Single Head Snare Drums

The early 1900s saw a great deal of experimentation in drum design and construction. One model which caught on for a brief time but has long since gone nearly extinct is that of the single head snare drum. Single head snare drums served several purposes. For one, they were compact in size and were highly portable. A small drum with only one head could easily nest with other smaller drums or be filled with traps and sound effects to be packed and transported to the next gig. Also, single head drums were by their very nature economical since they didn't require as much material to assemble. In some instances, these drums were constructed with less than high end shells and hoops which further reduced production costs.

It should be noted that companies were not promoting single head drums as being top of the line. Instead, these drums were targeted towards working drummers who were on the move and those buyers who were looking for cheaper options than the high end models. This isn't to say, however, that single head drums were poorly built. In terms of construction, most of these drums are fairly straight ahead. The three examples pictured here, as well as all of those depicted in catalog artwork below, utilize a single wooden counterhoop. Some use conventional tension rods and some use thumbscrew rods. Many but not all had some sort of posts affixed to the shell to facilitate the positioning of the tension rods. The style of hooks used to pull tension down on the hoop vary by maker. Some designs tension from the top but most tune from the bottom where the tensioning hardware would remain completely out of the way of the player. Perhaps the most unique aspect of these drums is how the snares are mounted inside of the drum against the bottom of the head. Some models had only a simple strainer with which to adjust the snare tension. Other examples, such as the one pictured at top, had a true throw-off capable of engaging or fully disengaging the snares from the head. The three drums pictured at right are all of unknown make. No badge or label is present on any of the three nor do they match up definitively with any of the catalog pages below. This speaks to a couple of point including the inherent generic nature of these drums, and the fact that these were generally considered lower level instruments even in their day. It would appear that many companies were less likely to herald or even label these instruments as they left the factory.

Photo Courtesy of Danielle Squires Photo: ebay

In the catalog pages below, most of which date from the 1910s, you will notice some shared artwork. Where these instruments were being manufactured is unknown. Note how adamantly the second Stone & Son catalog states that their single head drums are bought from another manufacturer! Again, this all speaks to the fact that these instruments were popular economical offerings available through a great number of companies during the early 1900s.

Ditson Wonderbook Number Four - 1910

Excelsior Drum Works - 1911          Photo: VintageDrumGuide.com

Geo. B. Stone & Son Catalog G - ca. 1912

Geo. B. Stone & Son Catalog H - ca. 1915

F. E. Dodge Company - 1907          Photo: VintageDrumGuide.com

Carl Fischer Musical Instrument Co.

Acme / Sears, Roebuck, and Co. - 1908

Nokes & Nicolai American Drummer No. 6 - ca. 1918

Do you have a single head snare drum? I want to to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

Faux Rosewood Hoops

Where were these hoops coming from? They appear on a 1880s Thompson & Odell drum in my collection and several others I have seen. At first glance it appears the hoops are made of rosewood but upon closer inspection they are in fact formed from maple which has been stained a deep reddish color and then hand painted to imitate the woodgrain of rosewood.

Thompson & Odell Drum, ca. 1880s	Thompson & Odell Drum Label

The similarities between the hoops on this Thompson & Odell drum (above) and a similar maple shelled drum by Lyon & Healy of Chicago (below) are uncanny.

Late 1800s Lyon & Healy Drum        Source: ebay	Lyon & Healy Drum Label        Source: ebay

The hardware on the two drums pictured above is also very similar albeit somewhat generic. Furthermore, the wording on the Thompson & Odell label describes the company as "Importers and Wholesale and Retail Dealers in General Musical Merchandise". This all leads me to believe that Lyon & Healy of Chicago was behind the manufacture of this particular Thompson & Odell drum.

Thompson & Odell Drum, ca. 1880s

Late 1800s Lyon & Healy Drum

Lyon & Healy was one of the largest producers of band instruments in the late 1800s, and drums such as these often turn up with labels listing other instrument makers or music stores as is the case here. Lyon & Healy in fact proclaimed themselves to be the "largest general music house in America" and was likely a source of instruments for countless smaller dealers at the time.

This certainly isn't to say that all Thomposon & Odell drums were built by Lyon & Healy because that absolutely is not the case. Drums by J. B. Treat, and Charles A. Stromberg were also dealt by Thompson & Odell prior to the Company's bankruptcy in 1905. Stromberg was in fact employed by the company for a time. But the evidence to suggest some sort of working business agreement between Thompson & Odell and Lyon & Healy is strong as the two drums pictured above demonstrate.

Do you have a Thompson & Odell drum? I want to to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

Stone Master-Model Prototype Shell

First introduced in 1922, the Master-Model Drum was George B. Stone & Son's premier snare drum offering and remains the most easily recognizable and iconic instrument produced by the company. Originally marketed as the "All-Weather Drum", the name "Master-Model" was adopted by late 1922. The Master-Model snare drums were typically built from 5" x 14" staggered three-ply all maple shells, not single-ply maple as is sometimes reported. But with every rule comes an exception as is the case with this early prototype. All that remains of this drum is the shell and hoops. There is a paper label inside of the drum and a Stone & Son badge mounted on the top hoop which places the drum no later than 1922. (The Master-Model specific badge appears to have begun use around January of 1924.) What is most interesting about this early example is that unlike every other Master-Model shell I've ever handled, this one is formed from a single, thin outer ply with four re-inforcing rings which combine to line the entire inside of the drum.

Now compare the prototype shell pictured above with this late 1920s example. This is the typical 3 ply 5/8" thick maple shell employed by Stone on their Master-Model drums through the 1920s and into the 1930s.


