Yay! The drums have arrived!

The shells look spectacular, Jeff. Imperfections? So few and so insignificant as to not matter in the least. I am very happy with the job you did for me. Enough so to give you my highest recommendation to any VDF members contemplating sending you work. First class job and nothing less than I expected from you.

THANK YOU!

I'll post up a couple of photos of the shells shortly. Look for em later on. It's 4:20, time to burn one down right now! LOL

You guys won't believe how great they look! Mahogany.... just 'Classy!' The Cinnamon stain is the t-i-t-s!

John

Well good, Im glad the shells arrived in one piece. Makes me nervouse shipping things, I dont know how you guys do it all the time. And thank you for the nice compliments on my work quality. Really looking forward to seeing this kit put together. So where are the pics you promised, lol?

Here are some shots of the shells right after they arrived:

[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/clubbies1_zps1e75afae.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/clubdates2_zps5bd48d66.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n632/PurdieShuffle/clubdates3_zps95f85d34.jpg[/IMG]

Going with the 'warm-sound' theme of the drums, I opted to try calf-skin heads on the batter-side of the toms. I'm hoping to find a sweet spot in the tuning where these drums will sound like - butter melting on hot pancakes.

I still have some work ahead of me with these, so please be patient. I will post photos as the drums are completed and then as a set. I'm waiting on delivery of the Jazzfest that will complete the kit, so I can send it off to Jeff for the 'Veneer Treatment.'

They look killer already! Can't wait to see em all done.

Off to work on the drums!

John - Very happy camper Yes Sir :p

VERY nice.

great job jc.

Mahogany looks fab.

new owner will be nuthin less than awe struck.

Thank you!

(Boy, I didn't think I was ever gonna access the site again)

Those shells look awesome! So when you add a veneer ply are they now really 4 ply shells? ;) If you have the means, I would love to hear a recording of "butter melting on hot pancakes".

One question, where are the lug holes? I think I would have had Jeff open them back up after he wrapped the veneer, but before the clear was applied. Knowing my luck, they would splinter on me.

-Tim

I think the plan is to do a free floating rope tension kit. Cool1

Naw...just kidding. Man that is going to be a sweet looking kit. It should sound fantastic as well. Purdie, are you flipping this or will it be a keeper?

John wants to paint the insides so he asked me to not drill the holes.

Tim, it is much better for me to work on a shell with no holes in it for as long as I can. Its no big deal to drill afterwards, just take your time. I take a 1/4" forstner bit and drill through the inside just enough to get the point through the veneer. Then finish up from the exterior. If the holes are a bit too small I use a tapered rasp bit in my drill to clean them up, its easy.

Scott, your funny dude!

That 22" bass drum is drilled for Club Date lugs. There's a ton of 20"s out there, but not too many ten-lug, 22" clubbie bass drums around. As Jeff mentioned, I asked him to leave the holes closed so I could work on the interiors worry-free of any leakage to the outside of the shell. Just makes it easier for me to work on them.

As for the drilling, I've been refurbishing old kits for more than 25 years. No worries on opening up the holes in the veneer.

Yes! Now they are 4-ply shells! I'm hoping that the new outer layer of Mahogany veneer warms up the sound even more. Oaklawn Camco's were 4-ply shells and those drums sound out-of-this-world good. It's an experiment, I'll let you know if it worked. I didn't want to go with another run-of-the-mill wrap. I just figured if anything, the natural wood would be a better choice sound-wise. I love the look of natural finish drums.

Scott - If I flip them, I'll never make any $ on them. These 'project-kits' -if you do them right- are always an expensive proposition. Many project kit beginners make the mistake of grossly underestimating the actual costs of refurbishing a vintage kit, it's a common oversight. All said and done, I'm already in for $900. on this one. Unless someone makes me an outrageous offer for them, they're more than likely to be around for quite awhile. I do buy project kits to flip, it provides a modest side income to my pension, but I didn't buy this one with 'flipping' in mind. I love clubbies and I especially love the sizes of this one. I'm looking forward to enjoying it myself.

John

No kidding on the expense to refurb a kit. I bought those Rogers for 100 bucks but invested another 1000. That does include the copy cat snare I made but still, who would pay that much for a XP8 big R kit. Missing hardware like tom mounts and spurs really can cost a lot of money.

John, you will like the sound of these drums. I did the same mahogany veneer on some cheep mij's for practice a couple years ago and those drums sounded great. Once you get this together with the natural maple hoops and the mahog inlay, matching snare drum and a 10 lug 22" bass drum,, you wont want to sell it!