here's a Fibes Chrome Over Acrylic tom that I picked up as a source of replacement lugs for a snare I have

its original tom mount had been removed, and an off-center, crooked Pearl-type mount was installed in its place... I have a similar snare with the same steel wrapping, so I wanted to see what would happen

you can see the imprint where i removed the badge... the chrome underneath was pristine, but the rest of the shell has been to hell and back; sanding reveals some of the underlying copper coating

I use a scotch bright pad & use it like sandpaper to make satin finishes on a lot of chrome for custom builds. Really easy process & looks great, but try it out on some old stuff first to see if you like it. Just a suggestion. I also use a rubber sanding block (round side down) & hammer to cold forge the GK brass shells back into shape, takes time to get them "sorta" looking good but it works...not perfect by any means, but if you're rebuilding a player it reaps nice results.

Hope this helps

One thing I like to do is to also hammer vintage shells for an added effect. This applies whether or not it's in good condition.

Have fun!!!

Experiments? Like this one? However, this is a bronze shell.

[IMG]http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g125/trackthegreyhound/Randoms/Slingy_bronze.jpg[/IMG]

Track- that is WAAAAAY more attractive than a stock Slingerland shell!!!

That is bad-a$$ Track...I bet it caused major spincter tightening throughout the "V" crowd. Is that one of the NOS shells that have running around squeeze(your wallet)Bay? Very nice job my brother!...traditional? NO...improvement? HELL YES! The GK's sound great, but like many of Slingy's stuff is a pain in the a$$!...and I'm a Slingy guy!

So much spinkter*-tightening that angel hair pasta sized poops come out!!!

Track, that looks great. And with your hardware choices, nice way to bring the old shell into the modern era.

Watch your language. My rabbit reads this forum.

No reason to limit that to just metal shells, either.