Early 1900s F. E. Dodge Street Drum

Preserving collector grade instruments is one way to honor Boston's drum building past. Another is to recondition and revive survivng examples as playable musical instruments giving voice to those makers who have been lost to time. The early 1900s F. E. Dodge Street Drum seen here is a case of the latter. Upon arrival, this drum was nothing but a shell. Bruised and crudely refinished, there was little remaining value from a collector standpoint other than the large makers label inside. Eventually a suitible conglomerate of parts was sourced and the drum was pieced back together breathing new life into a drum which had been silent for decades.

photo: VintageDrumGuide.com

Cooperman Fife and Drums supplied the leather ears which were then stamped and stained to emulate those typically seen on drums by Dodge and others in Boston around the late 19th and early 20th century. (See above photo from the 1907 Dodge catalog.) Calderwood Percussion supplied the faux hemp rope which provides the strength of modern synthetic rope while giving the visual impression of period correct materials. And the wooden counterhoops and calfskin batter head were taken from a donor drum built many years ago by Eames Drum Shells. The finishng touch, a custom lathed wooden grommet, was made up by Mattoon Drums and Percussion.

The hoop mounted snare mechanism is not one originally found on Dodge drums but is an intriguing bit of history in itself. Clearly this is an example of the snare strainer and muffler designed by William F. McIntosh, but there are several inconsistancies between this version and the one typically seen on McIntosh's own drums and those by George B. Stone & Son who used it widely through the 1910s and 1920s. The most obvious difference is the coarse, unbuffed exterior which is devoid of plating. The version present here also shows no signs of having ever had a lever installed.

Do you have an drum made by the F. E. Dodge Company? I would love to see it! Feel free to send Lee an email anytime at lee@vinson.net. And for more on the early 20th century snare drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com or follow @old_boston_drums on instagram.

An Obituary for Frank E. Dodge

Note: The following was written by referencing historical records including newspapers, trade publications, directory listings, and census records. While Dodge was memorialized at the time of his death (Musical America offered about 150 words while a brief mention in the Boston Globe totaled only 35), this reconstructed obituary offers a more complete remembrance of his life than anything previously published.

November 5, 1918 Frank Dodge, one of New England's leading orchestra drummers and timpanists who authored two widely used method books and built Boston's largest drum manufacturing company, died on November 5th. He was 41. Dodge fell ill during the recent epidemic of influenza and died after a stay of five days in Peter Bent Brigham Hospital according to his brother Harry Dodge. In recent years, Mr. Dodge worked extensively as an orchestra manager supplying musicians to the Maine Music Festival and the Boston Opera Orchestra where he also performed as timpanist. Lately, during the war effort, he had been serving as an instructor for the Army and Navy band school at the New England Conservatory. Besides his brother Harry, survivors include his wife, Eugenia Metzger Dodge, and daughters Florence and Dorothy. Frank Edward Dodge was born on July 10th, 1877 in Wenham to Frank and Maria (McCarthy) Dodge. The family moved during the 1880s to Boston where Dodge graduated from English High School in 1896. He furthered his formal schooling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he completed studies in Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry. Serving as treasurer of the freshman orchestra while at MIT foretold of his career over the next two decades. By his early twenties, Dodge had become in demand as a xylophone soloist appearing regularly at some of the city's grandest venues including the Boston Theatre, with the acclaimed First Regiment Band, and the Colonial Theatre on Boylston Street. There were performances with the Boston Festival Orchestra and a trip to the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis with Stewart's Boston Band too. He was reported to be joining John Philip Sousa's band soon after, but instead turned his attention to drum manufacturing where he would merge his musical talent with his technical training. The F. E. Dodge Company was incorporated in 1903 with a capital of $50,000 and with the help of Mr. William J. Blair, formerly of Boston's Blair & Baldwin, quickly became the largest and most innovative percussion instrument maker in New England. The firm operated for eight years along Appleton Street manufacturing drums, traps, xylophones, orchestra bells, and timpani. In 1912, Dodge's business was succeeded by Nokes & Nicolai who continue to catalogue many products branded with the Dodge name. Mr. Dodge was the author of two widely used instruction books for drums. "The Dodge Drum Chart", published in 1908, offered a systematic approach to rudimental drumming patterns. The "Dodge Drum School", released in 1909, was a more comprehensive method book containing material for bells, xylophone, and timpani as well as musical examples for many of the drummer's traps. A devoted teacher, Mr. Dodge taught privately from the Boston Opera House and lately had been instructing the Mrs. Oliver Ames, Sr., Band at North Easton. Dodge's best known pupil is George Lawrence Stone of Boston's Geo. B. Stone & Son. Messrs. Dodge and Stone shared the stage many times over the years including for five seasons with the now defunct Boston Opera Orchestra. An active member of the American Federation of Musicians,  Mr. Dodge was chosen by Union President Joseph N. Weber to represent the American Federation of Musicians at the Convention of the League to Enforce Peace at Philadelphia in 1917. Also last year, Dodge was appointed by Andrew James Peters, the Mayor of Boston, to the Music Commission of the City of Boston. Funeral services will be hosted by the McCarthy family at 48 Saint Stephen Street on Friday, November 8th at 10 A.M. Interment will follow at Waterside Cemetery in Marblehead.

