 Welcome to the drum history podcast. I'm your host Bart van der Zee and today I am joined by the collecting legend Mike Corrado Mike welcome to the show. Thanks. I appreciate it. Sure. Yeah, it's um You and I met at the Chicago drum show 2019 which I guess is the last one that you know that happened when we're recording this because it's 2020 and the world has gone crazy and break. I'll never forget you give me you gave me your your business card Which was actually a tuning key that had your name and information engraved on it Which will always be the coolest thing the coolest card. I've ever got cool. Good. Yeah so Mike you are just You are one of those people who's just kind of a name like the Corrado collection you're synonymous with Really some of the finest drums in the world. I would love to hear about your collection You've been recommended by multiple people too many to name as being a guest on this show like almost one of those like essential Guests especially on the drum forums. I see your name pop up all the time as hey, you should get them on the show So you're here. I'm excited. Why don't we start by really going back to how did How did Mike Corrado become you know the legendary drum collector? How did it all start? Well? I've been playing drums for 61 years. I've been teaching drones for 57 years and Through all my years of playing I always had some you know, five or ten snare drums laying around Just you know different sounds I really weren't wasn't into the vintage or Collectibility of them. I just had them laying around and I would use them for different gigs and then around 1994-95 I started reading some articles about vintage drums and engraved drums and black beauties and Then I then I started seeing that some of the drums that were presented or some of the drums I had in my you know my stash of drums so then About Mars of 95 I brought in two snare drums to a guy named Sam Adato in San Francisco He had a drum shop. He now moved up to the West Coast. I think in Oregon and We made a trade. Yeah, he traded me a nice seven by 14 twin strainer white marine pearl swing model and WFL and I traded them an old grit snare and something else and The bug bit from there. I That was the first of my starting of my collecting that was probably on March of 1995 Wow Yeah, man, and before we move forward just so people know How many snares do you have now? Um give or take six hundred and fifty Could be as little as a little as six hundred and forty. It could be six hundred and sixty But we're worried, but you know, let's say six forty to six fifty plus or minus. Oh Man, okay, just to put that into perspective so everyone everyone knows and Okay, so And what year remind me again? You just said but what year was that that you started that you would say the bug bit you Started the collection in March of 1995 95 okay, so yeah going on for a long time now Obviously you are a drummer. We've spoken on the phone a few times before this and you're a drum teacher, correct? You teach many students. Yeah Now gosh, I just it's like Jaw-dropping six hundred. Let's call it six hundred fifty snares. That's Unbelievable I'd love to hear a little bit about so it's not like a thing though where and maybe you're gonna change this where I know you have a book This isn't something though where like they're very They're not on display like as far as I know you can't really click through and see every single snare that you have so that it Really is a a private collection at this point, correct It is it's that when you walk in the entryway to my house you'll see a couple hundred snare drums on custom shelves and We don't use a dining room in my house So that dining room has about 50 snare drums in it along with my Peloton bike and all that So a lot of a lot of the a material is on display and I I have friends that come by and see the collection or fellow collectors that they're in town You know they come by and see it so and then in the garage. I have some cabinets that I have a couple of hundred snare drums in that Snare them with the rare finishes like peacock pearl and rose pearl that shouldn't see the light of day continually So they're enough nice dark cabinets, but they're you know available to show people and Then I have some drums in storage, you know, just like some old duplexes or kind of collectibles But you know just old stuff or you know, the Nickel over brass snare drums Yeah, that are that are that are should be in a collection, but then it's not the a material Your like D material is probably nicer than my Material it's unbelievable. So and I got to ask you are married, correct. Yes. I've been married 31 years My wife up with it She's actually a little bit. She's kind of legendary amongst collectors for if you um If you look up an old drum magazine, they had an article about me with that You'll see pan shots of my entryway that they they showed Photos and you'll get an idea of how this setup is at the house and but my wife Is definitely legendary amongst collectors, you know, she puts up with my craziness I paid for it in other ways as other collectors will probably know But uh Yeah, it's it's it works out so far man Yeah, I mean I have a An old Japanese kit in my kind of front hall right when you open the door and I thought I was like dream Your next level man. Well, that's unbelievable So I think it'd be kind of cool. I want to do a couple things I want to hear about Some of your favorite snares how you collect these but maybe you can tell someone I don't know if it's even Tangible but like what's let's say like like all right, so me I want to maybe get into collecting snare drums What is a good first thing I should do? How do I get into? Collecting valuable rare snares Well A lot of things are swimming in my mind, but that's just kind of not not in really any order Sure, I found I found over the years having a good network of friends and fellow