In my experience there's an incredible depth to glass wraps and under stage lights they really shine, throwing off colors you wouldn't expect. My buddy had a black glass glitter kit that under stage lights was gold and green.

That said, I much prefer sparkle wraps. Depth and range of color or not, sparkles are what I fell in love with. If you want to match a vintage wrap go with a sparkle.

Try and look at a few wraps in person if you can, though!

Yes big difference in the two wraps, I'll tell you Eric the glass wrap really pops as mentioned when light hits them. I did a glass glitter green sparkle kit once with a 28" bass drum man it was super cool looking.

There's really no comparison between Glass Glitter and Sparkle. Apples and Oranges! Yes, many sparkle finishes looks very good, such as my 1967 Slingerland in Silver Sparkle or my 1970 Ludwig in Blue Sparkle. But... you can really see the difference under lights with my 1966 Rogers Headliner in Blue glass and my 1970 Slingerland in original Purple glass! I've wrapped other kits and snare drums in glass glitters and they are beautiful. The only real issue is that glass glitters are a bit thicker and brittle, requiring more care in handling and installation. For a glass glitter that really pops, look no further than Super Tangerine Glass Glitter!

-Mark

One thing to tak into consideration,from what I have heard the glass glitters of old,and now,are a little thicker and stiffer,that may make a difference on how heads fit when re wrapping a kit,esp like an older Gretsch

Just a note... I've restored and wrapped a ton of kits and as beautiful as Glass is, it is, (bar none) the hardest wrap I ever had to work with. My hands were in shreds after working with that stuff. The substrate is just like concrete! If you have to cut it, you'll need a specialized cutting tool so it cuts without leaving a ragged edge. I burned through several Gem blades before I figured out that the crap wouldn't cut with ordinary tools.

Glass wrap looks great, no doubt. I prefer it to regular sparkle wraps, however, it is the biggest pain in the a$$ to work with if you're wrapping drums yourself.

Fore-warned is fore-armed.

John

I'm with the comments of both Mark idrum4fun and John Purdie Shuffle. I made one attempt with glass glitter on a Rogers marching Dynasonic that came to me naked. I goofed up badly because I wanted red glass feature strips within in an overall black glass finish. Yikes! When I needed to wrap another set in red glass, I hired it out. Lesson learned, lesson applied. The red glass looked superb, though not as vintage as that finish looks with time where it generally gets darker and shifts to a slight burgundy shade.

Note: That is not a crack in the new wrap, it is a light reflection!!

Dan and Purdie!

All the drums I've wrapped in Glass Glitters have had each piece already cut to make installation easier. I wrapped an entire kit in Blue Glass Glitter from Jammin Sam, using his tape method. Due to the stiffness of Glass Glitters, the bond would always come up. Glass Glitters really need to be glued all around the shell!

Dan... that's a beautiful Rogers kit. Looks like a Celebrity, correct? Both my vintage Rogers Headliner and Slingerland Modern Solo kits are wrapped in original Glass Glitters that have an "orange peel" look to them. It's just the way they were manufactured back then. Today's glitters have a very smooth and shiny outer layer.

-Mark

I'm like Dan, I now 'farm out' (usually to Precision Drum Co.) any drums I need wrapped in glass glitter. I love/prefer the finish, I'm just not set up to work with it properly.

Dan - spectacular kit! I'm a sucker for red glass, my favorite of them all.

John

Yep Mark, 1968 Celebrity. And yes, the outside finish was very smooth and shiny. I gigged it for a while and sold it in favor of a 20, 13, 16 set-up. I've since sold the replacement too, but have two other 20, 13, 16 sets. I've kind of gotten comfortable with that configuration.

The red glitter wrap was applied very expertly by the Vintage Drum and Music shop in Scituate, RI.