F. E. Dodge "Double Tension" Orchestra Drum, ca. 1908 - 1912

Frank Edward Dodge (1877-1918) ventured into drum manufacturing around 1903 after buying out William J. Blair (1845-1916) formerly of Boston's own Blair & Baldwin. By 1904 the F. E. Dodge Company was incorporated under Massachusetts law with a capital of $50,000 and was located at 3 Appleton Street where the company would remain until they were succeeded by Nokes & Nicolai in 1912. The drum featured here is a fine example of the Dodge company's later work dating from about 1908 - 1912.



Dodge's drums evolved quickly over the the company's brief lifespan. The most innovative aspect of their later drums is the use of self aligning swivel nuts housed inside hollow steel claws. This design is conspicuously absent from the 1907 F. E. Dodge Company catalog suggesting this particular example was built after that time.


The throw-off mechanism seen here is Dodge's own design. Though it closely resembles William F. McIntosh's mechanism, Dodge's "Combined Snare Strainer and Muffler" is distinct in that it is formed from stamped steel rather than cast brass. Also, Dodge's mechanism bridges over the snare gates cut into the bottom counterhoop whereas McIntosh's mounts below the cutout. Wording stamped into this example indicates that Dodge applied for a patent of his design though it appears to have never come to fruition as no records of a patent having been granted can be found, and later examples lack any stamp referencing a patent at all.


The tensioning system implemented here is what Dodge, and later Nokes & Nicolai, described as "double tension". While this is arguably an advancement over the older thumbscrew style, it still yielded a drum which was effectively 'single tension' in that the two heads could not be tuned independently. This particular drum is formed around a shallow, one-ply maple shell which is reinforced inside by thin rings at each bearing edge.


Overall, this is a well preserved example of a roughly 110 year old snare drum. The original shellac finish and nickel plated hardware are in good condition and needed only a gentle cleaning and hand polishing to bring back a nice sheen while preserving enough patina to let the age show through. New calfskins tucked onto the existing, and possibly original, flesh hoops completed this soft restoration.

Do you have an drum made by the F. E. Dodge Company? I would love to see it! Feel free to send Lee an email anytime at lee@vinson.net. And for more on the early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

Geo. B. Stone & Son's Last Catalog - Booklet "L"

Booklet "L" from George B. Stone & Son was in many ways a last hurrah. In fact, it was quite likely the last drum catalog ever published by Stone & Son or any of the once proud drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts.

A decade had passed since Stone's Catalog K was printed in December of 1924 and for all the heights it had represented, the luster had faded completely by the time Booklet "L" was mailed out in 1935 or 1936. Catalog K was circulated for a full decade without any changes other than regularly updated pricelists. And while there were smaller advertisements printed and distributed in the intervening years, Booklet "L" was a clearly intended as a follow-up to Catalog K as indicated by the consecutively lettered title. At the same time, calling the 1935 publication a booklet and not a catalog was a subtle admission that Booklet "L" had inherent shortcomings. When measured against drum catalogs from other companies and even Stone & Son's own past, Booklet "L" was underwhelming.

In terms of wow factor, there was none. Spanning only sixteen pages, there was no color to be found, only repurposed black and white photos from previous Stone catalogs and advertisements. There were no new products in sight, only a greatly scaled down listing of what the company once offered. Most of the more notable snare drums previously manufactured by Stone were now absent including the handsome separate tension drums which had been a mainstay since the 1910s, the short lived all-metal Master-Model of the mid 1920s, and the ill-conceived Mastercraft drums of the early 1930s. The only metal shell snare drum included is a six lug, lower level model which appears to be from the Leedy Drum Company of Elkhart, Indiana.