The odd thing about the prototype is how the entire inner shell is covered by the reinforcing rings. It's an obvious evolution at that point to then make the inner rings into one complete ply which would yield a two ply shell composed of a thin outer ply and a much thicker inner ply. Stone apparently settled on a three ply version by about 1922 which they would use on all of their Master-Model drums going forward. The production of a staggered three ply shell is a milestone often credited to Brooklyn's Gretsch Manufacturing Company but date stamped examples from George B. Stone & Son appear as early as 1922.

Do you have a drum made by Geo. B. Stone & Son? I'd love to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

George B. Stone & Son All-Metal Master-Model

I hate the 'R' word in drum collecting, but it probably applies to this one. One guy back in Boston said he had seen one of these drums before . . . in the 1970s. Another prominent collector said he had seen one in the early '90s and described this in an email to me as a "very, very, very rare drum". I have seen pictures of one before, but that would only amount to three sightings in 30+ years between the three of us. So I tend to agree. This is a rare drum.

It's a mid 1920s George B. Stone & Son All-Metal Master-Model Drum. No such instrument is included in Catalog K (1925), but a press release published in the Music Trade Review in July of that year (pictured at right) describes the new drum. The shell is made of solid aluminum and is painted silver. The aluminum, unfortunately, is beginning to oxidize giving the shell a less even appearance than when it was new. The hoops are also formed from aluminum but are polished to a shine and are not painted. The top hoop is slightly shorter than the bottom hoop and the bottom hoop has pronounced snare gates one of which is larger than the other. The remaining hardware is nickel plated and is all typical of mid - late 1920s Stone Master-Models. Interestingly, the all-metal version of the Master-Model utilizes only eight claws per head while their wooden shell brethren employ twelve each on top and bottom. The drum sports a silver Master-Model badge which is tacked into the shell three panels to the left of the throw-off. There is a simple, unadorned metal grommet one more panel to the left. There is no paper label inside of the drum which is unusual for Stone. Instead, the number four is penciled on the shell and is visible through the air vent. This was either the fourth drum in a batch, or quite likely was only the fourth all-metal Master-Model to leave the factory. The workers at Stone & Son kept a running count of how many drums were being produced and while this drum bears no four-digit serial number, the hand written markings inside the shell are in keeping with those used by Stone on other drums. Both heads were broken when I received the drum so new calfskins from Stern Tanning were tucked on the original flesh hoops. Interestingly, the flesh hoops were painted silver at the factory to match the shell! I know the paint is original because pencil markings over the paint indicated that these were a factory matched pair of flesh hoops. These markings, again, are in keeping with those seen on other Stone drums. The original wire snares were intact so they were cleaned and remounted. The drum is now in as close to original condition as possible and is ready to be proudly displayed.

from Music Trade Review, July 1925

Do you have a antique George B. Stone & Son drum? I'd love to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

Nokes & Nicolai . . . Hydrocarbon Engines???

Okay here is an odd post relating only tangentially to drums whatsoever….

Boston's Nokes & Nicolai enjoyed a what appears to have been a reasonably successful albeit somewhat modest fourteen year existence from 1912, when they took over the operation of F. E. Dodge, until 1926 when they were acquired by the Liberty Musical Instrument Company of Chicago. It is well known that Nokes & Nicolai produced and sold a full line of drums, traps, keyboard percussion instruments, and timpani as well as banjos. But what interest did the company's namesakes Enes J. Nokes and Edward F. Nicolai have in hydrocarbon engines???



Nokes & Nicolai letterhead dated July 10th, 1915


U. S. Patent 1,523,954, claiming to offer "useful improvements in Gas Savers for Hydrocarbon Engines", was applied for on October 14, 1921 by Walter T. Greene of Roxbury, MA. The patent was granted on January 20th, 1925 and was assigned, curiously enough, to the firm of Nokes & Nicolai. Now, why on earth Nokes & Nicolai had any interest at all in hydrocarbon engines, I have no idea! So I'll offer up a wild guess or two here with absolutely nothing to back them up.

Maybe this device, described as "a gasket adapted to be clamped between the surfaces of the connections of the intake passage, a wire extending on one side of the gasket to the other across the opening therein, and a plurality of absorbent washers loosely mounted on the wire" , was so simple in construction that it could have been an easy item to assemble at the Nokes & Nicolai factory. Or could it be that in the interest of diversification that the company's owners were in some small way hedging their bets by venturing into other areas of manufacturing? This would be the the first and only piece of evidence I've come across that would suggest as much, but maybe it is possible. This seems sort of unlikely, however, seeing as how the musical instrument business was booming in the early 1920s even for a smaller company such as Nokes & Nicolai.

Or was it that by the time Greene's patent was granted in 1925 that the handwriting was on the wall and the end was growing near for Nokes & Nicolai? By the mid 1920s it would appear that, not unlike their Boston drum building counterparts, the company was likely falling behind in terms of modernization and was unable to evolve and grow to the extent needed to compete with the industry titans of the midwest. Maybe a venture into other areas of manufacturing was a last ditch effort to feed the operation in Boston and prevent selling the company.




All of this is purely speculative on my part. It could just as well be the case that nothing at all ever came of the patent being licensed to Nokes & Nicolai. Or perhaps there was simply a friendly business arrangement between Nokes, Nicolai, and Greene. We may never know. What is for certain however is that Nokes & Nicolai is much better remembered for their drums and percussion instruments than any contributions they made to the automobile industry!

Do you have a percussion instrument manufactured by Nokes & Nicolai? I want to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.