Hi, Folks
I just finished restoring this nice old Radio King and thought I'd post a few photos. The restoration was difficult, as it was heavily tarnished, especially the lugs. One extended snare bracket was replaced with a chrome plated version. The original extended snares (I'm not a fan of extended wires) were long gone and standard length wires were installed. The internal tone control is the early single green pad version of the Harold R. Todd design.
This drum is fairly uncommon and not that many were produced, from what I have seen. In the 1938 catalog, the drum was available only in the 6.5x14 size, although I have owned a few in the 5x14 size. Metal shell Radio Kings first appeared in 1936, however prior to that (1935), there were a few metal shell Broadcasters that were produced, with the only differences being a different version of the tone control, hand engraved top hoops and a strange little "eyelet" instead of the standard RK butt side assembly. (Mike Curotto has one).
By 1940, the eight lug model was replaced with a 16 lug version. The early versions of this drum had the four hole extended snare brackets but by 1938, the six hole types were used
This metal Radio King drum really sounds really nice. Very bright and powerful. HEAVY, too!
