Late 50s Geo. Way 'Studio' 14x5.5" in Black and Gold Duco

Geo. Way may not be a company you know as well as Ludwig, Leedy or Slingerland etc but George Way played a part in many of the major manufacturers including Leedy, Slingerland, Rogers, Amrawco (American Raw Hide Company), C.G. Conn and Leedy & Ludwig. He was responsible for the first self-aligning die cast lug with swivel inserts, the first pearl drum coverings, the floating head concept and for bringing Leedy to the UK in the 20s and 30s, before manufacturing drums under his own name. Geo Way was formed in the 50s in the former Leedy & Ludwig building in Elkhart which is where he designed the unique turret lug later to be used on Camco and now DW drums, of course. Geo Way produced drums for seven years before then being bought out by John Rochon, the owner of Camco. Quite a legendary man, I’m sure you’ll agree.

This drum is a 6-lug design with plenty of tone.

Original duco finish.

The drum came to me with no strainer so for a while a 60s Ajax strainer was fitted which was shaped similiar to the original but after a few years I decided to switch it out for a more functioning Gibraltar throw off. This means there are three extra holes which are only visible from the interior of the shell and also the circular shape from the original strainer has marked the shell which you can see around the Gibraltar throw off.

I believe this drum would have left the factory with single flange hoops, so these hoops fitted aren’t original but work great.

Internal dampener I suspect has been added after factory as it is actually a Rogers but is in working condition.

Some lugs have slight cracks which is common with these castings.

The inside of the shell looks to have suffered slight marks of mould. 

At some point in this drums’ life, the badge looks to have spun round and marked a circle around the badge, but the drum came to me with the badge fully secured.

This is a wonderful players drum. Unlike Ludwig and Slingerland 6 lug drums, this really packs some crunchiness and crispness beside its fatness.

Catalog scan from 1957.

Fitted with new Evans HD Dry and Hazy 300 heads and Puresound Custom Pro Steel wires. 

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