That is a great restore project and the silver sparkle looks pretty spot-on. Tell us about those floor tom leg feet. Talk about shock absorbing!

Good way to keep the lead Singer from standing on your drums to do a swan dive.

Nice work on the Celtic Knots.

The feet on the bottom of the floor tom are a product I picked up at the Nashville drum show called "Booty Shakers". They allow the drum to sing out more when the floor tom is sitting on an unforgiving surface such as concrete which is what my shop floor is made of. They are an item that I will be carrying in my shop starting this week.

I honestly walked by the booth that had these on display about a half dozen times trying to figure them out from a distance when the company rep pulled me over to the booth to demonstrate them to me. I was very skeptical until I heard the difference between the way the drum sounded with them on and off while sitting on the concrete floor in the building. I was more than a little surprised at the difference in sound and how much longer the tone rang out. It is basically the same concept as suspending your rack toms as opposed to running a big piece of mounting hardware through them. I have put them on all the kits I have restored and sold since the show and all my customers have loved them so I decided to carry them. I could have sold my set at least a half dozen times already.

Okay, been a couple weeks since I posted anything new but I was waiting on a big calfskin order to come in so I can finish some restoration and repair jobs that have been waiting on my shelves for a while. So here is something a little different and not what you might normally see on this site. I think that these drums are from Mali or a nearby country (Maybe Guinea or Burkino Fasa) in Western Africa. I had to replace the heads on both of them which took about 90 minutes each to make everything, dye the lower bands and then sew the heads together. Enjoy the pics

Drum 1 before shot

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img171/9060/dscn3216uw.jpg[/IMG]

Close up of head.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img525/622/dscn3219g.jpg[/IMG]

Inside of drum with the head off. There is a vent hole that is burned through the bottom of the drum and I wish you could have smelled the inside of these drums. Each of the drums smelled like a smoke house inside and although it might sound freaky I did spend a few minutes just smelling the inside of each drum.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img16/8402/dscn3223x.jpg[/IMG]

Full shot with head off

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img84/3827/dscn3226u.jpg[/IMG]

Full shot of drum with new head and lower band completed. Never thought sewing skills would come in handy repairing drums.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img254/8540/dscn3227e.jpg[/IMG]

Here is drum number 2

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img109/4285/dscn3234oi.jpg[/IMG]

Inside of drum 2. Ahhhh they smelled so good.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img16/2912/dscn3235v.jpg[/IMG]

Close up with head off

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img29/1623/dscn3237jm.jpg[/IMG]

Completed drum with new head and lower band

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img594/3121/dscn3238p.jpg[/IMG]

The pair completed and together. I think that these drums are circa late 1960's to early 1970's

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img11/1040/dscn3241i.jpg[/IMG]

Matt those are pretty cool. Any idea what kind of wood they are? Interesting the hole is burnt through the bottom. Hand carved goodness at it's best. Nice job on the heads.

Not sure on the type of wood but it smelled like burning hickory which I am am pretty sure is wrong because I am not aware of any species of hickory that are native to western Africa.

Those are certainly interesting! Nice rehead job! Nice projects throughout this thread. Cool1

Lynn

The before pictures on this drum is on the previous page of the thread so sorry that you will have to go back a page to compare. This is the Oliver Ditson 25.5 x 6 bass drum completely refinished and with new heads.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img809/7822/dscn3262b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img838/5963/dscn3260t.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img22/531/dscn3256r.jpg[/IMG]

Another one finiished, this is the Frank H. Simmons drum also pictured on the previous page in its Before pictures. This was a ground up restoration, the original finish was removed and the shell re-lacquered, the hoops were completely stripped and repainted and all paint was removed from the brass snare adjuster. All hooks were cleaned and new ears, rope, calfskin heads top and bottom and new snare gut were all added. The bearing edges were reglued on the top and bottom and then hand sanded so they are as smooth as a baby's bottom now.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img268/8737/dscn3273z.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img24/2940/dscn3269y.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img593/5558/dscn3267q.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img401/862/dscn3265c.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img62/8677/dscn3264hf.jpg[/IMG]