Hi,
Another one from the fertile waters of Ebay. It is my goal to someday have a museum of rare American-made drums. Part of the museum would be old snare drums that have maybe fallen through the cracks of popularity but are still cool like Duplex, C. G. Conn, Bower, Nokes & Nikoli, Ditson, Stromberg, Frisco, York, W&A, Wilson and the drum presented here today: A. "Page" U.S.A. I am glad that there is an identification stamp on the top and bottom rims or I would know nothing at all about this drum. I always welcome any added information so weigh-in if you want to.
1920s?-30s? A. "PAGE" U.S.A. 5 1/4 x 14 BRASS 6 LUG SNARE DRUM
The Shell:
I thought that I was buying a white enamel over brass snare drum and that's what showed up. Unfortunately the white enamel is an after-market job. The exterior was somewhat believable but the interior told the tale so I stripped the white enamel down to the brass shell and Brian Hadnagy of Avenue Plating gave it a shot of clear lacquer to preserve the age of the shell. I decided to leave the brass shell as is because that was probably what it looked like before the white enamel was applied (read slopped) onto the shell. There were a number of dings and dents in the shell that I was able to take care of but there was one huge dent that needed professional help. One needed to really go out of their way to produce a dent like this one; think yesteryear fraternity party, free flowing booze and a 3rd story window as the perfect launching pad. Les Hadnagy of Avenue Plating came through once again as can be seen in the before/after photos. The shell is a one-piece brass, single bead shell that is somewhat crude and light-weight with a weak looking seam. There are no snare beds. I am not sure of the reasoning behind a 5 1/4" shell vs. a 5" shell.
The Hardware:
All of the hardware is nickel plated and I chose to do a simple cleaning, just to keep everything real. The most striking pieces of hardware were the 6 lugs. I have never seen lugs like these; they are cast metal, tapped (12-24) with no inserts (not unlike the 1935-36 Ludwig & Ludwig Imperial or Slingerland Broadcaster/early RK Streamlined lugs) and in lieu of a screw, the threaded part (8-32) is attached to the lug. These lugs seem to significantly pre-date the aforementioned L&L and Slingerland lugs. The lugs are notched in order to clear the shell bead, they fit but aesthetically they look really bad. The lug attachment washers are very unique and look like some type of gear/sprocket. A few had what looks like an errant hole in them. The butt plate looks like the 12-hole "tray" type used on the 1912 L&L All Metal Shells (amongst others) but is a little more crude looking and is totally ****-eyed to the shell and bottom rim gate. The strainer looks exactly like the Duplex throw-off that can be seen on a number of 1920s 6 lug Slingerland Universal Models but there are no Duplex Company markings, so my question is: Is this an unmarked earlier-than-Duplex strainer or an unmarked later-than-Duplex strainer? Both single-band rims are not welded but are connected via an A. "Page" U.S.A. riveted attachment piece. The 12 steel collar hooks look like the ones used on 1920s Gretsch-American drums. The 12 tension rods and washers are the normal of-the-era type.
This drum is not a show stopper by any means, in fact, this drum is a bit of a terd (sp in order to print), but it is still an interesting example of early 20th century American drum manufacturing.
Of-the-era 14" calf heads fit the shell perfectly but the slunk head had to be "modified" as the bottom rim left absolutely no clearance for the silk-wound steel snare wires to pass from the butt plate to the strainer.
Enjoy! (?)
Mike Curotto
