And a few more photos, why not?

I like these 6 and a halves. Yes Sir

That's a great looking snare. Best it sounds fantastic too. If it was mine I'd keep the finish as is. A few scuff and scratches adds character and does not bother me a bit. It actually looks to be in very nice shape from the pictures. There are some good wood polishes that can help blend the scratches in a bit. I used to have a Slingerland mahogany stain kit. I used Scotts liquid gold on them which worked nicely. I'm sure there's even some better products out there now. Very cool of John to send you that strainer!! He's a good guy for sure.

It's bad luck not to help an Irishman!

The drum looks good Allan! I love those drums because you can put a sloppy tuning on them and set the snares 'splashy' and I will play New Orleans Second Line riffs on it all day. The -PERFECT- drum for rolly, buzzy, clangy, syncopated stuff.

Enjoy it!

John

PS - Leave the finish alone unless it's absolutely driving you mad. Like Glenn said, it adds character to the drum.

Ha ha! Cheers John. You made this Mick very proud of his snare drum. If I could I'd grant you me pot of gold.

Sound advise on the drum. I do think I'll leave it as is. I agree with you too, it's a good drum for certain styles. It's great with brushes. I like it at a lower tuning to really get the most out of the mahogany shell. I'll leave it as is for now. I might just change out the snare wires. The ones on there are a bit worn out.

I do like the old mahogany finish, scratches and all. Yes Sir

I'll look into that. That's good advise. Other that the scuffs and scratches it's in very fine condition. The bearing edges are flawless and the shell is very well constructed. Nothing really to complain about on this drum. I like it a lot! :)

I agree that you should leave the finish as is. 2 or 3 coats of furniture polish and it'll look great. Very nice drum.

Thanks Gerald. I'm hearing a lot of support for the polishing so I'll go with that. I will try a few different techniques. I'm no master woodworker, but I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I've seen some techniques involving rubbing walnuts into the scratches. With good results. I'll try that. I'm off to buy some walnuts and if it doesn't work at least I'll have some walnuts to eat. It's a win win situation. :)

I was going through the cans and bottles under the kitchen sink and I found a can of Teak Oil. It's a spray for outdoor furniture. I tried spraying it onto a cloth and rubbing it into the shell. It really worked! I removed a lot of the light scratches. The heavier scratches still remain.

Here are some pics of before..

...And after