Dad special-ordered his brand-new 5 1/2 x 14 WMP Super Gene Krupa snare drum in late 1961-early 1962, a few months before I was born, (you can do the math if you really want to know my age!). I can remember playing this drum with my Dad's Slingy/WFL kit when I was about 4-5 years old. He mounted it to the bass drum with a Rogers Swivomatic drum holder. He still gigs with this kit today except he quit using this snare drum some time in the early 90's when it rolled off the stage and caved-in the clamshell throw-off onto the dance floor. The butt-side strainer was also a little wacked-out from over-tightening (what a suprise, huh?). He gave it to me to clean up after I showed him a Radio King WMP snare that I just purchased to restore just like his. I wish I would have taken some "before" pics becaused it looked pretty grimey when he pulled it from the garage. I was very pleased with the condition of the drum once I removed 30+ years of dance hall smoke. The WMP wrap is tight and slightly yellowed. The original bearing edges where intact. The shell is perfectly flat, barely 1/16" out of round and NO re-ring separation what so ever!
The rims, hardware & lugs polished-out to 90% new-looking (a few dings & scratches). I sanded the wrap with 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper & then a 3 step buffer/polish with Mequire's automotive products, (my hands smelled like an ash tray for a day!). The strainer butt shell straightened & polished-up real nice. I had to spend a couple of hours, disassemble and hammer-out the the clamshell throw-off back into shape. My vintage auto trim restoration skills paid-off here! It came out pretty good, fully fuctional with a little "road rash" on the chrome from it's misadventure. Some new drum heads & Pure Sound Radio King strainer wires tuned 'em up nicely. If anyone out there can explain the variations in these two "identical" drums, I'd very much appreciated it! Well, enough talk. Let's look at some pictures!
Here is a side by side of Dad's (left) and mine (rt) 5 1/2 x 14 Radio King WMP drums. Note the different locations of the muffler knob. Also Dad's muffer is mouted 1/4" lower on the shell.
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Here is the "butt side" veiw. Note on dad's drum the drum key holder and where the Swivomatic collet plate used to be.
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Here's some close-ups of the plug I made for the collet hole.
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Dad's drum came with a clear stain coating inside the shell but mine does not. Also note how the muffler pads are "tweaked" to make proper contact with the batter head. The muffler is mounted 1/4" lower than mine and there's an extra hole in the shell just below the knob. Dad swears it came from Slingy like that. Says he never altered it!
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Here's the clamshell throw-off after major reconstructive surgery!
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