Leedy Broadway Standard

Various Shells depending on date (stamped inside),what had been chopped down recently, what George Way had for lunch :Maple,Mahogany or Walnut and sometimes a combination of those.Also variable was construction between solid and 3 ply, again lost to history perhaps wind direction in Elkhart, Indiana.Sizes appear principally to be 14" by 6.5" with 5.5" and 15x8 variants.All Leedy drums are pre-1951 starting sometime mid-30s.
Later post 51 drums are similiar badged Leedy & Ludwig, George Way was still at the company until the Slingerland takeover apparently 1955.George then preceded on to fire off Camco which begat DW.(A lineage there ).Camcos followed the white interiors of the Leedys.
3 point strainer,agile adaptable no nonsense ;gives you off,loose midway and tight;it stays in position midway unlike modern on offs.
Lugs:elegant Art Deco lined curved beavertails X8 a side
Hoops:Stickchopper for that fine rimshot in your head and a side stick
sound matured in oak caskets.Stamped Broadway Standard.The hardware hoops and lugs came chrome or nickel plated, nickel being cheaper option and slightly duller.The hoops are brass, this is the element every retro custom drum misses out on:the sound of old vintage snares has a good deal of brass hoop ring;its the finesse of the solid ply sound a rich spectra brass struck harmonics.Craviotto may make lovely solid ply snares but with steel hoops, he demeans the shell.
Heads:were calf.
Finish:WMP is common, various sparkles less so.Fading is likely.
Tuning:All round fat to tight

I have a maple-mahogany-maple sandwich;the mahogany is pretty much a solid shell and the maple plys are much thinner.Reinforced with maple.
12/1940 shell.
Thick deep mahogany proud tone, not transparent like my three ply maple Leedy and Ludwig Broadway Standard.Very commanding.
Ginger Baker has played a Leedy Broadway throughout his career,now you know the tone and the crack.
It doesn't blend it demands the other drums get their act together.
As a vintage drum it doesn't have the razor sharp bearing edges of today and is subsequently muted in volume.
An interior muffler of the first order provides tonal variation.

Stays in tune, serious US engineering not accountants stipulated Taiwanese threading.
Wouldn't stand brutal treatment, but it's been hit repeatedly for almost 70 years...that is good construction.

It plays itself.I'm merely privileged to tap it.
Your playing improves with good instruments.

The snare drum market valuations are bizarre : most recent ply drums are inferior to the WFL,many RadioKings and Leedys.Yet they are more expensive to buy.The 70s Tama Superstars are more expensive.
The only vintage wood snare drums currently trading at market value are Oaklawn Camcos.The wood Dynasonics were not popular drums, they choked badly and yet through sparse numbers they command the prices the Leedys etc should be trading at.