OK, maybe I forgot to pose the right questions - how could I try to restore the wrap? would a car/ guitar wax solve it? how much effort should I put into fixing the extra two holes? which would be the best place to get the missing lugs (provided I live in Europe)?

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Flx, can you help us out and post pictures of the insides of all of the drums ?

Yes, a vinyl car upholstery (meaning car seat/interior) polish/cleaner would work well. Guitar polish ? probably yes, try it on a small spot on a drum and see....[/COLOR]

The lower lugs on the tom shown are Leedy....DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY! Someone here might find a use for them.... :D

Thanks so much for the tip, I already listed them in the sales forum (I will also trade them).

Jaye, I will try the products you recomended for polishing the wrap but I was wondering if there is some way to at least mask a bit those scratches.

I am now posting some pics of the other tom and floor tom - theese are in a slightly better shape. The foor tom si nearly clean imo - it only has 4 replacement lugs but I already ordered 10 Ludwigs from ebay (I will still need more to use in the bd though). In one picture you can see that the interior of a tom is splintering and I noticed this as a quite frequent problem with older drums. What would be the best approach to fix this, any specific cement or technique?

The holes above the badge are for the muffler. I'm pretty sure just about all the scratches will come out with a thing called plast-x. It's made by Meguliers. I have used it on several Ludwig Wraps and with a little the time the scratch comes out.

And as for those 2 extra holes filled with two big screws on the 12 inch. I believe that the tom mount was once in those holes. It would make since considering the badge would then be facing out toward the crowd.

Thanks for the Plast-X tip!

Here are some pics with the stripped interior of the bd - looks just like the other drums and the washers of the tom mounting are engraved by Ludwig Drum Co which should clarifiy any doubt of the drum not being an original. The wrap on this drum is slightly coming off at the joint but this I learned can be fixed with contact cement, right?

[COLOR="DarkRed"]OK, well...thank goodness that bass drum is actually a Luddy....I would have hated to be the one to tell you it wasn't.

So...you have a good bunch of raw materials for the restoration now.

Start with the lugs, those are most important.

Then the tom mount...it is exactly the same kind of mout as the floor tom leg mounts....those are relatively cheap to get on eBay, too...and are usually available quite often.

then the tom arm and bass drum plate mount...those are also available on eBay, but they tend to be more expensive because people generally are looking for them.

You can decide whether you wanna wait around for an original Luddy bass hoop, or just get a new replacement to match. I would suggest the latter, it'll be cheaper and who really cares if one bass hoop is a generic modern one if it looks the same ?

Looks like some Bass rods may be original, and some are not. Lud Dude or someone ele can tell you which ones are Ludwigs and which aren't.

Then the bass claws look mostly un-original. So, again, you can decide whether you want to get Ludwig claws, or just some new generic claws for much cheaper...

The re-ring on the tom is no problem...just get in there with some sandpaper to sand away the old glue...then get some wood glue with a few clamps. Glue it, clamp it for about a half-day or so. Remove the clamps and hand-sand the area nice and even. Done deal.

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Thanks again Jaye! The first set of big lugs is on the way, having a spot of trouble finding 6 pcs of the smaller ones though. The tom mounts are in pretty good condition with all original inserts, they need only some wingnuts.

1. One of the bass hoops is metal, probably 'custom' made (and I think I will keep it for a while as it is more pedal-friendly imo - btw does it also affect the sound that much?). The other bd hoop is actually original but it was painted all black - I coud see the original matching wrap insert at some points. This one I will need to fine sand it out of the old paint and in a smoother shape and then just repaint it.

2. But I am now having the most trouble figuring out how to fix the tom shells a bit. I have those nasty extra holes I will need to fill with plastic wood but I will also need to mask the holes in the wrap somehow - any suggestions? Of course I could just leave those ugly screws in place but I am concerned about they affecting the resonance of the shell.

3. Then what about the bearing edges? They seem to be uite irregular - should I try to sand them or have a professional woodworker take like 2mm to smoothen them up? at least the upper edges? But then I would loose the grainy painting... I know this is prob lower the collectible value even more but I would now like to bring them into real nice playing condition.