yes that is the scarf joint i took the photo of and the re-ring is oak and the shell is curly maple i believe. I am thinking it is single ply but don't have much experience with this sort of thing. I am curious if this drum is considered valuable (how much is it worth)? because i am considering putting dual tension hardware on it if it isn't that valuable or collectable. Or maybe I would try to sell it. thankshere is another pic not of scarf joint.

I 'think' Mark is counting the grain striation on the inner reinforcement ring. He's just calling the grain striations 'plies,' anyone could make that error. The outside part/shell (lighter wood in photo) looks to be single-ply. The shot shows the scarf joint well and the shell appears to be one solid piece. I don't see any plies on the shell wood. If it is a solid shell (and it appears to be,) the drum is more valuable as an instrument even as a project drum.I'm just guessing, but I think this is what we're seeing: - Please feel free to correct me if I'm the one seeing this wrong. Just trying to arrive at some consensus on what we're all seeing.[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/leedy26bass00013_zps13becbb6.jpg[/IMG]John

I 'think' Mark is counting the grain striation on the inner reinforcement ring. He's just calling the grain striations 'plies,' anyone could make that error. The outside part/shell (lighter wood in photo) looks to be single-ply. The shot shows the scarf joint well and the shell appears to be one solid piece. I don't see any plies on the shell wood. If it is a solid shell (and it appears to be,) the drum is more valuable as an instrument even as a project drum.I'm just guessing, but I think this is what we're seeing: - Please feel free to correct me if I'm the one seeing this wrong. Just trying to arrive at some consensus on what we're all seeing.[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/leedy26bass00013_zps13becbb6.jpg[/IMG]John

My monitor must be better than yours this is clearly not a solid shell drum, I'll stand by what I'm saying and seeing. I clearly see the plies. how many solid shell drums have you owned just asking?

vintagemore2000 thanks for taking an interest in this thread. I value you questioning that this is a solid shell as it makes for a more detailed investigation into the truth. As to your question I definitely don't feel totally sure I know when I am looking at a solid shell. I do own about 10 drums I think are solid shell drums (some I am absolutely sure of because I made them). 3 or 4 old snares and some hand drums (frame drums and a riq). I used to work at Coopermans Drum factory. They now make mostly drum and fife type drums and frame drums but they go way back and used to make solid hoops for some of the major drum makers. I didn't think bass drums were made with solid shells so I wanted to get verification here. thanks for your help and passion for vintage drums.

Leedy and Slingerland both made solid shell bass drums I have a custom built Radio king 30's model that is solid maple, when I get a chance tonight I'll draw a line on the plies on your first pic. I know the difference between the re rings and the shell it's self just pointing that out from another poster assumption. I have owned many solid shell drums Leedy, Slingreland, Craviotto, and vaughncraft.