collectors has really helped but the the price paid for that is Those fellow friends and collectors that I've done deals with if you do honest deals and come through with your end of the deal These guys are gonna want to do business with you again No, yeah, so I have a nice network of friends And collectors that if they find something that maybe they're not interested in though Alert me as I will for them, you know, I'm not into 60s Grats drum sets, although they're great, and I totally respect what they are I just don't collect them, but if I see things like that, I'll call my good friend Steve Maxwell He he deals in that kind of stuff and vice versa. He'll he'll alert me of a black beauty that's available or something So I can't just answer your question if you get that nice You know list of friends that Contact Then you're you're getting calls here and there even if it doesn't pan out I always appreciate the call and a lot of times if it doesn't work for me I can turn them on to someone else that might be interested Yeah, so that's what that's one way to start Getting a collection You know the drum shows are always always help eBay I've found a lot of great snare drums on eBay. I mean a lot over the years Interesting to me because I'm 30 and I feel like eBay was huge and maybe it kind of went more to like in so I'm wrong obviously, but it went more to like Facebook Marketplace Craigslist eBay is risky because it's you know, it's being shipped and there's a lot of fake stuff on eBay, but you're You're telling me that like no eBay is where it's at. There's lots of good stuff on eBay To this day, right? Yeah, I found I found I mean I found some great drums Some of them I've paid up the wazoo for and some of them have gotten for a steal They're out there You know the thing with eBay eBay is very pro buyer So, you know if you if you get something and it's not right I mean, you know, you can file a claim and you know, it's kind of unfortunate But the seller gets docked right away and that's good to know. Yeah, but aside from all of that stuff The just you know a good straight deal where you see a cool drum. You put your bid in. I like to snipe it I'm kind of a sniper. So You know, I actually found a lot of drums. I mean something what's sniping means while we're on that Well, it's You wait till the last couple of seconds and then you throw your bid in in the old days of the eBay You had to kind of have a I have a little atomic clock next to me there. So I got the accurate time Nowadays you eBay has a thing where you're bidding and it shows a little time clock next to it How many seconds on me a minute left? So, you know, there's other ways to it Another concept is you just throw in your bid and just your bid is the most you want to pay And if it ends up being the winning winning bid, then you're the winner if it doesn't you then You know, you don't win or the other thing they have is the buy it now if you really want it I've gotten things like that because I really wanted this buy it now you pay a little more premium But, you know, you knock everything out of the way and you get it. Yeah, okay. Well Have you ever been Burned by anything like that. Well, you said eBay really covers it But like maybe you like has it happened to you where you're trying to you know You bid on something and you get it and it's not even what you wanted or it's broken or it's a fake Has that happened to you? No fakes, although, you know with 650 snare drums, you know, I'm sure Something might have slipped by but pretty much the the the person I people people I had dealt with, you know had been honest I've gotten Burned Lightly, you know a drum will come and and the badge is loose and it looks like it's been taken off and put on Or I bought something off Shop Goodwill once which they're good people and they took care of business But they you know, they said the drum was six and a half By 15 and it was actually six and a half by 14. Well, that's nice But that's not what they said. I wanted it. Yeah, I wanted but it was a very rare Black jewel model so I took it anyway, but then they knocked 500 bucks off and they you know, they try to tell me Well, you know, we have a certain way to measure and I go well No, you measure from the inside of the drum and that's the diameter have a nice day You know, don't tell me about that, you know, so they were cool though They refunded me some money and so I have nothing but good things to say they took care of business a couple other things I've gotten, you know some surprises couple of extra holes that nobody Decided to tell me about in most cases everybody has taken care of business One collector back east kind of just said well too bad. You should have known I said, well, you know My clairvoyance license expired last month and I didn't know that so No, yeah So but I think I would think what you just said about oh this guy kind of did something shady Goes back to the first one of your network of friends where then you can then say hey Everyone watch out for this guy or girl because they have burned me and then your reputation is super It's got to be super important, you know You're keeping a good clean because you have a reputation obviously Yeah, that's a small group of people. So, you know, you start doing that to too many people You're just your name will get out there. But These are few and far between, you know, 90 95 98% of the time. It's a good deal Maybe but something minor here and there maybe the collector was like an antique dealer and really didn't know a lot about drums So, you know, he said the you know, the drum was seven inches But it's six and a half because he measured all the way out to the rims instead of the shell my you know mind the little things, you know, you can let that slide and Yeah, yeah, I'm a mistake and and everybody most everybody is taking care of business and So I still give on the eBay. I still