Hi Scott - Sounds like a cool project kit. Doing anything to the finish will take away from the value, from a collectors point of view. That said, we have another thread currently active where a member is considering a refin on a Ludwig kit. Check it out.

The least intrusive thing you can do for these is to wrap with a sparkle or some other plastic based wrap, using hi-bond tape (not glue). It can be removed later if you decide to sell and want the original finish back.

How about some pics??

What If I Sanded The Shells Down And Re Staided Them. Im Sure That Would Take Away From The Value. Whats The Best Way To Remove Rust From All The Hardware

Thanks For Your Help

Scott

Swingers only originally came with wrap, so someone already removed it and finished the shells. I think we talked about this before on another thread. So re-finishing would not kill the value further and may up it some depending on how bad it was to start. Swingers also came with a rounded bearing edge so these shells have been recut. Check to make sure it was a good job....I'm sure you know the drill - put on flat surface and take a look, also look for squareness to the shell. You may want to retouch the edges if it was a bad job.

If you do a nice job on the refinish you should up the value.

Personally, I think rewrapping with one of the original Swinger colors would raise the value more but, then again, it will cost more also.

I'm curious if you played the drums yet and how they sound with the beveled edges. What do you think?

Thanks for that info Drum Dad. Wasn't aware that they came wrapped. Pretty much agree with what you said. If it's been tampered with already, then no harm in tampering again I think. You also want to be 100% sure that you have a Swinger set, and not another model. Would be a bummer to refinish something that WAS original. Pics are really needed here.

Here's some Swinger info....

A couple of catalog pages from 1971 and the color chart.

The Swinger lugs were unique to that line of drums and can't be mistaken for anything else. They are plastic lugs with steel inserts and they flare out at the base where they meet the drum. The later Champion and Phonic lugs do not have that flare and are steel.

The multi-brilliant wraps were only available on the teardrop drums.

Whoa! Plastic lugs? How well do they hold up over time?

I have a set from 1972 and it has two cracked lugs which I will transfer to the kick drum when I reassemble. They still hold a minimum tension so they should work ok here. The rest are fine. They will hold a surprising amount of tension. The key is to seat the heads and tension up slowly and evenly across the lugs (just like any other drum really). My personal feeling is that they likely get damaged when re-heading...and since they were entry level drums for the time, you probably had some first time drummers who really didn't know what they were doing. The lug mount spacing is fairly common....I can't remember exactly what the distance is but there are replacement lugs out there which will fit. The rest of the hardware is minimilistic but still good strong stuff.

The strength of these drums is really the European beech shells. You just don't get wood like this any more. If the shells are in good condition,they can make the basis for a nice custom set. And if you can get a set for $65 what the heck.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Plastic lugs...what a wonderfully stupid '70's invention.

Right up there with the Osmond Bros.

Rogers tried 'em, Ludwig tried 'em.

I have actually gotten some old Sonor plastics now and again...usually when I buy a "grab bag" of hardware. I might even still have a few here....

An idea which, gladly , met it's deservedly fast and merciful end.[/COLOR]

Hi,

I got this drum set in marine turquoise for my 12th birthday ( twenty years ago) and have never seen another like it, so I am very happy that i have stumbled accross this forum. Unfortunatley I also have 2 broken plastic lugs and 1 missing tensioner. Does anybody know where I can get hold of these items? Also what is the best way of safely removing some light rust from the hardware?