Stone's last drum standing was the noble Master-Model, already a relic of technology past. Pyralin wrapped finishes and chrome plated hardware were available for an additional charge, though judging by surviving examples, black de-luxe and natural maple with nickel hardware endured as the most popular choices. The most interesting drum pictured in the entire catalog appears on the front cover - a Master-Model in "white and black de-luxe finish".



Included in the booklet were bugles, fifes, and drum major's batons, a clear indication that Stone was actively marketing to school bands and drum corps. Stone's music publications occupy a full page as well. In 1928 George Lawrence Stone had released editions of The Dodge Drum School for Drums, Bells, Xylophone and Tympani and The Dodge Drum Chart for Reading Drum Music. The timing of these publications is notable in that Nokes & Nicolai, who had succeeded the F. E. Dodge Company in 1912, had been recently sold to the Liberty Rawhide Company of Chicago who likely had no interest in Dodge's old method books. Stone, a one-time student of Frank E. Dodge, must have held his former mentor's books in greater esteem. Further, the re-releases were signs of Stone moving away from manufacturing and towards other forms of revenue. It was likely no coincidence that Booklet "L" was distributed just as Stone's soon to be famous Stick Control for the Snare Drummer was published in 1935.



Absent from Booklet "L" are the xylophones, orchestra bells, timpani and traps which occupied a great deal of space in Stone's catalogs from the 1910s and 1920s. But this isn't to say these instruments were no longer available from Stone. The next to last page of Booklet "L" holds this enlightening wording:

"IN ADDITION TO THE FOREGOING we carry a complete line of xylophones, bells, marimbas, tympani, chimes, trap tables, temple blocks, hi-hat cymbal afterbeaters, sticks and mallets (turned to order if desired), holders, stands, xylophone solos, text-books, methods, etc. Prices Upon request. "FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF OUR CUSTOMERS we carry and sell the Leedy, Ludwig and Deagan instruments and accessories and are prepared to take orders for any of the items manufactured by the above firms."

Most revealing is the final sentence which tells us in plain language that by this time George B. Stone & Son was content to sell their competitors instruments instead of their own. This was a far cry from Stone & Son's business practices of decades before. At their peak during the late 1910s and early 1920s, George B. Stone & Son had been capable of building almost every instrument or accessory a drummer could have possibly needed for any line of work. But times had changed. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties had come and gone. Percussion instruments, especially snare drums, had evolved. Drum companies had consolidated and modernized while Stone had done neither.

This isn't to say that all was lost, but the end of Stone's manufacturing days were near. George Lawrence Stone would of course go on to be a highly successful teacher, an active drum corps adjudicator, and a prolific writer in his later years. But there would be no more drum catalogs. Booklet "L" was Stone & Son's final gasp for air, the last chapter in the story of a once great drum maker.

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W. Lee Vinson is a classical percussionist, music educator, and snare drum historian. He is the author of BostonDrumBuilders.com, a website devoted to the late 19th and early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts.

Origins of Blair & Baldwin

Blair & Baldwin was founded in 1892 in the Brighton District's Abattoir Grounds, several miles west of Boston proper. It was a malodorous locale to open up shop, but low rent and easy access to animal hides for drum heads would have made this a serviceable location in the beginning.

In 1894 the young company relocated to 379 Albany Street and claimed to be the largest drum manufacturer in New England. Their boast may or may not have been merely advertising bluster, but it is true that there were very few other musical instrument makers specializing only in drums at that time.

By 1897 Blair & Baldwin had relocated to 169 Dudley Street where it would remain until 1902, the last year the company appears in directory listings. Around 1903, William J. Blair sold the business to Frank Edward Dodge who was starting his own drum manufacturing operation which would soon become known as the F. E. Dodge Company.



William J. Blair appears to have been the driving force behind Blair & Baldwin from the very beginning. In an 1894 write up about the company, Baldwin is not even mentioned. In addition to the picture seen above, the following information comes from Boston & Bostonians (New York: American Publishing and Engraving Company, 1894):

"This is one of the most responsible firms in the country in this line and well and favorably known. Mr. W. J. Blair is a native of New York State and a practical drum maker of thorough experience, and an expert in his line. He turns out a very superior class of work, and sustains the reputation he enjoys. His productions are noted for excellence, being no surpassed in a single feature of merit by any instrument of the kind on the market, and are in growing demand throughout the United States and Canada. He manufactures drums of every description, in all sizes and style for military bands, orchestras, etc., and his is the largest house in the business in New England. He has been established since 1892, and was formerly located in Brighton District, removing to the present address [379 Albany Street] in 1894. His factory here is spacious and commodious and is fully equipped with steam power and machinery. His facilities are first-class, and a number of skilled hands are employed by him. A large and varied assortment is always carried in stock and every article offered for sale by this reliable house is warranted as to make and material. Drums are made to order also, on short notice, and satisfaction is assured. Repairing is promptly and neatly done, at very reasonable rates, and all work is guaranteed to be strictly first-class. This house can supply the trade on the most advantageous terms. Bottom Prices are quoted and all orders receive prompt and personal attention."

