Hello all,
I'm a new member to this forum. I've been drim crazy for all of my life and am going to attempt restoration of an old set of Stewart drums I bought recently. The kit is in pretty decent shape except for the rack tom is peeling in a few places. Does anyone know If this is repairable or not? It is red sparkle rap. The alternative is to reap the whole kit which I've been wanting to try anyway. Any advice is appreciated.
Posting pictures would be most helpful. If it is a seam that is lifting then that is generally easy enough to fix. Red sparkle is not a unique wrap so if you wanted to try a re-wrap project, this might be a nice opportunity. Keep in mind that Stewart drums were Japanese knock-offs of American kits. If you are using standard drum wrap, the wrap will be worth more than the drums. If all you care about is working on drums and doing cool things, then that doesn't matter. Enjoy!
Thanks for the reply. I am aware that these drums are "stencil" sets. That being said I have heard these old Japanese brands are making a nostalgic comeback. Either way, I've always wanted to try my hand at wrapping. So if I end up with a very nice looking set of cheap drums I'm hood with it.lol. and if they sound halfway decent even better. I will try to post some pics when I get started. The tom is ripped in numerous places. Thanks again
I dont think comeback is what they are doing. I think they will ALWAYS offer an alternative to the saturated US market. Lets face it, they are cheap knock offs for the most part, and were never meant to be anything else, dont kid yourself. Cheap wood makes for cheap drums,period. They sound good in the basement, but need to be tweaked every 3 or 4 tunes due to the cheap hardware........I love these drums because for a fraction of the price you can own...history.
I wouldn't re-wrap the set if I were you. Even though it's just red sparkle, the original wrap is key in retaining any resale value, even if the wrap isn't in perfect condition. There also may be ways to make your rack tom look better.
These drums shouldn't have any tuning issues if they are fitted with heads that have some life left in them.
I wouldn't re-wrap the set if I were you. Even though it's just red sparkle, the original wrap is key in retaining any resale value, even if the wrap isn't in perfect condition. There also may be ways to make your rack tom look better.These drums shouldn't have any tuning issues if they are fitted with heads that have some life left in them.
What resale value would that be? These are MIJ stencils, they have no resale value to speak of. An original kit in top condition won't even pull in $300. I dare say that if you modernize and rewrap with something interesting, you are much more likely to maximize their resale value than if you leave them as is.
Last year I was offered $250 on a re-wrapped Stewart snare that was never worth more than $70 or $80 simply because I used a very exotic and impressive looking wrap. And in another case just this month, one of our members re-wrapped and upgraded a small stencil kit, which he then sold for nearly $400.
While re-wrapping a fine old set of Luddies or Slingies will certainly decrease their value, when it comes to these Japanese stencils, the rules seem to change significantly. As one poster mentioned, the wrap itself alone is worth more than the drums.
I dont think comeback is what they are doing. I think they will ALWAYS offer an alternative to the saturated US market. Lets face it, they are cheap knock offs for the most part, and were never meant to be anything else, dont kid yourself. Cheap wood makes for cheap drums,period. They sound good in the basement, but need to be tweaked every 3 or 4 tunes due to the cheap hardware........I love these drums because for a fraction of the price you can own...history.
I think there is more to be said about the wood in these drums than a blanket statement like this. The wood which at the time was cheap is not the same wood today. It has had 40-50 years to cure and harden. Phillipine Mahogany (Luan wood) undergoes a remarkable transformation as it ages. To some degree it happens to all woods, but much more so for this particular wood than most. That is because while it is a naturally porous wood, those pores were filled with oils that have since dried out, which along with other chemical changes that occur naturally with time tend to leave the wood harder and more resonant than it was when new. It really does change and improve the character of the sound these drums produce.
Granted, they will always be tough to keep tuned up, but once you hit the desired sweet point at which the toms resonate properly you've got a dark warm vintage sound that simply can't be faked or reproduced with modern drums. Nor for that matter vintage Luddies, Slingies, Rogers, etc.
the problem with the cheap Stewarts and others of their ilk are, as has been mentioned, they used cheap GRADES of cheap luan wood...
by comparison, later Tama Swingstars and Yamaha anything used a more dense, less stringy grade of luan, plus their manufacturing processes eliminated ply voids and incomplete seams
try cutting up a few if you need to see for your self, but the Stewarts i have all had large gaps between sections (some 1/4"), no bearings edges, non-centered wrap, and poorly finished chrome
they ARE cheap drums cheaply made
the problem with the cheap Stewarts and others of their ilk are, as has been mentioned, they used cheap GRADES of cheap luan wood... by comparison, later Tama Swingstars and Yamaha anything used a more dense, less stringy grade of luan, plus their manufacturing processes eliminated ply voids and incomplete seamstry cutting up a few if you need to see for your self, but the Stewarts i have all had large gaps between sections (some 1/4"), no bearings edges, non-centered wrap, and poorly finished chromethey ARE cheap drums cheaply made
Humm....perhaps Dave has been unfortunate to get a bad bunch of MIJs, as some MIJ kits are better than others (all within this era I am talking about here). What other MIJs have you had Dave?
Humm....perhaps Dave has been unfortunate to get a bad bunch of MIJs, as some MIJ kits are better than others (all within this era I am talking about here). What other MIJs have you had Dave?
sharktooth era lugs from Stewart, Winston, Westbury and Beltone
Westburys by far the best, Stewart the worst
note the dropped in "panel" and mold "grid lines" (sorry about the size, but shows the detail)
[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img585/466/14uy.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img21/825/0qj0.jpg[/IMG]