give it an A, you know Okay. Yeah, you know, it's I've had pleasurable experience. I've been doing eBay since 1998 Buying and selling, you know, like I'll buy I'll buy some drums and clean them up and make the money off that and then just save the Money to spend on the drums. I really want Sure. Yeah, I mean I Gotta get back on eBay now so You said buying and selling do you sell a lot of drums because it sounds like with 650, you know ish snares you have are you are they are they mainly coming in and not going out or are they going out to help support the habit right I'm pretty much what they call an end user The stuff I collect is like keep like I might find If I let's say I find a black beauty that I just can forget for cheap clean it up and make some money on it I'll do that. I don't have it already like it So I'll buy, you know, or something something comes in the store where I teach and they don't want it They'll turn me on to it I'm taking home clean it up and put it on eBay and you know, hopefully make some money on it So primarily I collect and I keep the drums You know, yeah, I put a lot of effort into finding some drums. So I don't worry about You know what it's going to be worth next year if I wanted it right now I want it for the collection and I enjoy it for what it is now. I I tell people my collection These drums could be worth a nickel tomorrow. I can still honestly say that I had fun collecting them So that's that's where I'm at. I don't do it as a as a for a living That's great. It's I know it's hard because I know a lot of the guys that Collect and they're also dealers, you know, what do you know? What do you you got to buy something for a thousand bucks and you got to turn it or You're sitting on merchandise where if I buy it. I want it for the collection So it kind of makes a little easier on the brain there Yeah, I know exactly what you mean I find that like like if I do let's say an episode or something on social media where you know a video that I'll put up of Buddy Rich will get a ton of views and it's great But then one that I do of like some very cool thing that I am really like I had to dig to find And I put it up and it gets a couple likes I'm like well I'm still happy that I found that and surfaced it and showed it to people. Yeah, it's important You know what I mean? It's it's yeah, it doesn't matter that that stuff. So um, yeah, I remember talking to John Aldridge about Collecting obviously you guys know each other you've done this But like I think he said something about once you kind of get your first let's say black beauty It seems like almost collecting like classic cars or something like you can then take that and then trade it for something else And then like once you get one you're sort of in the Yeah That money is invested and it's gonna keep you can make it go up and up and up and up It's just an initial buy-in. That's I guess kind of the hurdle. Yeah John Aldridge is I consider him a great friend He was one of the first collectors I met in my early days He took a lot of time with me to answer my novice questions And I hold him responsible for getting me into black beauty Yeah But but to answer your question. Yeah, see Sometimes I'll find the drum and I already have one or two of so you can fix it up clean it makes the money But I tend to collect I like to collect sets of things So I like to collect a four by fourteen version a five by fourteen a six and a half and then in the six lug And the eight lug and the ten lug so yeah, I like I like sets of things That's Very cool, and I know Like I think Mark Cooper talked about it on the show collecting Slingerland a matching banjo to a matching snare or drum set from obviously very early on in Slingerland It's you know that same kind of like Yeah, Mark. Yeah, Mark has I think I've seen he has a sea green banjo and I think a rose banjo and Those match up with the sea green and the Rose pearl Slingerland, so yeah, I've seen those Absolutely now Are you only snares or do you have some obviously you you have a drum set? I would imagine but do you are or do you collect drum sets as well? No, if I if I started collecting drum sets, I'd have to come and live with you because I'm already pushing the limit here I do have a couple of drum sets, you know, I have one packed up and then I have a couple of the drum studio where I teach But I primarily I my main thing is I collect vintage snare drums Also, just a side thing to that I collect, you know old drum keys and old sticks and old drum pads and catalogs and things like that But cool drum wise I collect just snare drums Yeah, that makes sense. You're right. Yeah sets are obviously you can stock them But they're very They take up a lot of space. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay now I I love getting your I'm on getting your email list you send out to people who are on there you get your You know you send out and they're there in I should say in not so modern drummer. You Document your fines and your hunts and yeah, yeah, and what you've done to these snares So I just think what you're doing is just kind of like a Like how people can follow along with your journey is super cool. I Would love to hear a little bit about maybe let's say top five or you know, whatever top three of Kind of the holy grail You can't believe that you got it Scare drones. Yeah, what would those be? well, that's a that's a rough one because It's hard. I'll try to limit it There's there's so many that are Better in that there's so many that are in the top five somebody else. I could say it that way 100 right there you go. That's better Well a snare drum that I really like From the 20s is called the golden-grey triumphal model I've kind of studied a little bit and to my love kind of Checking out who owns what and in my searching. That's narrowed it down that there's ten of them so far Out there and I kind of know where they all