William J. Blair was born on April 19, 1845 in upstate New York. The 1850, 1855, and 1860 Censuses place the Blair family in Syracuse where William's father Brown W. Blair was a shoemaker. Brown's wife Catherine, sometimes listed as Kate or Katie, was from Ireland and the couple had four children together of which William was the eldest.

A teenage William J. Blair was working in Syracuse as a blacksmith when in January of 1864 he joined Company H of New York's 16th Heavy Artillery Regiment as a musician. His military service was brief as the Company was discharged at Washington, DC in August of 1865.

Not long after the Civil War, Blair returned to Syracuse and in 1870 was living with his mother and two younger brothers, his father now deceased. According to the census from that year, William Blair is a 25 year old musician, though the 1870 and 1872 Syracuse City Directories list him as an 'agent' or 'clerk' respectively.

By 1878 William J. Blair had found his way to St. Louis where he worked as a musician at the Theatre Comique. A fellow musician there was a New Hampshire native named James G. Baldwin. The 1880 census lists the two men at the same address placing William J. Blair and James G. Baldwin together more than a thousand miles away from Boston and more than ten years before they would found a drum making business in their names. The Theatre Comique was destroyed by fire in December 9th of 1880, an event which likely put both men out of work and may well have spurred their respective moves to Boston.

Musician William J. Blair first appears in the Boston Directory in 1881 at 6 Staniford Street, the same year that musician James G. Baldwin is listed at 177 Shawmut Avenue. The two men would reside at several different home addresses over the next ten years before going into business together in 1892. Both men are listed at Blair & Baldwin, Abbatoir Grounds in 1892 and 1893 and again with Blair & Baldwin in 1894 at 379 Albany Street.

The company may have sputtered briefly in 1895 as there is no mention of Blair & Baldwin in the Boston Directory from that year though Blair is still listed and resides at the same home address. Curiously, Baldwin's occupation is now "druggist" and he has a new work address. Blair appears again in 1896 with Blair & Baldwin but James G. Baldwin's shift away from the company was a permanent one. In fact, Baldwin seems to have left behind his musical career entirely with directories showing him as a druggist again in 1896 and then as an "apothecary" from 1897 through 1903. Late in his life Baldwin would return to his native New Hampshire where he passed away in 1912 at the age of 59.

After Baldwin's exit from the company around 1894, Blair carried on until at least 1902. Around this time a young Frank E. Dodge was making entries into the drum making business. The F. E. Dodge Company was legally incorporated in December of 1903 and had likely struck a deal with Blair by this time. In his later years, Blair continued to work for Dodge who handed off his company to Nokes & Nicolai in 1912. Blair reportedly stayed on board with Nokes & Nicolai until his death in 1916.

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W. Lee Vinson is a classical percussionist, music educator, and snare drum historian. He is the author of BostonDrumBuilders.com, a website devoted to the late 19th and early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts.

Origins of the F. E. Dodge Company

A small ad for the F. E. Dodge Company appearing on the back cover of the Dodge Drum School published in 1909 reads "a drum factory since 1868". It is a dubious claim coming from a man who was born in 1877. The ad goes on to state "over forty years of experience is back of the Dodge drums, tympani, orchestra bells, xylophones, and drummers' traps". How could this be true when the company namesake was only in his early thirties? Frank Edward Dodge was born on July 10th, 1877 in Wenham, Massachusetts. His father Frank Dodge (who has no middle initial) was a native of Marblehead, MA and is listed in the 1880 United States Census as a janitor at Abbott Hall. Frank Edward's mother Maria A. Dodge, formerly Maria A. McCarthy, was originally from Bangor, ME, the daughter of Irish immigrants. By the mid 1890s the Dodge family, including a second son Harry Plummer Dodge born in 1883, had relocated to Boston where Frank Edward received his primary schooling at Boston's English High School graduating as a member of the fourth year class in 1896. F. E. Dodge continued his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology enrolling in 1896 as a Mining Engineering major. He would later complete studies in both Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry. According to MIT's newspaper The Tech Dodge was in 1896 - 1897 a member of the Freshman Orchestra serving as the group's treasurer. An MIT Register of Former Students lists Frank E. Dodge as having been at the school from 1896 - 1898 and then again in the years 1900 and 1901.

