I think all you can do is try to wet sand it.

I think a few here have had a little success with that method on other wraps. Good luck I'm sure they'll chime in here.

Opinions very and are sometimes strongly held and expressed. The last time I had occasion to look at the matter there were a few competing schools of thought:

[LIST]

[*]embrace the yellowing

[*]you can't do anything

[*]wet sanding

[*]retr0bright (or retrobright, but because it started off as a vintage computer/gaming console thing it had a cutsie 0 (zero) in it instead of an o.

[*]various other methods

[/LIST]

But what seemed to be lacking was any decent scientific study of the subject which properly documented the different methods and outcomes.

In part different experiences may be due to different degrees of yellowing at the outset, so pictures of what you are dealing with might help.

I recently came across a Jazz Festival in WMP (thanks to Mike Layton) which matches my kit in terms of badge and year, but is slightly yellowed compared to the Jazzette kit itself which is pristine, so now I'm interested again.

Here's a positive report on a method, but not necessarily for de-yellowing WMP

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=28662

and if you search on retr0bright you will quickly find a page of reading right here on little old VDF.

Our webmaster falls into the "embrace the yellowing" camp so I guess that's the official VDF policy.

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/wmp_article.html

Thanks for the feedback guys. I've just purchased (still in transit from US) a late 50's Slingerland bass drum which I hope to augment with 13" and 16" toms at some point. I take the point about embracing the yellow and part of me still adheres to that school of reasoning.

I have seen a video somewhere of a guy wiping the shell with a cloth soaked in something like acetone which appears to dissolve the surface of the wrap and makes it look like new. I'm aware that skill is of the essence and that if you get it wrong, your wrap is toast so I probably will leave that to the experts. I've never used retr0bright but will look into it's availability in the 'Land of the Long White Cloud'

Did you ever leave a child`s toy like a big wheel outside since you bought it and the next year it looks so light colored or even wants to turn white but it was solid red to start ?

If so, that`s what happened to the wrap but not as severe, and why you can`t restore it.

Ultraviolet light is the culprit. Shiny helps reflect what`s left is what I learned.

No problem getting all the ingredients for making retr0bright, even here in Middle Earth.

Yes I too have seen "the guy wiping the shell with a cloth soaked in something" video. I don't think it was acetone, but I can't remember. It is more likely to be something hydrogen peroxide based (as retr0bright is). This was a few years ago on DFO, and from memory the guy wouldn't come clean and just say what the recipe was. He insisted on posting a series of very long and tedious videos dancing around the subject and refusing to give simple straightforward information. Precisely the sort of thing which plays into the hands of the naysayers.

I tried to find it again on DFO but no luck. Their search facility didn't come up with the goods so far. But that could be me not looking for the right thing...

Remember I'm not claiming that hydrogen peroxide works. I haven't tried it. I don't know. But I have yet to hear from the "it doesn't work" camp that they have tested it in a controlled experiment on drum wrap and have proof that it doesn't work, damages the wrap, or whatever.

There is a poultice formula that I'm trying to remember it's something to do with some sort of diametous earth and chloride compound I used it in past on marlble restoration wonder if it would work on our drums

Well, I hesitate here... as this IS tricky, but successful, as I have done it! I have a before and after pic that I will share here, but before I do ...

... I stopped telling how I did this as the more I thought about it, if you get a person that makes a mess of it, or worse yet, RUINS their drum!, they are going to blame me. That's just the way it works! So, I started offering the info PRIVATELY with a full disclaimer that I am in no way responsible "should" something go wrong. On the flip side, it's not brain surgery! .. meaning .. if you take your time, GO SLOW, and constantly assess your results, it works GREAT! Now ...

... no, the solvent isn't acetone ... it's lacquer thinner, and they are related, but not the same! The lacquer thinner mimics the solvent used to make the Pyralin which is what wraps were called back then .. cellulose acetate actually .. and as such, it DISSOLVES the actual top layer. It is a SLOW GO!, and you must keep your cloth well saturated with the lacquer thinner, and rub. You can SEE the yellow coming off on the cloth as well as disappearing on the wrap itself. I did one panel at a time for complete control. Needless to say, the drum has to be completely disassembled first, and keeping care to not let the lacquer thinner drip inside the shell. I masked all the holes from the inside to prevent that occurrence. Once the shell is CLEAN, with the amount of yellowing/fade gone that you desire, you have to SEAL the wrap again as it is sitting there open and naked. KRYLON makes a clear acrylic spray that is perfect! It MUST be acrylic. If you use solvent based it will amber very quickly, completely negating all your efforts! That's the short of it... a thumbnail sketch if you will. So...

... what drum did I do? It was my 1940/50 WFL 3X13 Buddy Rich Be-bop that starts my BR snare drum collection. When I found the drum it was all there and complete!, but as yellow as a lifetime smoker's teeth! After doing this one drum, I said hmmmmm. LOT of work, and SLOW. GREAT results!, but I wouldn't want to do a full set! I will say WFL's wrap "moves" easier than Rogers does ... and that I also know from experience! Anyway, here's the before ... and after!

Tommyp

TP!

And I thought you purchased said drum in that beautiful condition! Excellent explanation on how you did this. Had I known about your procedure, I may have been able to save the wrap of a Slingerland Deluxe Student shell I obtained for cheap. I figured it was toast, removed the wrap, and sent it to PDC for wrapping in a beautiful Blue-White Marine Pearl. Looks great, but I would have liked to try your procedure. Can I blame you?!!! LoLoLoLo

-Mark

Mark!

Actually, I have done restoration work on more than a few in the BR collection, you know... to bring them into proper alignment with the others, and to keep them correct and with top quality. A lot of times it was for pure aesthetics!, and that was the case with the WFL 3X13 Buddy Rich Be-bop. I wanted to get it closer to the 1955 WFL 5.5X14 Buddy Rich Classic ... which it now is! Regarding your Slingerland ...

I think you did the right thing with the re-wrap Mark! Outside of a slight chip size difference, and I do mean slight!, those are identical! This method would have worked I'm sure, but again... very time consuming. Not so bad on a single snare drum, but again, I wouldn't want to do a complete set! Also, even after the restore/lightening, you still CAN'T keep the drum exposed to UV for any length of time as the yellowing will start all over again! A UV block in the acrylic would certainly help that, but I don't know that one is available. There wasn't when I did this particular drum, as it was a while ago. Regarding the blame ...

YES! ... blame freely!

Tommyp