Leedy cocktail bass pedal on E-bay?

robertm · Post by **robertm** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:45 am

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 43196&rd=1

Interesting pedal. Says it's from a Leedy, which makes me think it could be a cocktail style unit.

robertm · Post by **robertm** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:50 am

Oops-link didn't make it.

Item on E-bay-220098543196

Here's a pic.

Post by **jmettam** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:37 pm

Hey Robert,

Cool pedal! Sadly, I don't think that this would be convertable to a cocktail pedal at all!

I believe that the small metal ball and arm sticking out the side was intended to hit a small cymbal mounted vertically from the bass drum rim. I have seen this on mechanical Ferris Wheels with acoustic drums. It's a really cool sound for that old caliope music!

- John

matthew medeiros · Post by **matthew medeiros** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:59 pm

jmettam wrote:Hey Robert,

Cool pedal! Sadly, I don't think that this would be convertable to a cocktail pedal at all!

I believe that the small metal ball and arm sticking out the side was intended to hit a small cymbal mounted vertically from the bass drum rim. I have seen this on mechanical Ferris Wheels with acoustic drums. It's a really cool sound for that old caliope music!

- John

John's right, That little apostrophe lookin thing is a "sock" cymbal striker. There was a slotted clamp that mounted to the wooden bass drum hoop, and a very small (8" dia) cymbal clamped to that. Then, when the bass pedal stuck the bass drum, the sock cymbal was also struck. The cymbal was set up down around your "socks" hence the name. If you look at very early pictures of drum kits, it was common for the hi-hat to sit right on the floor so the hi-hats where not able to be struck by hand. This piece looks like a very early piece. If you stop to think about it, early drum kits where just a compilation of all the different items orchestra drummers where hitting at the time. If you want to put together an authentic early drum kit, you have to have a "sock cymbal" striker!!

matthew medeiros · Post by **matthew medeiros** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:09 pm

Sorry, gettin on a rant here, If you look very closely at the sock cymbal striker in the pic you can see that it is actually "sprung" That is, it has a little give to it when it strikes the cymbal. I once saw a foot pedal for sale on e bay that was made out of wood, with a sock cymbal striker. When you think of the early ( '20's) Jazz drummers; there where taking all the percussion instruments that several percusionists from an orchestra where playing, putting everything together in a kit, and doing it all with two arms and two legs, and all with no instruction books, videos, etc,

robertm · Post by **robertm** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:40 am

Fascinating vignettes of drumming history. Thanks!

Side note-it's intriguing to see how cocktail drummers are actively maintaining and contributing to a vital stream in popular music history. The future looks good.

matthew medeiros · Post by **matthew medeiros** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:27 pm

robertm wrote:Fascinating vignettes of drumming history. Thanks!

Side note-it's intriguing to see how cocktail drummers are actively maintaining and contributing to a vital stream in popular music history. The future looks good.

Check out this pedal on e bay: item # 170097705539. Seller says it has a date of 1909 on it. that's when John Graduated highschool, isn't it? He has some good pics of the item. A note on copyright dates; sometimes, when an item is first copyrighted, a date is etched into the metal casting. It is not uncommon for a company to extend their copyright of an item, I think 7 years is common, and often the copyright is extended one or more times, and nobody is going to spend the money to go back and change the date in a casting mold or a stamp mold so when you see a metal item with a copyright date cast or stamped into it, the actual date of manufacture could be 7 years or 14 years or so after the copyright date!!!!!

robertm · Post by **robertm** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:55 am

Cool pedal! "They don't make 'em like they used to!" I like the streamlined engineering on it. Wonder how hard it would be to convert or if it could be converted. Also good note on the date on such pieces-it sounds like it could take some real work as a historian to authenticate. If it proved to be true, quite a find.

matthew medeiros · Post by **matthew medeiros** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:40 pm

robertm wrote:Cool pedal! "They don't make 'em like they used to!" I like the streamlined engineering on it. Wonder how hard it would be to convert or if it could be converted. Also good note on the date on such pieces-it sounds like it could take some real work as a historian to authenticate. If it proved to be true, quite a find.

Mfg's catlogs, touring band picture (often dated) and personal memorablia that's dated is the best way to narrow down dates, I thinks

matthew medeiros · Post by **matthew medeiros** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:13 pm

Check out this item on E bay. item # is 180154727401. It's an old set and has great pics of the cymbal that mounts to the bass drum hoop and was struck by the foot pedal, and also, an excellent pic of a "sock cymbal" high hat set up. See how it sat on the ground in the good old days?? Hence the name sock cymbal, still in use today. Also, It's a folding set, should be of interest to cocktail afficianado's? Check it out

cocktaildrum.com