Duplex Spirit of St.Louis- Full Dress snare

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A_T_P

A_T_P

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I say “Full Dress”, but some of the accents are missing, so we’ll call this “Half Dress”. I’m gonna lightly clean the shell and hardware, but that’s it.

Always wanted one of these just given the unusual design, but love the history! I’m hooked now! It needs a new snare side head tucked, so I haven’t began to experiment with the sound.

-Andrew
 

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Very cool!
That is an early one. Mine has stickchopper hoops and chrome around the aluminum shell.
 

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rikkrebs said:
Beautiful drum. Get that thing up and running.

Mine has modern heads on it and sounds great.
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Do standard 13” heads fit ok on these? Would save me some work! You got a nice one there yourself!
 
Welcome to the Duplex club! I have a bunch of Duplex drums! The SOSL are awesome and maybe their best known design. I refurbished an entire SOSL kit awhile back! They do sound grea.
 
DuplexTim said:
Welcome to the Duplex club! I have a bunch of Duplex drums! The SOSL are awesome and maybe their best known design. I refurbished an entire SOSL kit awhile back! They do sound grea.
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And you did a great job on them Tim! I look at them every day and thankful you were able to reunite them with me!!

SOSL 01-14-2024.jpg
 
Awesome drums, I've yet to play one in person, but I have looked them over at vintage shows, an incredible design that holds up even today, in my opinion.

My favorite Barrett Deems solo shows him playing what I believe is a SOSL snare, which is interesting considering that he would have been a WFL endorser at this point, and that's what type of kit he's playing. I've read that he was a collector, however, so it might have been a personal piece:
 
DuplexTim said:
yes!
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What's your thought on getting some standard 13" triple flange hoops and using regular tension rods on these? The clips are rather fragile and I've already broke a couple (minimum tension I swear!)
 
Mine are later with original "stick chopper" hoops. I have an old Duplex COB snare with single flange hoops & clips also. Never really laid into it so no experience with the clips breaking.
 
theludwigman said:
Awesome drums, I've yet to play one in person, but I have looked them over at vintage shows, an incredible design that holds up even today, in my opinion.

My favorite Barrett Deems solo shows him playing what I believe is a SOSL snare, which is interesting considering that he would have been a WFL endorser at this point, and that's what type of kit he's playing. I've read that he was a collector, however, so it might have been a personal piece:
Click to expand...
Looks like it! BD was an incredible drummer! They did make them in 5”, 6.5” and marching sizes! Heck! Entire kits! He may have picked it up to check it out. They were touted as super sensitive and responsive…and they ARE! One of the most sensitive snares I’ve ever played. They can also get loud! And were marketed as the only pearl covered metal drum available. But they also sold them in a natural metal, nickel and I’ve seen them in a dark, almost black finish. The shell is “aircraft metal” aka aluminum! When I was refurbishing the last kit, I found numbers stamped on some of the tension rod on the inside and looked it up and it was the type of aluminum that ALCOA patented in the 30’s….’36 I believe. My speculation is they ceased production of the SOSL during WW2’s metal rationing. Duplex is difficult to research because there’s very limited information. But they were innovative! BTW…. The SOSTL was designed by Julius Meyer, who took over as president of Duplex after the founder/president Emil Boulanger died. Julius Meyer was NOT a drummer!!!! Crazy! I have a newspaper article where he talks about the business and how he got into manufacturing And admits to not being a drummer. I believe that was also the case for the guys who founded Kent Drums. Thanks for the video! It was worth the watch!
 
DuplexTim said:
Looks like it! BD was an incredible drummer! They did make them in 5”, 6.5” and marching sizes! Heck! Entire kits! He may have picked it up to check it out. They were touted as super sensitive and responsive…and they ARE! One of the most sensitive snares I’ve ever played. They can also get loud! And were marketed as the only pearl covered metal drum available. But they also sold them in a natural metal, nickel and I’ve seen them in a dark, almost black finish. The shell is “aircraft metal” aka aluminum! When I was refurbishing the last kit, I found numbers stamped on some of the tension rod on the inside and looked it up and it was the type of aluminum that ALCOA patented in the 30’s….’36 I believe. My speculation is they ceased production of the SOSL during WW2’s metal rationing. Duplex is difficult to research because there’s very limited information. But they were innovative! BTW…. The SOSTL was designed by Julius Meyer, who took over as president of Duplex after the founder/president Emil Boulanger died. Julius Meyer was NOT a drummer!!!! Crazy! I have a newspaper article where he talks about the business and how he got into manufacturing And admits to not being a drummer. I believe that was also the case for the guys who founded Kent Drums. Thanks for the video! It was worth the watch!
Click to expand...
I appreciate the info! Would be interesting to know just how many of those snares are still out there.
 
A_T_P said:
I say “Full Dress”, but some of the accents are missing, so we’ll call this “Half Dress”. I’m gonna lightly clean the shell and hardware, but that’s it.

Always wanted one of these just given the unusual design, but love the history! I’m hooked now! It needs a new snare side head tucked, so I haven’t began to experiment with the sound.

-Andrew
Click to expand...
Very cool, someone close to me used to own this
 
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