I too would say definately a cut down, I own a couple and have researched radio king quite a lot, and am constantly looking at ones on eBay etc.

I'd say a cut down from a tom.

There's no badge.

If it was done at the factory, then why wouldn't they just use some longer mounting screws for the wider re-ring?

For the same reason they didn't just use longer screws on my tom, as pictured, again, below. This kind of cutting into the re-ring at the factory has been established, by me.

There are no extra holes denoting tension casing relocation. The casings are centered on the shell. Thus the proposed owner-enacted cut-down scenario would be - cut away material from both edges; install massive re-ring on top, smaller one on bottom. Occam's razor says it came from the factory that way...

Mitch

I don't think it was cut down from a tom. The shell looks like a maple shell. So it was probably cut down from a larger radio king snare. Only the snares came in maple at that era as far as I've heard. And toms were mahogany. However that fat reinforcement ring came from a tom.

Jason

Well you guys, along with attached pics, are starting to convince me. I see the narrower re-ring would already have been in place [pic 1]. Pic 2 shows where they did use longer screws for the dampers.

Going back to the OP's pics, the bottom edge is more faded/tarnished than the top - not protected by the head collar for as many years? Also the butt is not aligned with the snare bed. The casings for the top edge would be original, with the casings for the bottom being drilled and added. So the way to find out is to take off a top and a bottom casing and compare casing mounting holes, or just the fade on the wrap underneath. If they seem different in any way it would support the cut-down scenario.

Interesting...

Mitch

And there is no badge....:)

No, that doesn't mean anything. :) :)

Mitch

Why not?

:)

While I'm pretty positive this is certainly a cut down, there are a few main questions I have that would answer this pretty surely.

1 - Where is the vent hole? This may be a reason for there not being a badge.

2 - What is the placement of all the lugs. If they were factory staggered they will be evenly placed.

3 - What do the snare beds on both sides look like? Even? Uneven?

4 - Is that butt plate aligned properly?

For me, that's what it boils down to. While I don't think those cuts in the re-ring were factory, that could very well have been a factory oops ( humans happen,lol )

Yes, with a maple interior, which looks like a one ply, it would not have been from a tom tom. Perhaps an 8x14 snare?