I created a YouTube video on how I have been reinforcing the lugs. I keep trying to include the link only, but the video embeds in this entry. Sorry, Webmaster. Please change it to link only if you can.

I neglected to mention in the video that you should also run the screw through the putty on the rear of the lug so that you can attach the lug to the drum!

Josh

[ame="https://youtu.be/dSjB7sQXfg4"]https://youtu.be/dSjB7sQXfg4[/ame]

Great tutorial!! Very informative, which will be useful for members...

Good job!!

Cheers

Why thank you, Sir!

Okay, so another milestone. I completed the bass drum today and assembled it. Before I do any work on the shell, I want to get a sense for how the drums sound. I have them assembled with heads on them, but haven't tuned them up and tried them out. That will be tomorrow. If they measure up in sound (I like a good, wide-open buddy rich-esque sound when I play a four piece), then I will need to decide if I will recover them. Still leaning toward blue sparkle. Anyway, here they are in black (not original wrap). The hoops were as I got them, with a gawd-awful silver tape on them. Most of the metal work came pretty clean. I got all of the rust off, but some of the remaining pitting is black instead of just nickel-colored. Also, the rims appear to have wear on them, as if the drums spent a lot of time riding around in the back of a truck in hard cases. I will simply refer to the wear as "played and loved."

Really nice! Let me know how you like the Evans heads on them. C1 or 2's? I usually get Evans. But went with Remo Ambassadors on mine. Had a few tuning struggles but great sounding once settled in. Any ideas on wrap choices?

The Evans heads I got were G1. Even though the specs say that they're the same thickness as Remo Ambassadors, they sure seem thicker. I don't like them. I guess I'm just a Remo baby stuck in his ways.

I tried out the drums, and the floor tom sounded great right out of the gate. I didn't even really tune it, just put the heads on and struck it. It sounded even better after I put a little effort into proper tuning (by ear, not device). But the 9x13 - not so good. As I mentioned before, I like a four piece set to have more of a what I consider a jazz tuning - long sustain. More of a "tummmm" sound. What I got out of the 9x13 was "tunk." I tried high to low, bottom and top, no difference. The resonant head is also Evans, and it's labelled "reso." It sounded slightly better with the reso head off of the drum, but that's really not an option.

I decided it was time to recut the bearing edges. I had already leveled the bearing edge by adhering four pieces of 100 grit sandpaper to my workbench, turning the drum on the sandpaper until the entire edge was coplanar. The top edge was in pretty good shape, but the bottom edge had a lot of damage to undo.

The previous owner had filed the outer edge inward. The job was done very well, if not professionally, at least very consistently. I can tell the job was done by hand as the file marks were clearly visible around the drum. I don't understand why they did it. I also don't know why they decided to paint some of the interiors black! As I describe in the below video, taking off the filed edges and bringing the edge back in line with the sides of the drum would simply involve removing too much drum. So I attacked the one part that didn't require relocation of lugs or anything else drastic. I used a large roundover bit (I think 3/4'') in my router table.

After I altered the bearing edges, the tom sounds great. Good sustain on par but slightly shorter in duration than the floor tom. I'm going to leave the bearing edges alone on the floor tom. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

And so far, the lugs are all holding fine.Cool1

[ame]https://youtu.be/SxZziiHwpo4[/ame]

That's interesting on the Evans heads. My 16" has the early Jasper flat edges. It too sounded great out of the box. The 13" (also Jasper) no so much. Had the same results as you. A "tink" tuned high and dead "thud" medium to low. It was funny my Grandson came over for a lesson and was playing them with me out front listening. The 13" sounded great! This was after a month or so. I dialed them in a bit and overall pretty happy. My shells we bare to start. So maybe things needed to settle in a bit? Dunno. Great edge work! Not easy to do. glad things are going well. What a cool signature on the 12" and dated too. 11 days before I was born. ;) I picked up a 2nd 16" floor. Smaller B&B (snare size) lugs and it's a Keller 5ply? shell with the sharper edges. Think it's a 45* on that one? Not sure. Either way great work and cool vids! Thanks!!

So one month has gone by and I have left tension on the lugs all of this time (and played them a bit, too). Today, I began the process of readying the drums for a blue sparkle rewrap from Jammin Sam. For three drums (custom cut - they want exact height dimensions), bass drum hoop strips, high-bond adhesive and threaded brass-colored eyelets, plus shipping, it set me back $225.

I used my poor 12" shell (my crash dummy) for testing my process again. This time, it was for testing the removal of the adhesive (probably contact cement) from the outside of the shell. I know that there are some pretty powerful and volatile chemicals out there (Naptha, acetone, etc), but I decided to go with mineral spirits (paint thinner). I don't want the fluid to make it through to the glue holding the plies together and start separating those. I don't know if that's even possible, but since wood is so porous, it seems to me that it is a possibility.

I rubbed on some paint thinner to soften the adhesive, then used a scraper on the shell. After some initial efforts, it seemed to be most effective to scrape at a 45 degree angle. I repeated this two or three times, then let it dry for a few hours.

I started sanding with 80 grit paper in my random-orbit sander. This got most of the remaining adhesive residue off. I followed that with 120 grit, then 150 grit. Keep the sander moving. I was satisfied with the surface at this point, and figured I would use the above procedure with the other drums (after making any repairs).

I removed all of the hardware and lugs on my 13" tom. I inspected all of the lugs, and they appear unchanged from when I first reinforced them and mounted them. Bueno. Using a heat gun on low setting, I was able to remove the black wrap of the drum (not original wrap). The wrap came off in about 5 pieces, using the heat gun and a painter's 5-in-1 tool.

The below photos are of the 12" tom.

Photo 1: the drum before stripping the adhesive.

Photo 2: applying mineral spirits.

Photo 3: scraping

Photo 4: sanding

Photo 5: The finished shell

I will get to work on stripping the 13" tom as time permits.

Looking good! About the wrap from JS, did you get blue sparkle or blue glass glitter?

-Mark

I ordered the JS Sparkle. According to them, it replaced their Vintage Sparkle. Blue sparkle was a wrap offering in 1958, so I think it’ll look good.