"send it out" as in send it to the painter? I live a few miles from the painter and when I'm ready I will take the drums there. It's a 25min car ride. I've only met him via email and on the phone. He's never painted drums but has painted a guitar. He has a high-end automotive paint shop. I was referred to him buy a professional guitar builder who liked his work. I'm taking a chance I guess but hey - it's only drums and the worse thing that could happen is I'd have to repaint them. But I hope it won't come to that.

OK, Take it out !! If he`s a quality car painter, he can paint drums in his sleep !!

Thanks,

Ya - that's what I'm thinking too. I don't think I have anything to worry about.

An aside question:

Is it better to drill holes before or after painting - or does it matter?

The bass drum I have is virgin...I'm thinking about putting rail and cymbal mounts on it. I have to drill the reso site of the floor tom too. The 3ply shell will not be drilled either........lots of drilling to do.

Kona... ok to butt the inlay. Again, it's not the inlay that expands and contracts, it's the wood. If you're going with two-piece inlay strips, try to position the butt joints under a claw. I usually put the joints at the lugs nearest to the 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock position on the hoop. The butt joints will be invisible under the claws.

I like your idea of taping off the channel. Cut the masking tape to the exact same width as the inlay strip. The green will cover the sides of the channel so after you install the strip, there won't be any unpainted wood showing anywhere.

I'm dying to see photos.

John

Your gonna drill a 50`s virgin, If you live through the bombardment of members that might read this,..before you paint !! Nothing sucks worse than a drill bit that walked out on new paint !!

That's what I wanted to hear - DRILL Before painting - that's what I thought = makes sense.

I pondered that one....to drill or not to drill. The thing is this is going to be Cadillac Green with 24K gold plated hardware on all exposed (excluding snare wires of course) hardware. I do not want to plate a snare basket or other hardware that will be holding the tom and or cymbal stand if you can appreciate that. I want to go with pretty much the same look as when these drums (the cadi green with gold plated hardware) were being sold back in the day. I have information that some of the rail mounts were not plated while others were. I have a nice rail mount coming in the mail so I will have that plated as well.

So - as much as I'd love to leave the Bass Drum un-drilled it makes more sense, in this scenerio, to have a rail mount and cymbal mount put on the drum. The bass drum was in rough shape - wrap had been removed and plys were pulled away from the inside and bondoed over top. I removed all that and replaced the missing piece with a custom made steam-bent chunck of wood. Yes - you can see it but who's going to be looking inside the bass drum. The drum does not wrattle and it seams to be holding up fine.

I'll never see it from my house, so just go with it and enjoy!

I think you would be able to see if from your house.

When it's finished you will be able to see it from space

Storm TrooperChewie:

Use the inlay as is. No one is ever, ever going to notice.

Paint the hoops before applying the inlay. Going through the work of taping off the inlay, and taking on the risk of the tape-off failing and paint getting on the inlay, just makes no sense.

Drill after the paint. Otherwise you have to seal every drill hole before painting. Refer to the above section on tape failing.

Builders ALWAYS drill last, after all finish and topcoat is applied. Use a 1/16th bit to drill guide holes, then a UniBit to make the holes bigger. Zero chance of the bit "walking".

He`s adding a rail mount and cymbal mount to the BD, gonna have to stick a Q-tip and tape on the inside of the lug holes anyway, six more holes aint a big deal. He`s gonna mark it out before drilling, not take a finnished drum and bring it to a high speed multi collet drill machine jig to make time !! Then he`s gonna layout the pattern for the FT reso side, I think !!

He`s also right about the adhesive bonding better to the bottom of the recess without paint. Tape`n the recess might take a whole three minutes outta life but..... !!

Quality takes time and patience for beginers !!