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DRUMS AND THE WAR EFFORT
When
the United States
of America entered into World War Two in late 1941, metals such as brass,
nickel, and steel were soon desperately needed for the production of
ammunition, airplanes, tanks and other war related materials. Thus, the U.S.
Government mandated that non-essential, newly manufactured items such as
musical instruments must be constructed using very little of these important
metals.
This
order posed quite a problem for drum companies and creative measures had to be
taken in order to comply with these new laws. As a result of these wartime
limitations, many unique and beautiful drums were produced during World War
Two.
7x14
Slingerland Rolling Bomber snare drum
In June
1942, The United States had been at war with Japan and Germany for over six
months. With materials necessary to the war effort becoming scarce, the U.S.
Government issued the following order to manufacturers of musical instruments:
General
Limitation Order No. L-37
To Restrict
the Production of Musical Instruments
“Whereas, the demands
of national defense have created a shortage of materials used in the
manufacture of musical instruments, action has action has already been taken to
conserve the supply and direct the distribution of such materials to insure
deliveries for defense and essential civilian requirements; and the present
supply of these materials will be insufficient for defense and essential
civilian requirements unless the manufacture of musical instruments is
curtailed and the use of critical materials for such manufacture thereby
reduced.”
General
Limitation Order L-37, stated that all producers of musical instruments must
limit the amount of critical materials (metal) to no more than ten percent of
the total weight.
In
answer to the government’s order, Slingerland
introduced the “Rolling Bomber” drums with rosewood and walnut lugs, strainers,
maple hoops, and other parts normally made from metal. However, the fragile
nature of the wooden lugs often caused them to break under higher tensioning.
Pearl and sparkle finishes were available.
The Gretsch Drum
Company offered their “Defender” line, with silver painted,
bullet shaped maple lugs and tacked-on bottom heads.
The Leedy Drum Company did their part for the war effort by
manufacturing the “Dreadnought” drums. Similar to Ludwig & Ludwig’s
“Victory” drums, the Leedy “Dreadnoughts” utilized distinctive hard wood lugs,
trap rail holders and even foot pedals and stands!
The
W.F.L. Drum Company incorporated a unique internal tensioning system (most likely inspired by the Leedy and Strupe “Master Model” drums of the 1930’s) constructed mostly of maple. The drums were tuned by
turning a series of tension rods from outside the drum. This caused wooden
rings to be pushed against the heads for tensioning. These unusual drums were
known as the “Victorious” line.
Ludwig
& Ludwig offered their line of drums during this period known as the
Victory models. Lugs and hoops were made from maple.
During the war, drum companies did not produce only
drums. Many musical instrument manufacturers were granted contracts to produce navigational
equipment and other products for use in the war effort. For example, C. G. Conn
(parent company of Ludwig & Ludwig and Leedy) was
granted exclusive contracts to manufacture altimeters for the armed forces.
M-087
Altimeter by C. G. Conn
As World War Two drew to a close,
the L-37 metal restriction order was finally revoked on May 10, 1945. However,
because supplies of crucial materials was still in short supply, it was many
months before instrument production returned to pre-war levels. By 1946,
manufacture and sales had pretty much returned to normal.
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