The 1900 United States Census lists F. E. Dodge as a musician still living under his parents' roof at 163 West Canton Street in Boston's South End. The 1900 Boston Directory also lists him as a musician, not a student, suggesting that he had begun his career as a professional drummer by this time. Boston newspapers frequently include mentions of Frank E. Dodge as a featured xylophone soloist at the Boston Theater in 1901 and 1902. By 1903, city directories begin listing Dodge's work address simply as "Colonial Theatre", the newly opened grand theater at 106 Boylston Street opposite Boston Common.

Boston Theatre Ad from the Boston Post, October 20, 1901

1903 photo showing Boston's Colonial Theatre at far right.                 Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Looking again at the 1900 Census, the elder Frank Dodge's occupation is listed as "Mfg - Stitching & Plaiting" while the 1900 Boston Directory lists him as a manager working at 12 Winter Street. These pieces of information coupled together point to the Boston Stitching and Plaiting Company at 12 - 14 Winter Street in Boston. The president of this company was a man named John A. McCarthy whose home address was 163 West Canton Street, the same address as the Dodge family. This confirms a connection both personal and professional between the Dodge family, John A. McCarthy and his Company.

A very early F. E. Dodge orchestra drum bears a makers label listing an address of 12 - 14 Winter Street, the same location as the Boston Stitching and Plaiting Company. Also notable about the wording on the drum label is that it reads "F. E. DODGE MANUFACTURING DRUMMER", not F. E. Dodge Company. All of this raises the possibility that there may have been some correlation between the Boston Stitching & Plating Company and the very early years of Frank E. Dodge's drum making endeavors before the founding of the F. E. Dodge Company.

F. E. Dodge Orchestra Drum, ca. 1903

F. E. Dodge Drum Label, ca. 1903

Various business listings and advertisements place the Boston Stitching and Plaiting Company at 12 - 14 Winter Street from at least 1898 until 1903. By 1905 the company had moved to 28 Summer Street. The 1906 Boston Directory lists the elder Frank Dodge as working as a treasurer at this address. But by this time the younger Dodge's drum building venture was standing on it's own at 3 Appleton Street. Public Documents show that on December 22nd, 1903 the F. E. Dodge Co. became incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts with a capital of $50,000 to manufacture drums, traps, drum findings, professional xylophones, orchestra bells, and timpani.

In tracing the exact origins of the F. E. Dodge Company, it is important to note that no such business is listed in Boston Directories until 1905. In the years immediately leading up to this point Frank E. Dodge is listed as a musician but the F. E. Dodge Company is nowhere to be found. The December 1903 incorporation, as announced in the Music Trade Review in January of 1904, is the earliest documented account of the F. E. Dodge Company. If Frank E. Dodge had founded his drum company in 1903, he would have been just 26 years old. Capital investment aside, a man as young as Dodge would have needed help starting a new drum manufacturing business and he may have found it in William J. Blair of Boston's Blair & Baldwin, drum makers since 1892. The missing link between Blair and Dodge and their respective drum companies is provided in Christine Merrick Ayars' Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston 1640 - 1936 (New York: H.W. Wilson, 1937): "William J. Blair was a drummer in the Civil War and a maker of good drums. Baldwin was a fine workman also. He resigned to manufacture bicycle wood rims and wheels. Later he worked for John C. Haynes & Co. where he was known as "Grandsire Baldwin". When Mr. Baldwin resigned about 1905, F. E. Dodge bought out Mr. Blair who worked first for Mr. Dodge and then for Nokes & Nicolai until his death."

Ayars' statement about Grandsire Baldwin resigning in 1905 cannot be correct seeing that Nahum "Grandsire" Baldwin died in 1896, but her reporting about Blair checks out. Military records show William J. Blair was born in Monticello, New York in 1846. He later resided in Syracuse working as a blacksmith when in January of 1864 he joined Company H of New York's 16th Heavy Artillery Regiment as a musician. Much later in his life, Blair is listed in the 1908 and 1909 Boston Directories as a drummaker at 3 Appleton Street confirming that he did in fact stay on board with the F. E. Dodge Company after Dodge bought out Blair & Baldwin.

