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In the late 1950s, Chicago-based Slingerland Drum Company’s president, Henry H. “Bud” Slingerland, Jr., contracted William Connor of Shelbyville to build an automatic machine to foil stamp drumsticks. Up to that point, Slingerland had been using a hand-operated machine. Connor’s machine shop built similar machinery for Shelbyville’s pencil industry, so he was a natural to design the machine. Connor built several other machines for Slingerland over the next few years and Bud tried to convince Connor to move to Chicago to lay out and oversee a new drum factory. Having grown up in Flint, Michigan, Connor had seen enough of Midwest cold and snowy winters to last him a lifetime, so he declined.

The Slingerland Company had been founded in 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, by Henry Heason Slingerland, Sr. as the Slingerland Banjo Company. It expanded into drums in 1926 in response to the Ludwig Drum Company entering the banjo business. Slingerland’s drums were among the most popular in the world in the mid-twentieth century. They were used and endorsed by such well-known and popular personalities as jazz/big band drummers Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Louie Bellson. Later adopters of Slingerland drums included Carmine Appice, Levon Helm of The Band, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, and Danny Seraphine of Chicago.

In the early 1960s, Connor designed and developed an operation to mold Mylar (plastic) drumheads for Slingerland. Up to then, Slingerland had been using calf skin heads. At the same time, Connor was looking to sell his machine shop, so Bud Slingerland bought it, and the transaction was completed in October 1962. The new company was set up as Solar Musical Instrument Company and all shareholders were Slingerland’s family members. William Connor was president, and he managed and operated the business. Solar Music’s only customer was the Slingerland Drum Company.

Solar Musical Instrument Company’s next project after the heads was the production of drums, as Slingerland’s new Niles, Illinois, factory could not keep up with demand. The metal parts were shipped to Shelbyville from Illinois and the wooden shells were produced in Shelbyville, where the drums were also assembled. Over an approximately two-year period (1965-1966), Connor estimates his plant produced about 5000 shells.

All Shelbyville-produced Slingerland drums have three-ply shells (mahogany-poplar-mahogany). The main difference is that they have oak reinforcement rings, whereas Slingerlands built in Chicago or Niles, Illinois, have maple rings. Oak was easier for Connor to source locally in Middle Tennessee. Most drums produced in Shelbyville also have the oval Slingerland badge with a dark red background and “Assembled in Shelbyville, Tenn. USA.” However, some larger drums (tom-toms and bass drums) do not have a badge. Still, the oak reinforcement rings are the giveaway. Illinois Slingerlands had badges with black backgrounds.

Also in the 1960s, local cabinet and furniture maker J.W. Gallagher began building acoustic guitars for Slingerland in a corner of the Solar plant. They were branded “Shelby” and that was the beginning of the Gallagher Guitar business, which moved to Wartrace and is now operating in Murfreesboro under new ownership. That’s a story for another day.

The Solar Musical Instrument Company closed in the late 1960s. However, the building still stands at 100 Plastics Avenue in Shelbyville’s northeast side industrial area.

Production and historical information from The Slingerland Book, Third Edition (2024) by Rob Cook. Available from Rebeats.com

If you have interesting Tullahoma area stories and photos from the past, please contact me: alanmayes@lighttube.net