Gerard: forgot to mention that automotive detailing clay worked well for reducing overspray. Be careful and test it under a lug before you go to town on it.

Louie: I leveled the bearing edges using a sanding table I made by gluing sandpaper on to a piece of birch plywood, checking it on a granite countertop. Then I gently touched up the outside edge on my router table with a roundover bit, and then did the same on the inside with a 45-degree bit. Took off very little material.

My policy is bearing edge restoration, not cutting sharp 45's into vintage drums. Duplicating the original edge as much as possible.

Thanks Erik. I've never heard of auto detailing clay but will be sure to check it out. Since completing my Duco respray, I have been considering ways to to improve the quality of the final finish. The modern clear varnish has sealed the paint finish well and also produced a decent shine but it really does lack the 'depth' that the old lacquers used to give. I don't know if its possible to apply lacquer over what I have already applied due to product compatibility issues but maybe I'll investigate further.

I don't know if there's any way to add the "depth" of old lacquers once a new poly finish is down. You can clear coat it and polish to a mirror finish, but that would probably make it look less like the old lacquers.

My goal was to get an acceptable refinish using locally-available off-the-shelf paints. $4 a can Rustoleum lacquer from Home Depot, Testor's airbrush paint from Michael's.

After I'm dead, if someone wants to make it more original, they can knock themselves out. :-)

If I were really going for a restoration, I'd order nitrocellulose from Guitar ReRanch.

That is what "Duco" actually meant, Dupont Co. nitrocellulose lacquer. We vintage drum people have repurposed the term to mean "Dual Color," but originally Duco was the paint.

ReRanch is the only place I know of where you can get the real thing in rattle cans.

One of the qualities that real nitro has is that it goes on thin. On my Deems, you could make out the grain of the maple under the lacquer. With my new built-up finish, it's smooth, and there is no grain visible.

One of the reasons that MI manufacturers stopped using nitro when poly came around is that the nitro was so thin and fragile by comparison that shop wear was an issue. Think of how rare intact Duco finishes are. Bump it with a snare stand and a chip falls out. If that happens in the store, you've just turned a new drum into a "second."

You could try a clear top coat of ReRanch lacquer, but you might run the risk of the solvents in the clear coat attacking your previous coats. The thing is, my WFL wasn't clear coated. They threw on a coat of black, then a stripe of metallic gold. Probably a little buffing to knock down the overspray and it's out the door.

I choose to be happy knowing that the Duco finish was the cheaper alternative, and often sloppily applied at the factory. My cheap materials and uneven airbrushing are period correct. :-)