Stone Drums from Gardner's Modern Method - 1927 Edition

Carl Edward Gardner's Modern Method for the Instruments of Percussion was one of many influential percussion method books to come out of Boston around the turn of the 20th century including Harry Bower's Imperial Method for the Drum (1898), The Harry A. Bower System in three parts for the Drums, Bells, Xylophone, and Timpani (1911), and the Dodge Drum School (1909) which was later edited by Gardner and reprinted by the Columbia Music Company following Dodge's death. From the 1927 edition of Gardner's Method comes this series of photos showing a man, perhaps Gardner himself, demonstrating playing techniques using a shiny new George B. Stone & Son Master-Model snare drum and later at the helm of a complete Stone drum outfit. The earlier 1919 edition of Gardner's Modern Method includes photos of a different man behind an earlier set of drums including a single tension snare drum the maker of which is unclear. Note that in the picture of the full drumset that there is no hi-hat to be found, only a single cymbal attached to the bass drum hoop which was struck by a small metal beater attached to the bass drum pedal. The drumset as we know it was still evolving at the time of this photo, presumably circa mid to late 1920s. The type of George Stone outfit pictured would have represented the top of the line set up for a theater orchestra drummer of the day.

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 Xylophone

In addition to manufacturing a full line of drums and accessories, Boston's George B. Stone & Son also produced keyboard percussion instruments up until at least the mid 1920s by which time they were also cataloging Deagan instruments as their top of the line offerings.

Keyboard percussion instruments built by Stone included xylophones and orchestra bells which were intended for use mainly by theater drummers and gigging musicians who needed their instruments to be compact and portable. The instrument seen here fits that description well and matches closely with the "Stone Dance Xylophone" as pictured in Catalog I published in 1919.

Source: ebay

Stone Catalog I, 1919

The badge on the case of this instrument dates it no later than 1922. Few other clues as to it's exact date of manufacture can be found. By the mid to late 1920s, xylophones such as this were still available from Stone but were being billed more as entry level instruments rather than viable options for professionals. This was presumably due in large part to the exceptional quality of instruments being turned out by other larger and more capable manufacturers including Leedy of Indianapolis and J. C. Deagan of Chicago.

Do you have a mallet instrument by Geo. B. Stone & Son? I want to hear from you! Send Lee a note at lee@vinson.net.

Another Lyon & Healy / Ditson Example

In a previous post on March 1, 2012 and again in a later blog we touched on the apparent connection between Lyon & Healy of Chicago, and Oliver Ditson of Boston. If the rate at which drums born of this partnership are showing up on ebay serves as any indication, they must not be all that uncommon.

This time a seller located in New Mexico was offering a fairly ordinary single tension drum. The wood shell and hoops are held together by eight early styled single tension rods with claws on either end. The drum is short on detail other than the wooden grommet, the ornamental snare tensioning knob, and it's faux rosewood painted hoops all of which are common on Lyon & Healy drums of the period.

Source: ebay

Source: ebay

The drum drew fourteen bids and was ultimately sold for $102.50 which seems to be on the friendly side of fair. It also reflects the relatively little amount of interest in simple single tension drums of the late 1800s.

Do you have a drum made by Oliver Ditson? I want to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

1922 Stone Separate Tension Orchestra Drum - Completion

Well it only took me three months to get around to it but the 1922 George B. Stone & Son Separate Tension Orchestra Drum is all finished. The drum was quite dirty on arrival but cleaned up quite nicely. The third pair of pics below provides a glimpse of the before and after.

from Stone Catalog H, circa 1915

Lee's 1922 Stone Separate Tension Orchestra Drum

The shell label inside the drum bears a very clean date stamp reading 5 FEB 1922, or February 5th, 1922. Stone & Son was in their prime in the mid - early 1920s and this drum is an excellent example from that period. The polished rosewood grommet and pre-"INC" badge are both consistent with George Stone drums produced through about mid-1922. The move to badges with the "George B. Stone & Son INC" lettering occurred at some point mid way through that year. Threaded black Bakelite grommets began appearing in place of rosewood grommets sometime in 1924.


The only major structural flaw on this drum is the missing arm for the Stone / McIntosh snare throw-off. This is a common issue. Maybe a correct replacement will come along one of these days. Also, there is a crack in the bottom hoop where the strainer is attached, but so long as the snares aren't tensioned too tightly, at least the problem won't worsen.

Before Cleaning

After Cleaning

After cleaning, the drum came back together without too much hassle. The original snares and batter side head were re-installed, and a new bottom head (a repurposed Kalfo Timpani head in fact) was tucked on the existing flesh hoop. The new bottom head is admittedly too thick for perfect authenticity, but for display purposes it fits the bill.

Do you have an instrument by Geo. B. Stone & Son? I want to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.

Early George Burt Stone Photo

An interesting old photograph was recently brought to my attention by Drum & Fife instructor Pete Emerick. The photo was uncovered in an antique store located in Gettysburg, PA which specializes in military antiques. Handwriting on the back of the photo identifies the snare drummer as none other than George Burt Stone and states that the photo is of the Camp M.V. Militia at the turn of the century. I believe the abbreviation M.V. stands for Massachusetts Voluntary. The uniforms worn by the men in the picture narrow the date down a bit further I am told, roughly to between 1886 - 1895.


The drum carried by Stone reads "FIRST REGT. / M.V.M. / DRUM * FIFE / AND / BUGLE CORPS" which corroborates the inscription on the back. The drum itself looks to be a typical late 19th century rope drum with leather ears, metal rim clips, and wooden hoops. No distinguishing makers mark is apparent on either drum in the picture. The most interesting feature of of either drum is the large descriptive emblem painted on the snare drum shell.

George B. Stone had an extensive background in military music and this photograph provides a rare glimpse into the life of a man who would go on to be best known for founding George B. Stone & Son in 1890.

Special thanks to Peter Emerick for sharing the image with me and allowing me to post it here!

As always, you can send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.