are So I like to collect triumphals I've never heard of that. I'm googling it now. Obviously. Okay, Ludwig. Yeah, it's a goal. That's a Gold plated everything's gold plated the shell is engraved the Lugs are engraved and the rims are engraved. It was kind of like Ludwig Ludwig flagship snare drum So so I collect so I collect triumphals like those are my top snare drums I'm not many around there's only ten of them out there. So Not a whole lot that I know there could be more and you know uncle Elmer's born in Oklahoma But but right now I've I've found we're we're ten of them are and Six of them are in my collection. So I know where the where the rest are Before you move on to number two here Let me ask you and this is probably you know a no one can answer this kind of question but if there's Whatever you said ten of these snares in the world so far So far, okay, but yeah, so that's my question is like Ludwig made a bunch of them No one knows what happens to them But like that's so interesting to me that like obviously Ludwig made more than ten snares They must just get I mean obviously again No one knows but they must just get lost to like floods or they're in a barn or there That's just such an interesting thing of like where are these snares? Where did they go? You know, yeah, I must drive you nuts the last one like the last trial for what I bought this lady It was in a pile of garbage in The house that they sold that they bought the guy left the house and left it was on top of the garbage can This is a you know a rare so the rare drum and the guys is gonna throw it away So that's wow what happens sometimes so These drums were 125 bucks or so back in the early 20s, so that was big money then So it's safe to say that they didn't make many of them You know, yeah, I've been told by Harry Kangini Noted collector and historian. He thinks they made about 12 of them. That was his opinion And that's so far, you know makes sense because I will I've only come up where there's 10 of them again Not that there's any more somewhere else, but they just haven't surfaced Geez, yeah, man, and and yeah, I look online and it says some of them were made in 1928 Which obviously the following year was the Great Depression. So that is a killer on you know, yeah Luxurious snare. Yeah, the 25 is the the models with the eight lugs or 10 lugs and then 10 lugs There's a couple of the supers and obviously those were out in the late 20s also you know And then I got a I got a couple of six lug Triumphals so early ones and so people know because it's kind of I googled triumphant. It's triumphal t-r-i-u-m P-h-a-l Yeah, search to know you see it in the old Ludwig catalogs they up in the front They'll show the different options you can get The deluxe hardware, which is the copper with the gold lacquer or chrome if it's after 1929 or Nickel and then they'll have They'll go mention gold and might even mention triumphal where everything's gold plated and engraved Yeah Wow There's um, there's one on eBay that I see for $13,500 so I might I might snipe that all right. No, I'm kidding My god. No, I would be in trouble, but okay, so What yeah, what's number two on your list? Well, I have a glass stone. I have a original glass stone. It's in my book It's the Charlie Cordes model Charlie Cordes was Really glad stones mechanic the guy who put everything together And it's a goal. It's a six by 14 gold lacquer with all gold hardware and From what I'm told it's the only one like that the one that's same finish But it is a seven by 14 is Billy's Actual drum a good friend of mine owns that But from what I'm told there's only the only made two of the gold lacquer shell with gold hardware And so that's that's a very rare one Yeah, I want to do I've Dom Femmularo did a episode about Molar Gladstone and Touching on all of them a little bit Yeah, I think I need to do a Billy Gladstone episode because his snares are just some of the most Him as a person obviously is you know a legend, but his snares are very rare and very You know iconic and there's just It's just so cool. So that's that's got to be That was that an eBay thing or how did you get that one? That one was actually one of my first big purchases probably around 1996 I heard a guy had a they had five or six Gladstones in a Florida and so we talked and worked a deal But before I forget you ought to look up Chet Bowser on him. He's a very well-known Gladstone expert and he'd be a great interview for you He's uh, yeah, he's the You know, he has a book out about Gladstone Candy owns six or seven original Gladstones and Gretz Gladstone. So he'd be the perfect person to talk to that stuff Also, Steve Maxwell did Steve Maxwell Maxwell drums. He's broken a lot of Gladstone. So he can tell you a lot about that too perfect, yeah Steve's on my list. I'll go to say that I've been trying to get Steve on the show and he's It just hasn't worked yet because I want to do a Craviado episode as well, which oh, yeah, I think everyone knows I've said it on the show a bunch these episodes Sometimes they take forever you for example, we met in 2019 We talked for you the email for maybe a year and it just kind of yeah They just don't happen and it's no one's fault. It's not a bad thing But when they actually do it's just it's awesome. So oh, yeah I appreciate the recommendation. So, okay, so you got the Ludwig you got the Gladstone What else is your you know, you're your your house is on fire you grab the Oh boy, I probably leave them all because I couldn't I just couldn't take the ones I want I'd be that'd be a be a Hate to be in that boat But another one I like I'm a I like slingerland do all models. They're kind of cool They're Same concept as the sling of the Ludwig super Ludwig model parallel mechanism on the bottom But they're much rarer because they got sued by Ludwig because their mechanism Was too close to Ludwigs and they went to court and Ludwig