The year 1928 is a very important year in drum history at the Northup Drums Museum. Many of our early trap drum kits with factory painted heads are from the 1928-30 era. From about 1924 to 1940 both the Leedy and Ludwig companies offered a variety of oil painted scenes on bass drum heads in their catalogs. As we have discussed in previous articles, 1928 saw some big changes in the drum world and major drum equipment innovations. In 1928, the hi-hat was first offered in catalogs, and Slingerland entered the drum business. This was also when Leedy and Ludwig decided to get into the banjo business to compete with Slingerland, a mistake that eventually cost both companies their businesses. In 1929, both Ludwig and Leedy were forced to sell to C.G. Conn. LTD, one of the world’s largest instrument manufacturers. Conn moved both Ludwig and Leedy from Chicago and […]

May 2025 Issue