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c. 1920s Leedy Orchestra Bells w/ Case. G to C. 2.5 Octaves

$ 198

Availability: 30 in stock
  • Type: Orchestra Bells
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Range: 2.5 Octaves
  • Brand: Leedy

    Description

    Made by the great Leedy percussion
    company in Indianapolis, Indiana, it is a set of orchestra bells. They are G to C. 2.5 octaves.
    I believe they are from the 1910s or 1920s, but I am not exactly sure.
    The tone bars are 5/16'' thick.
    It sounds great, but looks like an ugly duckling.
    Some of the original plated nickel finish has worn and flaked off. The nickel finish that is there is rather dingy looking. When I got it, much of the green felt had worn off or was missing. I could not find a supplier of that green felt, so I filled in some pieces of it with gray felt, which isn't quite as high as the green felt. Some of the grommets were missing. I have replaced those missing grommets with refrigerator hosing. The inside diameter of the refrigerator hosing is a little big so I melted it onto the existing nail shafts. In other words, I did just minimal repairs to get it up and running. The next owner might want to do some serious overhaul like replacing all the felting, nails, and grommets. As it is, it does play. It sounds wonderful.
    The wood case is the original wood case and is in fair condition. I repaired some of the cracks on the wood case just to make it functional. The leather handles are torn off and missing. There is a bit of the leather handle that is included.
    I don't know how these bells were originally secured inside the case, but, as it is, when the case is opened, half of the tone bars flop around. I cut a piece of cardboard that helps hold the naturals down for when the case is opened and closed. It isn't a great system, but it is better than it was.
    It's a classic all-American instrument, ready for its next owner.
    Questions?
    It will be well packed with plenty of new 1/2" bubble wrap and shipped in a new 32"x19"x7" stout cardboard instrument box.
    Please check out our eBay store, ?The 1970 Time Travel Trailer,? for more cool vintage stuff, including a bunch of vintage guitars, ukuleles, banjos, fiddles, mandolins and amps, as well as fiddles, brass, woodwind, and various oddball musical instruments and old instrument brochures & catalogs.
    And please check
    out our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/toadstoolshadow, to hear some of our original music.