Congrats John. Glad to see she's arrived~! A grand entrance. Have fun with the clean and detail job. That's much fun. Clapping Happy2

Tom, just want to say it's really very nice of you to offer the drum to us here. Most guys "hit and run" and we see them sell on ebay and craigslist shortly after. Your a good guy in my book. All the best!

Mike yep very nice of you to help behind the scenes too! Cool1

John very happy to see this drum in your hands. Most get tucked away in collections but nice to know this one will get played. After all that's what they were meant to do!! Enjoy buddy!!

FYI most Registered Mail customers don't under insure their parcels nor do they have reason to stress delivery. In spite of what you think you know, or have been told, there has Never Been a formal tracking system set up for Registered mail. There is currently no plans to update or change the delivery, notification or tracking of Registered Mail. Last but not least, in the history of the USPS there has never been a Lost , or misplaced Red, only a few that have been stolen which were recovered by the Inspection Service. Usually an inside job and easily uncovered.

I know you were sweating it out John, but as the saying goes "alls well that ends well".

It is indeed "Black [SIZE="1"]Beauty[/SIZE] Friday". Cool1

I, for one, agree that this drum needs to be played. Glad you're making it a player!

glad the drum arrived to you john. looks great. I thought I had read here earlier that it was a 4x14? kinda looks like a 5x14 to me. maybe just my eyes. it appears that the light bulb was inserted in the vent hole of the drum. that would be great that it had no extra hole. those p338 strainers can be finicky at times. be easy with it. have fun on the detail.

mike

I'm glad your little "beauty" arrived home.Kudos to Tom also.I know John will treat "her" right,and he's a great guy to do business with.

So ,please clean out a bunch more houses,who knows what,you'll come up with.

Can't wait to see the after pics John.I hope you had a leftover turkey sandwich at least.

Steve B

Yes, sir, and thank you once again for being my eyes and ears. Cool1

Gary - Mendozart - "I, for one, agree that this drum needs to be played. Glad you're making it a player!"

I'm sure my decision sent a cold chill up the spines of a few 'purists,' but I'm a drummer, not a collector. Two different animals. I want to listen to and enjoy, this drum whenever I play it. It's a drum... so I'm going to beat it!

Mike - "kinda looks like a 5x14 to me. maybe just my eyes. it appears that the light bulb was inserted in the vent hole of the drum. that would be great that it had no extra hole. those p338 strainers can be finicky at times. be easy with it. have fun on the detail. "

Yes, sir! 5"x14" she is! I was wondering myself, but the length of the tube lugs was a give-away. The lugs on the 4" are real short/stubby deals. Your eyes are good... it's 5".

The electrical fixture was secured to the back of one of the lugs! They simply used extra long screws to hold down both; the lug nearest the vent hole and the porcelain bulb fixture. The cord was threaded out of the vent hole.

No 'extra' holes anywhere. Original and intact. The only thing missing was; 1 retaining screw and nut for the strainer, and two (short) screws to hold the lug that had the long screws for the fixture. I have matching Ludwig screws and nuts, so it's all been replaced.

Just waiting on the new Aztec Gold clips to arrive so I can crank 'er up. Mikey Layton sent me some really cool NOS Snappy Snares! Perfect width and time period.

Thanks for following along and for all the really great support. I'm having a ton of fun cleaning her up. Photos when she's all done!

John

Notes:

Some 'interestings' about this drum...

The bearing edges: The edges on this drum are unique! They are 'rolled under' (triangular fold of the metal,) and then secured (soldered/welded?) to the inside of the shell. It creates an air chamber -inside- the bearing edge! I'm sure this feature contributes somehow to the sound of this particular drum. I've never seen a similar edge on any other metal snare drum.

It's an -early- one! The Pat. Pending stamp on the strainer along with the 'Wave Pattern' of the engraving speak for, 'early model.' (Between 1920 and 1923.) Just more 'added value' to an already valuable instrument.

Although I would have been happy with a 4"x14", I'm happier it's a 5"! It'll have a little more volume and projection than the smaller shell would have given me. For the way I play, the 5" depth is perfect-a-mundo.

Two piece brass shell with black nickel chrome plating. Sweeeeeeeet!

And... I'm going to end the suspense because I know everybody is secretly wondering... I paid $2000. for the drum. Not quite full retail, but not a disrespectful 'low-ball' offer either. I thought it was an honest offer on the drum and Tom was good with it too. Deal done. I've always known that if you want one of these, that's the kind of cheese you have to hand over for it. I'm very happy with the purchase and my new/old drum. I'm 64, been playing 50 years, I deserve/earned one of these!

John

Man, all that fretting over that dirty old thing? I just saw a great blue googly sparkle snare drum at the Guitar Center for $49.99 including new sticks! Better call me first next time so I can help you out John.guitar3

Absolutely beautiful! Can't wait to see it in person.

ah yeah...you got the good stuff there in my opinion. the 5x14 8 lug heavy shell is the one to have in my book. ive got some other lug configurations and depths in heavy shells, but Ive had two in this setup. they are the cats meow! congrats. you deserve it. very fair price I think.

mike

john i am glad you are happy with her.. i was a little concernedToilet with the wear and tear myself. but i guess that adds character and is to be expected from a 90 year old drum. i offered her on VDF first because it made sense to me, all you members were very helpful in my research. i felt your offer was more than fair!! and she should go to someone who would enjoy as a drum as opposed to someone who saw it as an investment/non player. Cant wait to see some vids of you playing her- to hear her sound. i just hope she lives up to all the hype.. as for the missing screws and nuts im sorry about that, i honestly did not know.. get her cleaned up i am waiting to see how she looks!!!!!!! Tom