one. So they had to cease and desist so there's not many Slingerland do walls out there of the duals the one that I really think is a holy grail is It's a it's a black engraved do all called the radio model It's the only one I've ever seen again, not that there's another one somewhere, but at the moment This is the only one I've ever seen this one kind of mine Alerted me to and the guy that had it set me pictures and I looked at the shell and it was covered in White lacquer or enamel and he started to yeah, he started to take the enamel off And I said wait just hold on for a second and I could notice engraving engraving underneath So we struck a deal. I just said just send me the drum. Here's your money And I was able to get the white lacquer off you found it in an art school in a room in an art school somewhere and So they really get the white lacquer off and it wasn't the same engraving that's on a slingerland black beauty But it's called a radio model, which is the middle version of a do all with the art gold hardware So that was that was the fun restoration. I'm looking at it. There's a Not some modern drummer Article about it that you wrote which is really cool to be like talking about this and looking it up All right, like we rehearsed it. Yeah, exactly cue the pictures so Do you do do you physically? Do all these restorations yourself like do you go out and have a workbench you do everything you strip it You're the master of getting these, you know unbelievably rare snares Back to life or do you get some help on certain things? Folks like I have you know, I have my garage where I have all my things that I do when I restore I try to You know, there's there's there's kind of three ways to go you can leave the drum as it is Or you can do some kind of you know restoration or You can totally make it brand new looking. I kind of keep in the middle Yeah, so I'm not a purist But I'm realistic. There's an old saying I use that a friend of mine told me Russ doesn't sleep So you can leave the drum like it is if you want to be a purist, but that rust is gonna keep on going So I get rid of the rust clean up the hard, you know hardware if it's if it's nickel over brass, you know polish it up if it's really You know, sometimes nickel gets that patina that you just can't Polish out by hand. So I'll bring it to my platers and they got the big Polishing wheels and they don't replay it. They just polish it up. It's called coloring They just bring the the nickel back to life or if it's art go art the art goal or the let's finish from Ludwig Where the copper is? Lackened it's because the lacquer is worn off and then the copper just, you know, tarnishes so I'll I'll get all that old lacquer off and Polish up the original copper and then hit it with some gold lacquer So I leave all the imperfections in it. So So it's just clean, you know, like you got a little car and you know, the the headlight rims are Rusted you fix that, you know, exactly. So that's I kind of You know, I don't usually replay anything unless you have to absolutely have to replay something like let's say You know a collar hook is wrong. I don't have a copper one. So I'll get one of the air up That's nickel and have a copper to match So and then there's then the shell a lot of time on those old black beauties the lacquer just gets pitted and really ugly looking a Lot of times I can polish up the original lacquer and it looks really good and go from there but sometimes it's it's it's just so you know pitted and and Thrashed I can just strip the lacquer off get it down to the original black nickel Polished that and then just really clear-coated. So at least I had to add a step But it looks way better than it did So it's like taking an old model T and polishing the black the original black paint, you know without without having to repaint the shell Or repaint and then sealing it like you're saying just to keep it from happening again Yeah, so I do I do restorations on the side. I people send me their drums the good plug for me here People send send me their drums and I restore them done a bunch of them and You know, I treat their drums like they're mine. So, you know We've discussed it before I say here's here's the parts you're missing. Here's the parts that are broke Here's what I can do I can give them I give them both scenarios, you know and If there's a couple of scenarios which way to go and I'll leave it up to them and then you know So oh, yeah to answer your original question. So I'm plating or High-end polishing where I can't do it by hand. I'll go to my platers. They take care of me Yeah, then I can usually get dense out of the shell. Okay, if it's a major dent I'll go to My plater because they're good at taking dense out and I also have a machinist which is down the street from the platers He'll he can fix broken strainers and he's he's amazing. He brings these old parts back to life So I use him a lot for parts that are just trash or bent Or have to be re-threaded because they're stripped. He has saved a lot of a lot of parts So it makes the restoration keeps those parts original. They're just fixed Yeah, yeah, you can't have every skill or tool or no You need like a machine shop is a machine shop. I mean, that's like that do right. Yeah, right, right? Unbelievable. Well, I mean I again if people have snares or drums that are you know, I can't think of a better person Obviously who has more experience with these? Super rare snares, so we'll have all of Mike's info in the description and at the end will give out where they can reach you so All right, maybe a couple more what what that three give us maybe two more What else what else you got? Oh, let's see. We've got duals. Let's see Well, okay, I got a couple of them A black beauty that was owned by William F. Ludwig senior Wow documented Notarized by his son William F. The second when you know 1999 and So I bought that while back and