it made a remarkable difference after going over it a couple of times. I'm extremely happy abouot how it all turned out.

Posted on 15 years ago
#4
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