No one? Theories? Custom order? Shop leftovers?

-Adam

Adam:

That drum set looks to be very nice in wonderful (for me) sizes. it should be simple and relatively inexpensive to install the hardware and hoop to make the bass drum two headed. Very simply.....This drum set is not pictured in a catalog. My take on that is: So what! Are the serial numbers or dates inside the shells close to one another? If the drums are from the same series, and from what could be the same approximate dates of manufacture, they are a set. Plain and simple. Some people in this forum already know that I put very little emphasis on "catalog correct" drum sets. I have purchased new drum sets back in the 1960's with configurations that never appeared in a catalog. But, the drum factories (Slingerland, Ludwig, Camco) were all within an hour of where I lived, and the Rogers factory was five or six hours drive from me. The music stores hardly ever stocked drum sets that were exact copies of pictures in the catalogs. I have even ordered a pictured set, but with a 20" bass drum sustituted for the 22", and a matching wood snare rather than the metal snare pictured in the catalog. I hope that you paid a bargain price for these great drums. Please enjoy playing them...catalog be damned.

I hear ya! Im in Madison WI so I see a higher amount of Ludwig and Slingerland up here and there are strange combos all over the place. I think the kit is awesome. I can't wait to pick it up. It must have been a custom order or something put together with what the shop had left. Thats all I can think of. The fade (what little there appears to be) looks even and I would highly doubt that the serials are far off. Looks like mid 70's badges since they are more oblong. With original heads I cant imagine that it was some sort of pieced together thing that was abused. They come with cases too and it sounds like they spent a lot of their lives hanging out in those.

The sizes are just super strange...and that bd...not common, but collectable? Probably not considering it is from their "lower line" at the time...but not gonna sound good either (to my ears) with that one head. What to do? Trade the bd to somone who needs it for their legit "Pop" outfit? Keep it because it is a strange custom set up? Ill be playing this one...not getting it as a collectible. I will throw a single set of matic arm on there and play it as a 20/12/14 when I find me a good sounding bass drum.

Either way...thanks for the response leedy. Just curious to as what the Slingerland dudes on here thought, as I get excited on these kind of finds and no one I know really cares as much as you guys do! Plus there are always some insights that I dont consider on my own and I really appreciate that.

I just like to talk old drums I guess. (big surprise)

-Adam

Could it have been a custom ordered kit?

I see the 58 N has a 14x20 single headed bass. But all the tom's are concert toms.

Adam:

I am a serious Slingerland lover, player, and owner. I currently have two Slingerland vintage sets and two vintage Leedy (Slingerland made) sets. I've owned at least a dozen Slingerland and SlingerLeedy sets over the years.

The bass drum is not from a lower line of Slingerlands. It is simply not outfitted with a front head and the requisite hardware. I have a hunch that there is a virgin good bearing edge under the metal trim ring. Matching Slingerland lugs and tension rods for the front head should be plentiful and inexpensive on eBay or from a forum member. With just a few simple tools, you can duplicate the hole spacing measurements that are on the batter head side for mounting the lugs for the front head. The front head and front hoop would be the most espensive parts, And, they would not be terribly expensive. If you need a strip of wrap for the new hoop, that would also be very inexpensive. Or, just put the new hoop with no inlay on the batter side. A Slingerland logo decal is also easily found online or from someone here on the forum. I would not advise looking for another bass drum when you already have the right one.

Thanks for the positive words, but I am not going to drill holes in this drum. I know it is very easy to do and that there is most likely a nice edge under the angled bumper...but there is someone out there looking for this exact drum to complete their "Pop" kit and Im not going to be the one to kill off their drum by modding it! I have all the parts to do it and make it complete, but Im not going to.

If I can tell correctly from the literature it seems that the bass drums on the "Pop" kits were 5 ply with no rings (you can see in the pic that there are no rings inside) and the toms were either 3 ply or if you wanted 5 ply you could order them that way.

Since the toms are 3 ply on this kit...to me it would just be cooler to hook someone up with the bass drum they need for their kit...and then I could get one with similar serial numbers to go with mine. Or Ill just hold onto this one as an alternate incase I come across some "Pop" toms some day...or Ill keep this one all together as a "custom" configuration. Either way I can't take a drill to a perfectly kept vintage bass drum!

My Slingerland stable is growing. I am selling a Radio King kit, but even with that one gone Ill still have 5!!! So far I have owned about 8. Id sell one of my current stable, but I love em all so much! By far my favorite vintage drum sounds!

-Adam

Check this out! Same kit sans snare drum! Weird!

http://tradingmusician.com/catalog/index.cfm?fuseaction=product&theParentId=162&id=11328

-Adam

That's a clean looking set. I have seen that set in old catalogue pics with the concert type toms. Then the link of another set just like it. Are we missing a year they made those kit's like that? I bet they will sound great. I think you can get that single headed bass drum to sound good with a thin felt strip. Until you can find what you want but if that is the complete set I would think hard before breaking it up. I am interested to know about the #numbers and date stamps if any. Still, I think that is a cool looking kit.

Ill definitely post the numbers and check out the date stamps when I get em on Saturday. Totally weird to see another one in the same sizes and finish right? I won't break up the kit...Ill just find a double headed bass drum as an alternate.

What an intriguing kit! Can't wait to see it in person.

-Adam