then I also have a Snare drum that William F. The second Own they would say another black beauty. It's called the DFS drum black beauty. It's a black beauty were someone in the on the assembly line, I guess gotten cahoots with the engraver and had his initials in it and the story goes that that William F. Senior kind of saw what was going on stopped the whole assembly and took the drum off the line But he let the guy keep it or buy it and it was in a guy's closet for many many years and then He gave it to the William F. Ludwig the second and then Harry Kang and he bought it a while back and a couple years ago sold it to me So that's kind of you know like a rare drum. It's a six and a half by 14 10-point floral chrome hardware engraved super sensitive top and bottom mechanisms so Yeah, so So those are you know kind of historic drums I love the I feel like with a lot of drums. There's like the like oh the parts from this are like like I think run to net posted a picture of like a Supraphonic that had like the black and white kind of 80s Ludwig Badge and he's like this is a Supra. It's just got the wrong badge on it Like I like the the rare kind of like, you know, you hear about still and grabbing up, you know They were just grabbing parts Yeah, right the Ludwig did that too in the anniversary years The white enamel badge, but you still get some anniversary models that have the leftover brass oval badge So you get those or you know, it's more modern day. You see Ludwig drums with WFL butt plates because of that switch over in the 1960 or so whatever that was just leftover parts Yeah, definitely. It's so cool. It's just like a we are all nerds. Obviously people listening to this show We're all pretty much big giant drum nerds. So that's just more fun. I'm just like, oh my god, that screw is from 1950 on a 1960 drum. It's like, whoa, cool Gikatron minutia, I call it Yeah, and there's plenty of us in the world in my experience of I mean before I did this show I was a drummer. I mean, I was you know, I've been a longtime drummer, but I wasn't into the vintage drum world And now I'm like yeah made I've made so many friends Obviously these guys who are your great friends, but it's just like I just encourage people as a guy who Me who's you know at the point that point I was 28 I didn't really have any vintage drum experience And now I find myself just obsessed with it where it's so easy to get into it and going to the chicago show was like The best thing I've ever done in my life. Um besides getting married and having a baby, but it um I have to say that but it Getting that network if you're if you're God if you're uh, you know passionate about it people will want to talk to you about it and we want to share our nerdiness So yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's uh, it's a great network, uh, you know, I've met a lot of friends and fellow collectors and Uh, the chicago show I look I look forward to that so much of I hope you too. I hope I hope the You know the the the Brainiacs out there in science come up with a vaccine that works and we can kind of get on the road here And by next May We can be in better shape to be able to yeah, not only for the people that are sick That that comes first obviously, but obviously for the yeah for the uh, but second is us going to a drum show Right, right Yeah, yeah, okay. No, that's awesome. Um All right, so, um I want to also just mention Jim Macina has been such a big, um, yeah, he always he's he's he's shares your stuff a lot and I just Jim is a I we've we we're talking a lot there for a little and then and then things got crazy with Covid and everything so I just want to say, you know, Jim is such a big You know proponent of yours and sharing your information and um with vintage drums talk. So, um So many cool collectors, I just think that you guys are it's a it's like the You know the the legends of collecting so now Why don't we tell people here where they can find your book and all that good stuff? I think it would be um Pretty neat to you know for people to see your collection and and what you know, what's going on in the future with you Well, you first of all you can see all the latest stuff. I do Not so modern drum or it's free online go there and you'll look under the writers. You'll see my name um also Um, you know the two drum the two drum forums that I Participate drum forum Dfo that would be and then the other one is vintage drums um So I I contributed a lot to those Um now as far as my book, um, it's out of print But you can find copies on ebay and you can find copies on amazon And maybe reverb. I haven't checked But I've seen I've seen I think I've seen some copies there. So it can be found that way I'm not sure Any dealers still have leftover copies. It's probably unlikely uh But the two main ways is ebay and uh amazon Okay, called the uh vintage snare drum is the carato collection That's great. Yeah, man. I don't know if you ever Think about it, but I know people would love to see you got to start like a You know a social media page for instagram and just post a picture of a snare every day you've got If you do that, you have years of content. Um, uh, well actually since you mentioned that thanks you uh I have uh on facebook. I have my carato vintage drums and restorations So you can see a bunch of stuff there. Yeah, so it's my carato vintage drums and restorations I'm on facebook Cool. Yeah, man. That's so cool. Now. What's on the horizon for you? Are you now happy? Can you go to sleep at night saying I've got every drum that I ever want to have I know the answer is no All right What are you working on now? What's kind of um in in your in your scope right now? well, um Collecting at the moment, I'm I'm looking always for the rarest of the rare Do I have a lot of rare already? Uh, yeah, so I'm looking what I consider the rarest of the rare um, so it's a little fewer and far between so um Just you know looking at eBay here and there friends call me. Um um I'm always looking for a 4x14 Slayerland black beauty, which I've never seen one. It's in the catalog, but I've never seen one. So I'd like to get something like that Yeah, and uh, does that happen can I ask you does that happen where? Maybe they make something that they put in the catalog or they prototype something But it actually doesn't exist in the real world like does Could that um, yeah You know Probably that could happen. