Hi all. Recently picked up what was described as a vintage Premier kit for £85. In a way that's kind of true! It is in fact an Olympic, unfortunately post-cool finishes, but still a well-built set from 78-79. It was worth it, as thrown in was some hardware and quite a few cymbals as well as some Premier bongos, which I'll share with you on another post soon!
Anyway, back to the kit. It's in a pretty bad way (especially the snare!) but a lot of the rust should clean off. It's also been recovered in some horrible electrician's tape-like stuff. God knows if the wrap underneath is serviceable! What's more, Much of the Olympic/Premier hardware has been removed from the bass drum and 12" tom and been replaced with a different tom mounting plate, arm and receiving mount. These kits were a standard four-piece upon release. This one has been turned into a five-piece by adding a tom. This added tom has the non-premier hardware. (See other post about this one!)
Anyway, going to try and restore this one to it's former glory. I've attached a couple of pics now, and will show you the results when it's done. Don't know when it'll be done though! What I do know is that the hardware's standard Premier design. Thing is, this model of Olympic has the black finish - harder to find I think.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Someone put contact paper over the original wrap. It's a pain to remove (not the paper itself but the residual glue). if you get lucky, teh wrap beneath will be in good enough shape to restore. It'll be tricky because you will need to use a product which will remove the glue residue from the paper without buggering the original wrap surdface.
Nevertheless, Olypic shells were the same as Premier shells, post -1980's...so those are good quality birc=h shells...and most importantly, the original lugs appear intact...which is cool because they were always nifty looking lugs.
Keep posting as it progresses...good luck ![/COLOR]
[COLOR="DarkRed"]Someone put contact paper over the original wrap. It's a pain to remove (not the paper itself but the residual glue). if you get lucky, teh wrap beneath will be in good enough shape to restore. It'll be tricky because you will need to use a product which will remove the glue residue from the paper without buggering the original wrap surdface. Nevertheless, Olypic shells were the same as Premier shells, post -1980's...so those are good quality birc=h shells...and most importantly, the original lugs appear intact...which is cool because they were always nifty looking lugs.Keep posting as it progresses...good luck ![/COLOR]
Jaye I think you meant PRE 1980's........Olympic drums through the 70's are great sounding drums. I had a couple of those sets for a short period of time. One was that same orange/gold color that Keith Moon had on his Premiers in the early 70's.....it was in such bad shape though that I ended up removing the wrap, staining and clearing the shells. They came out great! Sold both kits on Ebay, one stayed in the US, one ended up going to Norway. The Norway kit was a nice plain white wrap, and needed little to restore, but man....when it came to shipping that kit, what a disaster! I didn't know that the bass drum box was too big to ship via the post office! UPS cost the buyer a fortune, but they wanted them anyway.
Ooops.....I've strayed off topic...LOL! Anyway, both kits were birch shells and sounded wonderful. Good luck with your restoration!
you might want to try a product from rs componants (its an electrical store like maplins) if you have one near you .Called 'sticky stuff remover' product code506-3618 (i have one to hand for the code!)
its good for removing old glue.
if at all it leaves the slightest haze you can clean up with silicoln spray ,like the stuff you use on your car dash board.
Thanks for the info everyone - I was hoping I would be able to repair the old wrap underneath without a re-wrap! Dunno when I'll get chance to get started on this but will keep you posted!
Tama Superstar, 22, 22, 16, 14, 13 Desert Burst
Premier Genista, 22, 16, 13, 12 Black Lacquer
Premier Genista, 20, 14, 10 and snare Black Lacquer
Premier Resonator 22, 16, 14, 13 poly creme/black
Zickos 22, 16, 14, 13, clear acrylic and snare
Removed contact paper to reveal very yellowy, glue-covered wrap. It came off OK until I got to one spot where the original white wrap had broken into pieces underneath. (See pic).
Now I've seen the wood (so to speak) I'm tempted to remove all the old wrap and varnish. Maybe I should see how the wrap is on the bass and floor? I'm not sure. It's not as if late 70's Olympics are mega valuable, and white is such a boring wrap anyway?! Waddaya think guys?
Quick progress update! Snare has polished up pretty good considering, but some of the rust is pitting, not just surface sadly. It's got that 'chrome looks good from a distance' look! All hardware is off, and stripped all the old contact paper and wrap from the tom and the wood looks in good condition for varnishing. Bass drum hoops are off and stripped down.
Problem: The floor is a real pain. I just can't undo quite a few the screws holding the lugs in place! I'm shredding the heads and my phillips trying. Another useful trick is sawing a standard slot in a phillips screw head, but I can't get my hacksaw in cos of the re-rings! Any ideas for getting stubborn screws out?
Tama Superstar, 22, 22, 16, 14, 13 Desert Burst
Premier Genista, 22, 16, 13, 12 Black Lacquer
Premier Genista, 20, 14, 10 and snare Black Lacquer
Premier Resonator 22, 16, 14, 13 poly creme/black
Zickos 22, 16, 14, 13, clear acrylic and snare
One way to do it is to drill off the screw heads. With a philips (star) it's pretty easy because the drill is self centering....unless you've really buggered up the screw head. Use a drill diameter about half way between the head size and the shaft size. Gently drill until the head separates and then stop right away.
Penetrating oil is another option but it will soak into the shell and stain it.
