Reflectionsof Chicagoland Drum Co.
Conservation-minded restoration of pre-WWII American snare drums — brass, cast aluminum, and rosewood. What can be preserved is preserved. What must be renewed is renewed honestly.
Facts carry the argument — not adjectives. Original hardware, heads, and finishes stay wherever they can. Every intervention is disclosed plainly.
Original strainers, hide heads, engraved shells, and surviving paper labels are conserved, not replaced. A trained conservator is called when the work demands one.
When a shell must be refinished or replated, the intervention is documented in the listing and the editorial record. No secret repairs.
Every appraisal is triangulated against real sold comps — local drum shops, Reverb, eBay, and Chicago Drum Show records — never category guesswork.
A full bench for vintage percussion — from a single seized strainer to a ground-up custom build.
Hardware brought back through a measured process — ultrasonic cleaning, rust conversion, buffing, and a durable protective seal. Metal shells refinished or repainted, and wood shells revived with careful cleaning, oil and wax — original surfaces preserved wherever they can be saved.
Comp-based valuations backed by published research on Chicago-area makers — Geisler, Logan, Harmony, and the Liberty line. Provenance established, not asserted.
Selective consignment of restored instruments, plus periodic custom snares built to spec — finished and hardware-mounted in-house.
Pay securely by card through Square. Appraisal fees, restoration deposits, and balances can all be handled here.
Purchase a comp-based written appraisal. Submit the request form in the Appraisals section, then pay here to begin.
Purchase an Appraisal →Pay a restoration balance or full invoice. Enter the amount we've agreed on at checkout.
Pay Restoration →Deposit to begin a custom drum built from scratch to your spec. Enter the quoted deposit amount at checkout.
Pay Commission Deposit →If you'd like to support the preservation work and editorial research, contributions are always appreciated.
Make a Donation →Payments are processed securely by Square. You'll be taken to Square's checkout page — no card details are entered on this site.
A durable powder-coat finish, applied in-house over a fully stripped and prepped shell — tougher than lacquer, and a bold new look. Here's the before and after.
Chrome shell stripped & recoated · gloss
Tama shell · full strip & recoat
Tama Royalstar · stripped & recoated
Satin Black — Ludwig, chrome hardwarePowder coating resists chips and scratches and holds its color for years — candy metallics, satin blacks, gloss, and custom colors. Want a new finish on your shell? Get in touch →
The same sequence every piece of metal moves through — repeatable, documented, and reversible where it counts.
Hand cleaning first, then gentle ultrasonic cycles to lift grime without abrading original plating.
A multi-day chelating soak converts corrosion chemically — no aggressive wire wheeling of pitted surfaces.
Soft brass wheel on a jeweler's bench buffer, then metal polish on a cloth wheel, finished with a microfiber wipe.
A durable protective coating goes on last — a low-sheen barrier that guards against tarnish without altering character.
A steam-bent rosewood-over-maple shell from a custom builder, finished and dressed in brass on the bench.
The grain runs long and diagonal across the full width — exactly what a good steam-bent shell should show. A maple interior liner adds brightness and sustain against rosewood's natural dryness, and holds the bearing edges true.
Finishing an oily exotic hardwood turns on the first coat. A 50/50 thinned pass seals the surface, then three to four wipe-on coats of pure tung oil, each given full cure time in a stable 66°F / 47% RH shop before the next. The result is depth without film build — the wood, not a coating.
Brass throughout was the only honest choice for a shell this good. No hardware-store blends.
| Shell | 13″ × 4″ steam-bent rosewood over maple liner |
| Lugs | 10 × 1″ brass tube lugs |
| Hoops | Single-flange, brass-plated |
| Tension | Brass rods & claws |
| Batter Head | Coated single-ply |
| Snare Side | Clear snare-side film |
| Wires | Premium carbon-steel snare wires |
| Finish | Pure tung oil, citrus-solvent thinned |
Completed custom snares that have found their players — kept here as a record of the bench.
Custom builds offered as they're completed. Each is marked Available or Sold — sold instruments stay listed as a record of the work.
To commission a build or ask about an available snare, use the contact section below.
The restored result first, the drum as it arrived second. No reshoots, no staging — the same instrument, before and after the bench.
Early single-tension shell · full restoration
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Chrome-over-aluminum · clean & hardware detail
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Wood shell refinish · hardware restoration
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Black-chrome shell · clean & hardware restoration
Open full page / share →A running record of restored and preserved instruments. Sold drums stay here as a portfolio of the work.
More restorations added regularly — follow along on Instagram and Facebook below.
View the full record →Deep-dive research on individual instruments — provenance, dating evidence, and the reasoning behind each restoration.
A 5×14 Model No. 231, finished in Ludwig's hand-engraved De Luxe treatment and fitted with the patented Super-Ludwig snare control — restored to playing condition, engraving dated by a period specialist.
Read the case file → Cast Aluminum · Chicago · 1924How a Chicago patent and the birth of the modern drum set left their mark on a single cast aluminum shell — the 1924 banjo-clip patent, and the Liberty and Slingerland lineage it points to.
