The Sad State of Stone

By the late 1930s, George B. Stone & Son was all but done as a manufacturer. Long past their heyday of the early - mid 1920s, Stone & Son was now little more than a small time repair shop capable of assembling low end models built of parts sourced from other makers. The Stone Drum School would carry on for years to come as George Lawrence Stone had become quite successful as a teacher and author, but the drum production side of the family business had sunk to a very low point. And representing that unfortunate era is the drum pictured here which was recently offered on ebay by a seller in North Carolina. The most striking thing about this instrument is just how basic it is from top to bottom. The wooden shell and hoops are simple in construction and may or may not have actually been produced by Stone in house. (This is a topic which was discussed at further length in an earlier post.) The snare strainer is of the rudimentary, old fashioned variety and is not a capable of easily engaging or disengaging the snares from the bottom head. The tensioning hardware is also quite old school. Simple thumbrods connect through single point, stamped metal claws to threaded claws on the opposite hoop and tune both heads simultaneously. This is the definition of single tensioning which does not provide for the individual tuning of each head. Separate tensioning, where each head can be tightened independently, had been common on higher end models for several decades by this time. The drum has no butt plate, only a simple fiber snare butt which is held in place against the bottom hoop by the snares themselves. This may have been commonplace in the early 1900s and even into the 1920s for some models by some makers, but by the late 1930s when this drum was put together, using a true butt plate was more typical. Everything about this drum points to it being an inexpensive assembly project dating from extremely late in Stone's existence. So far from it's prime had Stone's workshop descended by this point, they had apparently even run out of maker's labels to apply to the inside of drum shells. So it had come to this. Someone evidently sat down at a typewriter and pecked out the name and address "GEO. B. STONE & SON, Inc. / 61 Hanover St. / Boston, Mass" on a blank adhesive label, almost succeeding at keeping the lettering inside of the colored margins. This is the miserably poor level of attention to detail to which Stone had sunk in the end.

The quality level of Stone drums had certainly tumbled a long way, but it is all part of the story of how Boston's largest drum builder rose and fell over an arc of nearly fifty years. It is a shame however that drums such as this could easily give the impression that Stone & Son wasn't at one point a maker of carefully crafted, top of the line instruments capable of stacking up favorably with those from any other maker in the world.


And as always, if you have an instrument made by Geo. B. Stone & Son, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me a note at lee@vinson.net.

Stone Master-Model Restoration - Completion

Restoration projects always take some time to complete. In a test of patience, this one took more than two years to come back together. But the end result is a beautiful George B. Stone & Son Master-Model drum. The drum dates from late 1924 or early 1925 based on its four digit Stone serial number. And at age 86, there were a lot of issues with this drum when it arrived in the summer of 2011. The original finish had been removed from the wooden shell and hoops, and a shoddy coat of goop had been applied in its place. The metal parts were in no better shape. There were several missing claws and nuts, though this isn't too unusual when these drums surface. But the remaining hardware had been poorly replated over the existing original nickel plating, most of which was beginning to flake away as rust was starting to take its toll. So the decision was made in the Spring of 2012 to ship this one off to a couple of experts to have them work their magic.

The maple shell and hoops went to Will Tillman of Drummers Dream in Stewartstown, Pennsylvania. Will is a Cabinetmaker who specializes in the restoration and reproduction of period American furniture and he builds drums as a side business. His experience as a woodworker and his knowledge of period finishes and application techniques makes him uniquely qualified to handle a project such as this one. Will was able to remove the unoriginal wood finishes and then apply several coats of natural shellac bringing the drum as close as possible to its original appearance.

The metal hardware went to Italian master craftsman Adrian Kirchler. AK's handmade metal shells, formed in the tradition of the early 20th century drum makers, are setting a new industry standard and have been featured on special edition models from Ludwig and Craviotto as well as Adrian's own custom made drums. His work as a craftsman is of the highest caliber and, even as his custom drum business has made it difficult to take on restoration projects, he was willing to tackle this project. Aside from stripping and replating all of the original hardware, Adrian was able to make several reproduction claws and nuts to help complete this drum. He was also able to re-blacken the background on the Stone Master-Model badge so that the raised lettering could once again be legible.

Master-Model Badge, Before and After Restoration

Reproduction Master-Model Claws and Nuts

Master-Model Hardware - Before Restoration

Master-Model Hardware - After Restoration

Now that the drum is reassembled, it is a truly striking example of a blond Stone & Son Master-Model. The before and after pictures tell the story best.



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

Corroborating Haynes Labels

A drum in my personal collection manufactured by J. C. Haynes & Co. bears a fantastic label inside which reads in part: "Manufacturers and Importers of Brass and German Silver Musical Instruments. / J. C. Haynes & Co., / Importers, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in / Musical Instruments, Strings, Sheet Music, and Musical Merchandise. / 33 COURT ST., opp. the Court House. / John C. Haynes.   Oliver Ditson.   C. H. Ditson.   J. E. Ditson."   Left incomplete, however, are the blanks where the date and owners name can be filled in. Even upon close inspection, no handwriting can be made out. One theory as to why this information isn't present is that the ink has simply faded over time. It now appears more likely that these blanks were never filled in at all. We can say this with a bit of confidence after comparing it with another similar instrument.

