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Sherwood + Leedy + Mystery

frankenkit leedy mystery sherwood wmp
Posts: 13 Threads: 3

All in delightfully aged WMP! In addition to the fairly straightforward Slingerlands my great-grandmother picked up, she also stumbled upon a kit that is a pure mystery to me. Two Leedy badges (mounted tom, 28" bass), one Sherwood (snare, with Leedy's standard strainer, completely with "L" stamp on the throw-off), and one un-badged floor tom. See the whole thing in my album, highlights attached here. I know what you're thinking: "Sherwood was usually a rebranded/rebadged entry-level Leedy drum sold through Montgomery Ward catalogs. Mystery solved!," but read on...

Some details:

- Snare, bass, and mounted tom have calfskin heads, still in pretty good shape.

- Toms didn't have resonant hoops/heads, but tacked-on goatskin. Only the mounted tom still actually has it present, the floor tom's resonant side is completely missing.

- Snare's interior is painted with something white, there's a stamp I can't quite make out through the badge; I'll take a closer look when I take the heads off.

- Mounted tom interior is unpainted, with a clear stamp that says "1040" -- October, 1940??

- The mounted tom and bass lug casings are similar, and seem to be consistent with Leedy of that era

- Snare and floor tom lug casings are similar, but the floor tom's might be a re-do; there are some marks around the casings that look like something else was there previously, and they're double-ended!

- No stamps of any kind on the floor tom that I can find.

- I'm not certain, but the floor tom legs may be aftermarket; the mounting hardware on the interior doesn't match the lugs and is inconsistent with itself (some washers not present, etc.). But given that the lugs seem a little wonky, I'm not sure which to believe.

- There's one T-rod on the bass that doesn't match the others, and the hoops are in rough-ish shape.

I really don't quite know what to make of this kit. I've had it for about 25 years or so, but it's been in my family for 40+; none of us has tinkered with the hardware in recent memory. If anyone has any information, insight, ideas about valuation, etc., I'd love to hear them! Also open to suggestions about what to do with it; I'd like to clean it up and get it playable, but I have no experience with this type of resonant head. Something tells me that drilling holes to add a bottom hoop is a no-no Eye Ball

Posted on 8 years ago
#1
Posts: 188 Threads: 53

Wow, this is cool!

The lugs and legs/mounts on the floor tom definitely look unoriginal. Those lugs look like they're double ended for a shallow snare drum. Still, very cool!

What are you planning on doing with these? Sell them, or restore?

Posted on 8 years ago
#2
Posts: 13 Threads: 3

Sweet, thanks for the feedback on that floor tom. Maybe I'll see if I can source some new lugs... any idea what type of snare the current ones came from, so I can advertise correctly for a trade? They're similar to the lugs on the Sherwood, but they also seem pretty common in my poking around online.

>> What are you planning on doing with these? Sell them, or restore?

I guess it depends on what they're worth. If it's not much, then I'll restore them and see how they sound all spiffed up. Otherwise, I'm hesitant to restore something that a collector might want "with patina."

Posted on 8 years ago
#3
Posts: 13 Threads: 3

I managed to get a couple more pictures of stamps: the one in the mounted tom now looks like "1C40" - is that a finish code, or cryptic date stamp? With a head off of the bass, I can now see the extent of the yellowing, and a VERY faint stamp opposite the badge. I don't want to plant ideas of what it might say by making a guess, so I'll just attach the best picture I was able to get of it.

The hardware isn't chrome... nickel, I guess? Any cleaning tips?

Also, the bass drum hoop claws were holding the inlay in the hoop, so I'll be getting to glue it back in. I guess I should take this opportunity to spruce up the hoops... maybe a light sanding and refinishing with a neutral finish? Any tips on that, as well as gluing the inlay back in?

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TomStamp.jpg
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IMG_0610.jpg
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BassStamp.jpg
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Posted on 8 years ago
#4
Posts: 188 Threads: 53

From jeeves

I managed to get a couple more pictures of stamps: the one in the mounted tom now looks like "1C40" - is that a finish code, or cryptic date stamp? With a head off of the bass, I can now see the extent of the yellowing, and a VERY faint stamp opposite the badge. I don't want to plant ideas of what it might say by making a guess, so I'll just attach the best picture I was able to get of it.The hardware isn't chrome... nickel, I guess? Any cleaning tips?Also, the bass drum hoop claws were holding the inlay in the hoop, so I'll be getting to glue it back in. I guess I should take this opportunity to spruce up the hoops... maybe a light sanding and refinishing with a neutral finish? Any tips on that, as well as gluing the inlay back in?

I think that date stamp is just the normal "1040" (October 1940), but the 0 is a bit faded.

The hardware definitely looks like nickel. My preferred way to clean is to soak the parts in vinegar, and then polish with Maas polish. That patina looks pretty cool "as-is" though!

I've had that problem with some bass inlay before - I just used a tiny bit of super glue and clamped it for 15 minutes or so. You just have to be really careful to not get the glue on the wrap, because it will leave a mark!

My personal preference would be to just leave the hoops mostly "as is" and clean them up a little. I prefer to let things show their age, but it's ultimately up to you! This is a very cool set. Cool1

Posted on 8 years ago
#5
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