Read the case file → Cast Aluminum · Dealer-Badged · 1920sA dealer-badged cast aluminum snare from the industrial heart of 1920s Pittsburgh — restored to playing condition, dated by what the hardware itself was built to hold.
Read the case file → Jedson De Luxe · John E. Dallas & Sons · Made by PremierAn oak-shell, white-pearl-wrapped snare documented across four owners and eighteen years — one of two known survivors, with the second located and confirmed in worse condition.
Read the case file → Black Nickel · Indianapolis · 1924An engraved black-nickel-over-brass Leedy Multi-Model from the dawn of the Jazz Age — the model's rise in the trade press, the 1924 Presto strainer, and conservation notes for shells finished this way.
Read the case file → Nickel-Over-Brass · No. 231 · Chicago · c. 1927The drum that tried to solve the snare problem — a 5×14 No. 231 in honest nickel-over-brass, the mechanism behind the pitch, and how its price on the 1927 catalog stacked up against the engraved De Luxe finish.
Read the case file → Black Shell · Nickel Hardware · St. Louis · c. 1917A survivor from before the American drum industry's familiar names took hold — the St. Louis company that patented separate-tension construction in 1883, and a shell built as recorded jazz first reached American homes.
Read the case file → Nickel-Over-Brass · White Knobby Gold Elite · c. 1910–1913A ragtime-era Leedy "Multi" snare from the moment the modern snare drum was still being invented — Ulysses Grant Leedy's player-driven design thinking, and why an intact original hole pattern and stamped hoop matter so much.
Read the case file → Spun Brass · Indianapolis / Elkhart · 1930sA 1930s 14×5 brass-shell Leedy relieved of nearly a century of tarnish and grime — full before-and-after bench photos, and why an honest player's drum is worth more than a museum-case original.
Read the case file → Chrome-Over-Brass · Chiba, Japan · 1976A deep 14×6.5 Pearl Jupiter from the year the "stencil drum" maker announced its own professional line — the Sumida-to-Chiba origin story, and the rare six-and-a-half-inch depth most Jupiters don't come in.
Read the case file → Manufacturing History · c. 1854–TodayBefore laminated shells became the industry default, snare shells began as a single steam-bent board — how Leedy, Ludwig, and Slingerland built and sold them, and why the method never actually disappeared.
Read the full history →Ask ten collectors what a drum is worth, and you'll get ten guesses — most from photos, none accountable, none you can hand to an insurance adjuster or an estate attorney.
A Reflections appraisal is different. Every valuation is backed by documented sold comps — local drum shops, Reverb, eBay, and Chicago Drum Show records — not recollection or feel. Every report discloses condition honestly: what's original, what's been restored, and what that means for value. And every appraisal carries the name of someone who's published drum history research for Not So Modern Drummer and staked a business on getting the identification right.
This isn't a forum opinion. It's a written report you can use — for insurance coverage, an estate, a sale, or simply knowing what you actually have.
Every appraisal includes the comps used and the reasoning behind the number — so you're not just getting a figure, you're getting the case for it.
Pricing varies by drum, condition, and whether an in-person inspection is needed. Reach out below for a quote.
Every drum leaves the bench documented and done right — here's what customers say about the work.
"Ron is a true A-class restorer of anything drums. I personally have used his drums on many in-house sessions for TV/film and especially live venues like Radio City Music Hall, and love them. I could not recommend him highly enough."
"Ron Vallejo is perhaps the very best craftsman out there. His restorations are museum quality — no detail is ever overlooked. I've trusted him with many drums and he always blows me away. I wouldn't let anyone restore any of my drums except Ron. He will exceed your expectations every time."
"Ron Vallejo is an exceptional drum doctor — truly a master of his craft. The care, detail, and expertise he put into restoring my drums were remarkable. Incredibly knowledgeable, reasonable pricing, and the drums look and sound beautiful. Do yourself a favor and let him bring your drums back to life."
"Ron is one of a kind! His attention to detail is one of his greatest qualities. The amount of time and energy he puts into bringing drums back to original condition does not equal his service charge — very reasonable and very professional. He's my go-to guy for all my drum refurbishing."
"Ron is absolutely the real deal! Professional, polite, punctual, and does amazing work! Highly recommended seller — I wish they were all like him! See him for his repairs, modifications, and sales. You won't be sorry!"
"Snare functions like it's new, although it is from 1990. Exceptional work."
"Great guy, accurate descriptions and a pleasure to talk to. Very clear Ron knows what he's doing. Very passionate about drums and people!"
"Great to work with. He is very transparent and put a lot of hard work in his craftsmanship and ships out right away."
"Ron is really friendly and easy to work with. Bought a brass snare from him that sounds amazing and will continue to work with him. Highly recommend giving his stuff a try."
Teardown to reveal, appraisal notes, and the occasional new build — across every channel.
Send photos of the shell, the badge, and any hardware — plus a maker and serial if you have them. You'll get an honest read on what it is, what it's worth, and what restoring it would take.
Send an email →Case files, before-and-afters, and the occasional appraisal note — straight from the bench. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
