My New Slingerlands

acsunda

acsunda

Well-known Member
Hey guys, my new Slingerlands came today, and overall I am extremely pleased. They were listed in "fair" condition, and honestly I was expecting them to be on rougher shape. Other than a re-wrap (which I already anticipated), and new bass drum spurs, it doesn't really need much work. I haven't had a chance to play them yet, because my wife is taking a nap (for some reason she gets mad when I play while she's napping). But the edges look good on all drums, no ply separation or anything. I'm really digging the vibe of these drums so far. The only other issue I see is the floor tom, which sports a black and silver Niles badge, while the rack tom and kick both have black and gold Niles badges. So it may not be the original floor tom (although from the condition of the wrap and the interior of the drum, it sure looks like the original tom. Maybe it's just a replacement badge? I don't know). Also the legs/brackets/hoops are not original on the floor tom, although the lugs are. But otherwise, the kit is in functionally good shape! I'm looking forward to getting a new wrap on them and sprucing them up! The only date stamp I could find was on the interior of the 13" tom, which reads 66, possibly preceded by AUG, so probably August 1966.

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Hi Acsunda. If they only say USA and have serial # that is an import. This was very good import ( 80s ) made with American maple and hardware. It was assembled over seas. If you get pics of the badges I am sure we here can help. Also nice kit.
 
force3005 said:
Hi Acsunda. If they only say USA and have serial # that is an import. This was very good import ( 80s ) made with American maple and hardware. It was assembled over seas. If you get pics of the badges I am sure we here can help. Also nice kit.
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No, they've got black and gold Niles badges. They're not imports. The floor tom brackets, legs, and hoops are replacements, but it's otherwise all original.
 
There's nothing like the vintage mojo, and that kit has it for sure.

Back in college I played on a similar (and similarly loved) 1969 Ludwig Super Classic in psychedelic red. There's nothing quite like the tone of the old 3-ply shells with re-rings.

You mentioned a re-wrap. Any decisions on what you're going with?
 
Great kit that looks like a lot of fun for the restoration process, then the pride & pleasure of swingin' or rockin' into the night!
 
Winston_Wolf said:
There's nothing like the vintage mojo, and that kit has it for sure.

Back in college I played on a similar (and similarly loved) 1969 Ludwig Super Classic in psychedelic red. There's nothing quite like the tone of the old 3-ply shells with re-rings.

You mentioned a re-wrap. Any decisions on what you're going with?
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Probably gold glass glitter.
 
force3005 said:
Do the badges I posted help if any?
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Yeah, I mean I know when they were made. I was just trying to pinpoint the floor tom, because it has a black and silver Niles badge.
 
This might help. Apparently I've read that Slingerland would make a whole bunch of badges and put them in a large bowl in the shop. And when they needed a badge for a drum they would just reach in and grab one. In other words, the serial numbers were not used sequentially and therefore can only provide a very rough approximation of when the drum was made. Some have the stamp inside the shell which is about as good as you're going to get for dating any drum.

Vintage Slingerland Snare Drums - Vintage Slingerland Drums - Slingerland Drums

The history of Slingerland Drums - The Vintage Drum Guide shows you Slingerland Finishes, Slingerland Drum Badges, Slingerland Drum Set catalog pages, Slingerland Snare Drum catalog pages and the most complete Slingerland history all on one vintage drum web site
www.vintagedrumguide.com

This page will take you to another bit of info on the serial numbers themselves. There are three pages you will want to scroll through.

The History of Slingerland Drums

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www.vintagedrumguide.com
 
acsunda said:
Hey guys, my new Slingerlands came today, and overall I am extremely pleased. They were listed in "fair" condition, and honestly I was expecting them to be on rougher shape. Other than a re-wrap (which I already anticipated), and new bass drum spurs, it doesn't really need much work. I haven't had a chance to play them yet, because my wife is taking a nap (for some reason she gets mad when I play while she's napping). But the edges look good on all drums, no ply separation or anything. I'm really digging the vibe of these drums so far. The only other issue I see is the floor tom, which sports a black and silver Niles badge, while the rack tom and kick both have black and gold Niles badges. So it may not be the original floor tom (although from the condition of the wrap and the interior of the drum, it sure looks like the original tom. Maybe it's just a replacement badge? I don't know). Also the legs/brackets/hoops are not original on the floor tom, although the lugs are. But otherwise, the kit is in functionally good shape! I'm looking forward to getting a new wrap on them and sprucing them up! The only date stamp I could find was on the interior of the 13" tom, which reads 66, possibly preceded by AUG, so probably August 1966.

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That was fast man!

Looks like a lot of fun - was that floor tom wrap peeling like it looked in the first pics from their site?

Congrats!! You'll love that kit for a long long time!
 
NouveauCliche said:
That was fast man!

Looks like a lot of fun - was that floor tom wrap peeling like it looked in the first pics from their site?

Congrats!! You'll love that kit for a long long time!
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Thanks! Yeah, the floor tom is peeling, but really, the whole wrap needs replaced, so I’m not too worried about it. And yeah, that shipping was quick!
 
acsunda said:
Yeah, I mean I know when they were made. I was just trying to pinpoint the floor tom, because it has a black and silver Niles badge.
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Does it have rerings or no? If not it might possibly be a Slingerland Spirit floor tom. They have black Niles badges and those blocky floor tom leg brackets.
 
MrInsanePolack said:
Does it have rerings or no? If not it might possibly be a Slingerland Spirit floor tom. They have black Niles badges and those blocky floor tom leg brackets.
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It does have rerings. In fact, the interior looks identical to the rack tom.
 
Those are nice late 60's . The ink stamps obviously show a 1966 shell and the silverish badge could be earliest 70's 'assembly' at least for that tom.
In the Slingerland factory they often mixed badges and slapped them on, so one could have a badge of one era mixed in a can with another....and on it went on a given day. They had no idea we would toil over this decades later!
Either way excellent years for wood and quality bearing edges. I have the same years/sizes setup, but I stripped the wrap and went with natural wood (outer ply on mine was mahogany).
 
opentune said:
Those are nice late 60's . The ink stamps obviously show a 1966 shell and the silverish badge could be earliest 70's 'assembly' at least for that tom.
In the Slingerland factory they often mixed badges and slapped them on, so one could have a badge of one era mixed in a can with another....and on it went on a given day. They had no idea we would toil over this decades later!
Either way excellent years for wood and quality bearing edges. I have the same years/sizes setup, but I stripped the wrap and went with natural wood (outer ply on mine was mahogany).
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I think I’m go to rewrap these in gold glass glitter.
 
Congrats - great kit - it looks like it started as a 3-piece and the floor tom was added in the 70s. The late 60s/70s Slingerlands are great sounding drums. I have a late 70's kit and it still sounds fantastic.
 
cornelius said:
Congrats - great kit - it looks like it started as a 3-piece and the floor tom was added in the 70s. The late 60s/70s Slingerlands are great sounding drums. I have a late 70's kit and it still sounds fantastic.
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Yeah man, despite the rough exterior, they have nice, warm thumpy sound.
 
acsunda said:
It does have rerings. In fact, the interior looks identical to the rack tom.
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If the wrap and interior look as "aged" as the other drums, the badge was probably replaced with a newer one. Not that uncommon. And the floor tom leg brackets might have stripped out, and been replaced. You can find loose black and gold badges on eBay .... if you wanna switch it out to match the other drums. Great score.
 
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