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility um I would hope that if they put it in the catalog at least one of them was out there Yeah, for the picture Yeah, or like the the slingle in the in the 28 catalog where they have the gold plated Engraved artist model. I've never seen any of those You can get you can see the Four five and six and a half uh 10 lug Nickel over brass our artist models, which is the same exact shell It's just not engraved or gold plated. So who knows How many or you know again 1920, you know in the early 20s Money was scarce and you know to spend 125 or so for a gold plated drum you know that was All they have a house so yeah Seriously like a car. I mean it's it's that conversion rate that because you see that sometimes where these snares that were that amount of money and it's kind of like a A head scratcher because it's like but these are for a musician who You know by default we're not the most we're not making millions of dollars hundreds of thousands of dollars playing the drums So how are you buying it? Um, yeah So Okay, that's interesting Yeah All right, and just ready. I'm looking just for for rare drums. Maybe oddities, you know that Just you know like a while back. I found a six lug white marine pearl radio king Oh, wow Yeah, so they just kind of odd. I like the audit oddity stuff mostly american I have found a couple of european drums that were cool that uh that I bought because they're they're odd and uh So i'm so Just to answer your question. I'm kind of just looking, you know for the the rare so the rare wherever the wherever those may be Yeah, gotcha. I just did the quick math 120 or I didn't do the math. I did I googled it 125 dollars in 1923 equals 1878 dollars in 2020 so Okay, oh that's that's yeah, that's actually The Yeah, the may have the money conversion But as far as what the drum is go they go for it's another story Oh my god. I mean no, of course, that's that's just saying in that day and time Yeah, where again, this is like, you know people were making I don't know but like Five dollars in a day or something like that. So it's I know Yeah, that's wild. Okay, so um Now, uh, can people see do you display at the drum shows or do you more just go looking to buy? Do you show bring anything with you ever? I can't remember. I don't think I saw you You know displaying anything. No, I sometimes I'll bring You know photos some photos Um for a while I brought like, you know before I started doing articles on not some modern drum I brought a bunch of photos and a binder um But I just I'm I'm going there just to find stuff To schmooze and find stuff Yeah, totally Yeah, now this is probably a totally random question, but I'm assuming that you have to have Like all of your drums. I would assume are insured. So you have You can't have 650 drums and not have you know insurance for your drums, right? Do you just is that some sort of special thing? It's probably a weird question Now now it's I have homeowners that that's pumped up a little bit because of the drums And uh Yeah, so they you know, you know a catastrophe is a catastrophe, but Other than you know, like a fire or or something like that. I have I have I have coverage Gotcha So I'm I'm somewhat taken care of I live out I live out in the San Francisco Bay Area. So it is earthquake country, but It's not tornado country You know, if I could I hate to You know, be in Oklahoma and have 650 drums flying in the air to the next county or something That would be a drag No, you you don't want that right Cool. Yeah, because there's all those little things that you don't think of of like I mean, there's like you said building custom cases and protecting these things and I imagine temperature control is obviously very important For for some of these moisture, you know So that's so much moisture. I have air conditioning. So the Um, you can it's cool because when it if it gets warm And then uh, you put the air conditioner, you can hear the the the cath heads adjusting. You hear little pops and cracks Yeah, and uh, so in the in the garage, like I said, the drums are covered It gets a little warm out there, but they're in a garage and they're you know Once in a while a bottom cast head will split just because of the elements, but um But pretty much here and I don't live I live maybe 12 miles from the ocean So there's not a whole lot of sea breeze coming in Yeah, really? Wow. Yeah, so So yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, it's you know, the the the weather out here in the San Francisco Bay area Uh, it's pretty mild Yeah, no, I'm just like as we wrap up. I'm just throwing random questions to come. That's okay. My mind at you now Do do you replace calf skin heads? Do you get new like if it's if it's got broken heads and it's a 1935 drum? Are you replacing top and bottom calf skin heads or are you kind of converting to you know a modern? You know my uh drum head I I put calf heads on all my vintage drums I put calf heads This is another thing with having a nice network of friends Like when I go to the Chicago show one one Chicago show a friend of mine had Just seen calf heads that he brought because he knew I'd want to buy him So yes, yeah, I have a I have a stash of of Hundreds of calf heads that I pick from Kind of funny. It's my downstairs. We have an area that has my wife's Wine And then I have my area where my calf heads are so she's