I just aquired this Leedy 15" Broadway Dual snare drum. The drum is in pretty good shape overall except for the lug casings which have lost most of their chrome.
I'm looking to find out what year this drum was made in and what the shell compostition is. I can't tell if it's a 3-ply shell or a steambent maple shell.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
thank you,
phil
From what I can gather, it's a late-1930's Dual. That model was discontinued by 1939 because the "dual" mechanism was un-popular. What's "weird", though, is that Leedy used that badge into the 40's...I'm pretty sure, anyway. I know I have a marching snare drum with that badge and I think it's from the early 40's. But my drum has an aluminum-looking badge. Yours appears to be brass...but the lettering script on your drum is a more modern script style than on the brass badge examples I have in my books. I'm a bit confused by this one, to be honest...so I'll wait to see what the other experts here come up with for an ID.
This is strange. I have information that states that the Dual mechanism was discontinued by the late 1930's...but that badge didn't appear until the late 40's...HUH??? Check it out, yourself here at our badge ID section:
The serial number inside the drum is 5004. Could that mean April 1950? The guy I got the drum from thought that it was a late '30s drum. But according to the badge indentification section of this website, it would place the drum at '49-'50, right before Leedy and Ludwig were joined. I'm really curious now.
phil
I thought about that number being a date stamp, too...but it appears that may not be the case. The MODEL # of the Broadway Dual in my catalog is "2004" and your # is "5004"...so it might just be a model number and not a date stamp...but the weird thing is the fact that John Aldridge's book states that...."the Dual model with both top and bottom snares, was dropped from the 1938 Leedy catalog."
So....if the Dual was dropped in 1938, then what is it doing with a badge from the late 40's???
Stand by....I'm sure that there is another expert here that will shed some light on this mystery! Burger Kin
I checked the badge, grommet on the inside of the shell to see if it had been tampered with or changed at some point in time. I couldn't see any evidence that. It appears to be original to the drum. So how does a 1930's drum end up with a 1950's badge? I guess anything is possible.
phil
I'll bet Mike Curotto would know.