If William J. Blair had been building drums since the late 1860s, then by 1908 he would have had about 40 years worth of experience in the business. And that may well have been the reason that Frank E. Dodge could claim "over forty years of experience is back of the Dodge drums." It certainly wasn't that the F. E. Dodge Company had been founded four decades earlier.

For more on F. E. Dodge and the other early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

W. Lee Vinson can be contacted any time by email at lee@vinson.net.

F. E. Dodge Field Drum ca. 1904 - 1907

At approximately 110 years old, this F. E. Dodge field drum shows its age. Cosmetic flaws aside, it is still a wonderful example of an early rod tension drum from Boston's most prominent drum maker at the turn of the twentieth century. Measuring in at a robust 10" deep by 16" across, this is a large instrument closer in size to the wartime regimental drums which preceded it than the much shallower orchestra drums which were becoming widely favored for popular music styles. This was after all a 'street drum' intended to be played while standing or marching with a military style band or drum corps.

The tension rods and even more so the claws used tension the heads are rather forward thinking for the first decade of the 1900s. For that matter, the use of metal hardware at all suggests that this was a professional level model as rope tension drums were more affordable. The single ply maple shell with solid maple reinforcing rings is constructed as well as any other instrument of the day. But Dodge's innovative hoop claws are the most ingenious feature here. Long before modern drum lug casings housed fully swiveling nuts to accommodate tuning rods, Dodge's claws represented an early attempt to help let the tensioning hardware fit into place without the possibility of any binding, warping, or stripping.


The shell interior is painted black, a characteristic of some, but not all Dodge drums. A large circular paper label is visible inside of the drum. Note the inclusion of the "Inc." lettering which likely means that this drum was produced after the company's incorporation on December 22, 1903 and before it was legally dissolved in 1907. Curiously, the label is positioned upside down, another peculiarity common to many F. E. Dodge drums.

The snare mechanism is rather basic by modern standards but was in fact a small step forward in functionality relative to the traditional snare strainer in that it allowed the snares to be tightened using a knurled knob easily reached from the top of the drum and without the possibility of the snares becoming twisted. A simple leather snare butt, cut in Dodge's distinctive jagged fashion, holds the snares in place against the opposite counterhoop.


While a 10" x 16" model isn't specifically listed, the drum matches very well with those advertised in the 1907 Dodge catalog. A final indication that the drum featured here was constructed no later than about 1908, the Dodge Drum School published in 1909 includes illustrations of a Dodge drum featuring an updated claw design which would go on to be commonly used on Dodge drums until 1912 and by their successors Nokes & Nicolai until 1926.

Do you have an percussion instrument made by the F. E. Dodge Company? I would love to see it! Send Lee an email anytime at lee@vinson.net. And for more on the early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

ca. 1907 F. E. Dodge Orchestra Drum

Amongst a trio of recently acquired early 1900s F. E Dodge drums is this splendid orchestra model, circa 1904 - 1907. Complete down to the original "Satin Finished Water-proof Snares", this drum is a wonderfully well preserved example of turn of the century drum building ingenuity and craftsmanship.



The 1907 Dodge Drums Catalog lists the Orchestra Drum in two sizes. The 3" x 14" drum seen here joins a 4" x 15" already in the collection.

The single-ply maple shell and hoops are both characteristic of Dodge with the shell featuring shallow reinforcing rings and a polished rosewood grommet. A small circular makers label is affixed to the inside of the shell. Note the inclusion of the "Inc." lettering which likely means that this drum was produced after the company's 1904 incorporation.

photo: VintageDrumGuide.com

F. E. Dodge Co. drum label

Distinctive to many Dodge drums from the first decade of the 1900s is the use of an early style of swivel nut to accommodate the tuning rods. Though the nuts only swivel in one direction, they still represent an advancement beyond traditional collar hooks. Dodge's "Direct Snare Strainer" with its square shaped shank allowed for tensioning of the snares via an adjustment knob mounted to the top hoop.

photo: VintageDrumGuide.com

F. E. Dodge Direct Snare Strainer

A simple leather anchor holds the snare wires in place against bottom hoop opposite from the strainer. Note the jagged edges of this leather piece, an unusual little cosmetic touch seen on many early Dodge drums.

Though the wooden shell and hoops show their age, the nickel plating is in excellent condition, a testament to the quality of the materials and processes used by Dodge. Period correct calfskin heads put this drum in historically accurate condition for display. A photo of the original owner gives us a glimpse of the drum in action roughly a century ago.