J. C. Haynes & Co. Drum, ca. 1870s - 1880s

J. C. Haynes & Co. Drum Label, ca. 1870s - 1880s

The example seen below was recently offered up on ebay by a seller from Texas with the username "all_things_peacock". The drum is quite similar to mine, especially upon viewing the shells from the inside. Both drum appear to be made of a dark hardwood and have narrow reinforcing rings made of a lighter colored wood at each bearing edge. The labels on these two instruments are a perfect match which helps solve a bit of a mystery as to how old my own drum is. Past research showed that the address on a Haynes label by itself was not enough to accurately date a drum beyond a decades wide window spanning most of the later half of the 19th century. But this new label, complete with a hand written date provides a firm point on the timeline. September 9th, 1880 it reads, which happened to be a Thursday for what it's worth.

J. C. Haynes & Co. Drum, 1880

J. C. Haynes & Co. Drum Label, 1880

For more information on John C. Haynes and their parent company Oliver Ditson, please visit BostonDrumBuilders.com. And as always, I love hearing from folks about old drums so feel free to drop me a note at lee@vinson.net.

Lessons with George Lawrence Stone

In a recent email correspondence, Jim from Massachusetts was kind enough to share his memories of studying with George Lawrence Stone in the early 1960s. Jim's recollections provide a fascinating first hand account of what Stone was like as a man and as a teacher. By this time, George Lawrence Stone would have been in his mid 70s and in the twilight of his long and distinguished career as a teacher, author, and businessman. The family drum manufacturing operation, George B. Stone & Son, had long since been shuttered and his performing days were behind him. George Lawrence would have been best known in the 1960s as a sort of grandfather figure in the percussion world having been an accomplished drum corps instructor, a founding member of the National Association of Rudimental Drummers, and a regular columnist in a variety of widely circulated music publications including the International Musician. Today, he is of course remembered above all else as the author of the ever useful resource on drumming technique, Stick Control. The following is an edited together version of Jim's words. And below is an exercise written out by George Lawrence Stone in one of Jim's lessons entitled "Hand Velocity".

I studied with him in 1961-62. He had just published Accents and Rebounds and was writing a manuscript containing "Personal Conditioners". His secretary would announce before each lesson "the doctor will see you now." He wore a three-piece tailored suit including a breast pocket handkerchief and a watch fob. His office/studio included a custom built practice desk built for two. There were permanent gum rubber practice pads built into the desk top with a pad on his side and a pad for the student on the other. The pads were elevated 30 degrees to accommodate the traditional grip. Mr. Stone always used hand-crafted rosewood sticks. Each lesson began with Mr. Stone setting a wind up alarm clock. My lessons were 30 minutes. Often times the metronome and the clock would be ticking at the same time. He loved chewing tobacco and would take a break mid-lesson relating stories of his life such as from his time playing xylophone with a vaudeville company. Mr. Stone's favorite/most often used expression to emphasize or clarify a direction was "Don't 'cha know?" Mr. Stone gave me undivided attention on every detail of my playing for the full lesson. He would often do "stop action" checks on my sticking positions by saying "freeze!" Most of the time my stick tips would be out of the two-inch circle he would allow you for error. He would assign three to four hours of homework. My assignments were to learn to "open and close" all 26 rudiments, and the usual "Stick Control" exercises. He recommended lengthy exercises averaging 15-30 minutes each. They were near torturous! He would say "Don't stop playing. If you need a rest, go out by the rim and play softly." His ideal student was the one that would and could improve, challenge, and enhance his teachings. Joe Morello is the most obvious example. Stone had his students agree to a three month trial after which he would let you go or keep you on. I kept on for a year. Joe Morello did three. Mr. Stone always used a straight edge to title his exercises and solos. I watched him do this several times. He took care with what he wrote and said. I recall "the Doctor" telling me he prepared the manuscript for Stick Control literally by hand. At one of my lessons he asked if I would mind stepping out of the studio and waiting twenty minutes while he met with a "musician from out of town" who dropped by to see him. It was Lionel Hampton in for a consultation.

Harry A. Bower Drumline

From a reader in Maine comes pictures of a Harry A. Bower field drum in a white finish with the American Legion Logo applied to the shell. More interesting is that this drum is reportedly one of EIGHT in a complete set which was at one time used to outfit the local Legion's drum & bugle corps. The drums have consecutive serial numbers in the very low 1100 range, an extremely high number for Bower. It is doubtful that he actually produced that many instruments even over the long span of time during which he was active as an assembler of drums. In the late 1920s Harry A. Bower relocated from Boston, where the Vaudeville scene was drying up, to California where there was a burgeoning music and entertainment industry. Most of Bower's drums date from the late 1910s and early 1920s which appears to have been the height of his success as a drum builder. He largely disappears from the manufacturing and retailing scene after about the late 1920s. The label inside of this drum appears to date the instruments to 1932 which would be very late for an instrument of this design. Bower's patented tensioning system was an odd one where both heads were tuned concurrently by turning the nuts on the side of the drum. The major disadvantages of this system were that the heads could not be adjusted independently, and that there was nothing holding the rods in place. Should one set of claws lose tension for whatever reason, the drums tended to literally fall apart! What makes these particular instruments so strange is that not only are they of an outdated design, but they were apparently produced well after Bower had left Boston and his musical instrument building operation behind. Is it possible that the parts for these drums were left sitting around back in New England where an associate was able to build out a full set of drums for an American Legion corps? Or did Bower take his remaining stock with him to California only to later sell them to an old connection back on the east coast? There are questions to which answers are not likely to be found, but it is interesting to ponder how Bower came to outfit an entire drumline in 1932. Do you have a drum by Harry A. Bower? I want to hear from you! Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net