Slingerland Drum Company

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Slingerland Drum Company
legal form
founding 1912
Seat United StatesUnited States Conway, Arkansas
Branch Musical instrument making
Website www.gibson.com

The Slingerland Drum Company is a historic American drum manufacturer associated with the history of jazz drumming .

history

The company was founded in 1912 by HH Slingerland (1875-1946, either as Henry Heanon or Heanon Henry). The company started by importing ukuleles from Germany, but then set up its own production because it could not meet the demand. Soon they were producing their own banjos and ukeleles and eventually guitars (including electric guitars from 1936 or earlier). The production of drums began in 1927 in response to the registration of Ludwig u. Ludwig Drum Company in the banjo market. The first Slingerland drums came on the market in 1928. For a long time, Slingerland drums have been synonymous with great jazz drummers like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich and rock drummer Neil Peart , who used them from 1974 to 1979. Even Elton John's drummer Nigel Olsson sat Slingerland drums-a lot.

Slingerland drums in the studio

The company remained in family ownership until 1970. In the seventies and eighties, Slingerland changed hands several times. In the late 1980s, Slingerland briefly collapsed until it was acquired by Gibson in 1994. Slingerland still exists today and offers a variety of drum sets including the signature sets from Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich . You currently operate out of Conway , Arkansas . In 2019 the American manufacturer Drum Workshop (DW) acquired the Slingerland company.

Radio King series

The company's most famous line of products is the Radio King series. These drums were introduced in 1935 and remained the flagship snare drum and drum kit until the Radio King model briefly disappeared from the product line. Radio King was reintroduced between 1960 and 1962 and remains the top tier product for the Slingerland Drum Company. Older Radio Kings are often owned by collectors. Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich were both Radio King endorsers . The popularity of the old Slingerland Radio King snare drums is maintained by the countless professional drummers who still use the snare today (despite endorsement with other brands).

The original Radio King snare drum is differentiated in its design: Instead of using several layers of mahogany, as with most snare drums of this era, single-ply maple with maple reinforcement rings was used for the Radio King. Single-ply wooden drums are known for their resonance and bright tone.

Radio King bass drums and tom-toms were made from mahogany -Holz with maple manufactured -Reinforcinghoops. These drums are known for their "thuddy" tone - very warm with a short decay.

For much of Slingerland's pre-1970s history, manufacturing processes were not standardized in the way that modern large-scale manufacturing companies have. This is in large part due to the fact that the workers often used parts that were officially discontinued from the line. To say unequivocally that "All Radio Kings manufactured between 19xx and 19xx have X finishes and Y lugs" is an invitation to be proven wrong by the existence of an odd hybrid drum.

Rolling Bomber Series

An interesting departure from the standard Slingerland line of products occurred during World War II when wood was used to make drum parts traditionally made of brass , chrome , nickel or steel . This was due to the high demand for the metals that were needed for the war effort. These drums were called the "Rolling Bomber" range and are very popular among collectors.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Slingerland story. (No longer available online.) Tbcnet.com, archived from the original on May 13, 2011 ; accessed on August 21, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tbcnet.com

Web links