F. E. Dodge Snare Butt

Dodge Drums with their Original Owners

Do you have a drum by F. E. Dodge? I'd would love to hear about it! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

And for more on F. E. Dodge and the other early 20th century drum makers of Boston, Massachusetts, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

Drum Catalogs from Yesteryear

Simply put, drum catalogs are an ephemeral form of advertising material. Small trade publications such as these were entirely disposable after a very short period of use. As soon as a new catalog was issued, the old one was irrelevant. Little thought was put into what would happen to these bound sheets of paper once their short term purpose had been fulfilled. But for those who collect and study antique drums and the now defunct companies that produced them, one hundred year old drum catalogs are a priceless treasure trove of information about long gone manufacturers and their wares.

The catalogs pictured below from John C. Haynes, F. E. Dodge, Thompson & Odell, Nokes & Nicolai, Oliver Ditson, and George B. Stone & Son depict a fairly broad view of drum making in Boston from the late 19th century up through the mid 1920s. And though all of these companies would in one way or another cease operation fairly soon after this time, the evolution of the snare drum can quite literally be be traced through the pages of these trade publications. Over a period of nearly 50 years, the snare drum morphed from an old fashioned, rope tensioned instrument during the mid 1800s, to a primitive single tension thumbrod style drum around the turn of the 20th century, and finally to an all but modern showpiece by the mid 1920s where finely crafted wooden and metal shell drums featured fully functioning snare throw-offs and separate tension lugs which allowed for either head to be tuned independently.

The Boston Drum Builders were at the same time experimental yet generally slow to evolve. The offerings pictured throughout these pages allow us to compare and contrast the instruments made in Boston with those of their Midwestern counterparts. In particular, Leedy of Indianapolis and Ludwig & Ludwig of Chicago were quicker to modernize and faster to grow allowing them to swiftly overtake the Boston makers in terms of size and influence. The relative scarcity of ephemera left behind by the Boston companies as compared to their peers is evidence of this trend.

The catalog cover photos shown below are a far from comprehensive depiction of the advertisements published by the Boston Drum Builders. Surely, many other trade publications exist. Stone published "Booklet L" sometime after Catalog K and presumably had printed something resembling Catalogs "A" through "F" before arriving at "G" sometime around 1912. It would be a logical assumption that some form of catalog preceded Nokes & Nicolai's "American Drummer No. 5". Perhaps Nos. 1 through 4 were printed earlier, or maybe picking up with number five indicates that F. E. Dodge had already issued four full catalogs before Nokes & Nicolai succeeded them in 1912. Many more J. C. Haynes & Company catalogs are known to have been published, mostly dating from the 1880s and 1890s and including a plethora of musical instruments, not just drums. The same is likely the case for Oliver Ditson whose "Wonderbook Number Four" (1910) corresponds with the volume number within a given year of publication rather than an issue in a chronological series.

The two more prominent boutique builders in Boston during the early 1900s, Harry A. Bower and Charles A. Stromberg, bear mention here as well though there are no catalogs to show. Neither maker left much behind in the way of advertising as compared to the other Boston makers. Some Bower advertising does appear in trade publications, but no full size drum catalogs by either Stromberg or Bower are known to exist. Stromberg appears to have hardly advertised his drums at all, perhaps because he was such a small, high end maker working with a broad diversity of instruments including harps, banjos, and finally guitars for which he would ultimately become best known.

Some of these catalogs are viewable online in part or in their entirety. The 1907 F. E. Dodge Catalog and Geo. B. Stone & Son Catalog K (1925) can be found at VintageDrumGuide.com. The 1883 J. C. Haynes Catalog, held by the Winterthur Museum Library in Wilmington, Delaware is viewable online at the Internet Archive. The remaining catalogs included here are from the authors collection.

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

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

George B. Stone & Son Catalog I - 1919

George B. Stone & Son Catalog K - 1925

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

Nokes & Nicolai The American Drummer No. 5 - mid 1910s

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

Thompson & Odell by Vega - ca. 1915

Oliver Ditson Company Ditson Wonderbook Number Four - 1910

J. C. Haynes & Company - 1883

Do you have a catalog from one of Boston's early 20th century drum makers? I would love to hear from you! Feel free to send Lee an email anytime at lee@vinson.net. And for more on the history of drum manufacturing in Boston, Massachusetts please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

The Smallest of the Small

By the first decade of the 1900s, smaller snare drum sizes were fast becoming the norm for use in popular music. These lighter musical styles, which would one day evolve into jazz and eventually morph into rock and roll, called for brighter sounding instruments than the military music of earlier days which utilized drums so regularly.