picking out a bottle of wine And I'm picking out a calf head to put on a drum so it's kind of ironic Yeah, so I have a I have a I have a lot of calf heads that I like I like that My vintage drums I like to keep them as authentic as I can with calf heads Gut snares wire round snares original parts On my modern day snare drums that I play obviously they're they're built they're uh Used you know with some but you know modern day heads and snares and things like that But on the on the showpiece on the showpieces. I like to keep them original Of course sure god, that's yeah, it would just take you out of it to have a um you know 1923 drum with a uh You know brand new rimo ambassador On it or something like that. Well, if you're gonna if you're gonna play it I have no but if you're gonna play it sure. Yeah, yeah, sure I'm gonna play it put some put some pure sounds or some good, you know, whatever snare wires That you want. I know canopus does make some good uh Uh snare wires uh pure sound that you use some good some good top and bottom heads um Some sometimes on those old strainers you got to replace the strainers so uh what I do load week makes a p80 and The tabs on it do not match the whole pattern for an old nickel over brass Snare them that would have a p338 on it But a front of mine has a jig that he made that can split You know push out the tabs So Let's say you want to make a player drum or or drum that maybe has an extra hole or two And it's you just going to make it a player. You can keep the original hole pattern for this for the strainer and Put in the altered p80 That'll be a little more hardier anyway because some of those p80s come undone when you hit them really hard So like that, you know, you just you know on certain drums Yeah, if you're gonna play them yet Yeah, you have to put the good heads on them because I don't I don't like the sound of cath at all But it's I like the originality of it Yeah, I've seen some um God, who is it? I think it's indy drums indy. They do something where there's the movable Like on their strainer. There's the movable What would you call it um holes to for the for the you know Screws where it would actually be you can move it and slide it to fit your your vintage. Oh, yeah It's kind of a cool Yeah, I've such seen that too. I think I think uh ron de net does that too. I think so too. Yeah, absolutely Yeah, that's a great idea. So you don't you know, you don't put extra holes Because maybe you have an old snare drum That just the strainer is not working, right? But you want to keep it you want to still keep the integrity of it Put that new strainer on it kind of hot rotted and go play it and Yeah, you know after a while or somebody you want to sell it or something put the original strainer back on and everything is good Hmm. Geez. Well, we live in a great time to uh to be collecting drums. Oh, yeah so, um Man mike, I think this has been a really great episode to just kind of hear about Your collection. I mean you're obviously a legend in this world. So um, I think that people should Uh take some time and check out Karado drums.com that's c u r o t to Drums.com you can find mike on facebook at mike karado vintage drums and restorations. Um And uh, you're a super nice guy. So i'm sure you wouldn't mind people saying hey, I've got this old drum Can you work on it for me? Um, I was gonna say, um, is it kosher to give out my email? Oh, of course, whatever you you Yeah, whatever you want. That's that's the best one. Uh, it's mike at karado drums.com Great, and you know, if anybody has questions or Or or people looking to sell something, you know, hey, I buy drums Um questions, I do that because in the early days when I started collecting There were certain people I called and they took their time with me To answer my questions. So I don't mind paying that forward to If I can and again, I'm I'm honest enough. Hey, if I don't know, I'll I'll put you In contact with the right person that knows That's I people ask me. Hey, do you know what drum this is all the time and I go No, but let me ask and now I'll I'll conclude you on that but I'll say let me ask and I ask, you know Joe Mechler or I ask mark cooper. Yeah, no these guys I gotta put a word in I gotta put a word in for joe Can I do that for a second? Oh, please, of course Um, uh To chicago shows ago ago He had um, I bought this drum from him You may have seen it in the not so modern drummer. It was a six and a half by 14 rose pearl dual Very rare Yeah, I saw the photos of it. I first thing I thought was this is this is a part strum The thing was thrashed absolutely thrashed And he took it and he brought it back to life all faithfully. He was able to fix the wrap Fixed the the glue ring the hardware just needed to clean it up, but he did An amazing job I'm just amazing job. Do you if you if you look up that drum on either the form or Not so modern drummer. There's a whole story about it and um That was a monumental restoration. So I just thought I'd put a plug in for joe. Oh, yeah Now joe, he comes up On a lot of episodes. He uh, he was the second He's on episode number two and right now. Oh cool at the time of recording this episode 69 just came out So that's uh, wow, you know two years later. He was he was actually the first person I talked to on the phone Um, when I started the podcast about hey, I have this idea. He did a world war two episode. Um, so yeah Yeah You know, shout out to joe, but uh, yeah, awesome. Mike. Well, I can't tell you how happy I am to have had you on the show It's been a long time coming and um Everyone can go and check out mic. So Mike, thank you for being here My pleasure anytime. I'm always here If you like this podcast find me on social media at drum history And please share rate and leave a review and let me know topics that you would like to learn about the future Until next time keep on learning This is a Gwynn sound podcast