They put them on all drums after LATE 1966............

Thanks for that, Blair. I never knew when the cut off date was. I have a 1965 floor tom and it has the date stamped inside. It is missing leg mounts but is missing the things that tighten the legs. It looks like it is threaded but I'm not sure. I would assume it would take the wing nuts but is it possible that it would take the push pins? I don't know squat about Slingies. Thanks!

The same is true of my 20" floor tom. It's stamped with a date in 1962,

but no outer badge on the shell. What's even more strange, is the rest of

this set is dated 1965. Mayb if the right guy sees this, he can shed some light on this.

Blair is right on with this.

I have a 65' WMP floor tom that had no badge or vent. I subsequently put a vent hole with a badge on to help the tone of the drum.

I think I remember hearing that the badges were put on in late 65', October or Novemeber and then from there on all the drums had them as standard operating procedure.

Just my :2Cents:

Vintagemore2000 or one of the other guru's may be able to shed more light on this and give a more definitive answer.

BGT

No vent hole was the reason for no badge. That was a very clear cut and simple explanation. Visible branding on every drum in a drum set must not have seemed all that important to the Slingerland decision makers. "Hell....there's that big script logo on the front bass drum head when we sold the drum set. What more do you need"?

Really good post!...venting is a hot topic on all builders sites. I only vent drums when needed...if the drum needs drying out, I'll vent it, but do my best to hide the vent hole...not make it the center of attention. Everything I build is assembled & tested before venting but I want the shell to be the star of the show...if it doesn't need to be vented it won't happen. This is one of those things that somebody started years ago, everyone accepts & thusly, everyone does. It is meaningless on most drums, actually makes a lot of this Import crap sound worse. Want to wake up a cheap (fill in the blank) ________ made drum sound good? Seal the interior with Tung Oil & plug the vent hole with a rolled up piece of rubber or a small cork...little pitched?...pull the cork or just back it out. I played over a year on an old Sears kit that just needed love. Touched up the edges, sealed the interior & plugged some unneeded vents. Actually had guys asking me where I got them! In the end it comes down to playing what's in front of you...in the words of Max, "play the drum, don't let it play you"

I think the real reason did not tag their toms is probably a matter of $money$.

My guess is that they did this to save money. You'd think they would have

been proud enough of their products by labeling them. Usually it boils down

to dollars$$$$???

I acquired a Leedy FT made by Slingerland in '65 that didn't have a badge or vent hole. Wondered why and this thread helps!

My 1963 Leedy Shelly Manne set has badges on the 20" bass drum and on the snare drum. These great drums were made in Chicago by Slingerland. The 13" and 16" toms do not have vent hole or badges.