By the 1920s, fourteen inches had become the most common snare drum diameter with fifteen inch drums being offered as an alternative for larger performance settings. Drums intended for classical and popular music generally ranged from about 3" to 8" in depth. The military instruments of the previous century were typically 16" or larger in diameter and much deeper. While the 14" diameter ultimately proved to be the most widely accepted because of its versatility, 15" drums were offered by many makers through the mid 20th century as "band" drums generally intended for large concert bands and symphony orchestras, and on instruments produced for use with marching bands and drum and bugle corps.

The comparatively minute diameter of 13" may be a common size for piccolo snare drums today (with still smaller options available for special effects), but this was a very small instrument in relation to the other professional level offerings circa 1900 - 1920. Outside of toy drums or instruments intended for children, drums smaller than 14" were not typical. On the very edge of the size spectrum would be the 3" x 13" professional model as seen below.

The newest addition to the collection is a Thumbscrew Rod Orchestra Drum by Boston's Nokes & Nicolai dating from about 1912. This particular piece comes from dry climate and is quite well preserved with no significant damage to the wooden components. The shell is solid steam bent maple, complete with original rosewood grommet. What is atypical about this drum for Nokes & Nicolai is the original 'Mahogany' finish which is clearly stained maple, not mahogany veneer. Nokes & Nicolai's catalog American Drummer No. 5 dating from the early to mid 1910s boasts "We can make any size or style Snare Drum from any material. NO VENEERS USED IN OUR DRUM SHELLS." Perhaps this stained finish was, at that time, the solution to a customer's request for a shell built from some material other than the commonly used maple.

Nokes & Nicolai Thumbscrew Rod Orchestra Drum ca. 1912

Nokes & Nicolai American Drummer No. 6 published circa 1918 claims "Solid Mahogany, Rosewood or Bird's-eye Maple shells add $1.50 to above prices" so it may be the case that different wooden shell materials were a later addition to the company's offerings. The 3" x 13" size is listed in both catalogs No. 5 and 6 with an even tinier 2" x 13" offered in the earlier catalog but not in the later.

The most intriguing thing about this drum is the label inside. While partially missing, the label clearly read "F. E. DODGE CO. / 3 APPLETON ST. / BOSTON, MASS." The badge affixed to the top hoop, however, reads NOKES & NICOLAI / BOSTON, MASS." So it would appear that this instrument dates to right around the time when the company was handed off from F. E. Dodge to Nokes & Nicolai in 1912 making this something of a transition drum.

F. E. Dodge drum label, ca. 1912

Nokes & Nicolai drum badge, ca. 1912

Do you have an instrument made by Nokes & Nicolai or F. E. Dodge? I'd like to hear from you! Feel free to send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net. And for more on Nokes & Nicolai and their predecessors F. E. Dodge, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.

The Nokes & Nicolai Thumbscrew Rod Orchestra Drum

New to the collection is a Nokes & Nicolai Thumbscrew Rod Orchestra Drum. After a gentle cleaning and polishing, and the addition of two new calfskin heads tucked onto the original flesh hoops, this drum is up and rolling once again.

Nokes & Nicolai Thumbscrew Rod Orchestra Drum, ca. 1912 - 1920

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

It is a simple but elegant instrument built around a one-ply maple shell. As the name would suggest, this is a single tension drum tuned by using thumbrods which pull down on both heads simultaneously. The drawback to this type of tuning system of course is that the heads can not be tuned independently from one another. When this drum was produced in the mid 1910s, however, single tension drums still had a significant following of drummers who either preferred the convenience of tightening both heads with the turn of a single screw, or were stuck in their old ways and weren't ready to accept the change over to separate tension drums which were fast becoming the industry standard on high end models.

This particular example appears to date from earlier in Nokes & Nicolai's existence, not too long after they had succeeded the F. E. Dodge Company. This much is suggested by the fact that both the snare throw-off and one pair of the rim clips are stamped with wording indicating that patents are pending. These markings are absent from hardware on later instruments as the patents were evidently never granted and the earlier 'patent applied for' stamped hardware were eventually used up.

Nokes & Nicolai Label, ca. 1912 - 1920

Nokes & Nicolai Thumbscrew Rods and Claws

This drum is of particular interest to me because it completes a 'set' as pictured in Nokes & Nicolai American Drummer No. 5.





Do you have a Nokes & Nicolai snare drum? I'd like to hear from you! Feel free to send me an email at lee@vinson.net. And for more on Nokes & Nicolai and their predecessors F. E. Dodge, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com.