First and foremost, Hello! My name is Ian and am from Louisville Ky. I registered yesterday so I could cruise through the "Slingerland" search engine and found some great stuff and have decided to share my current find/purchase.
History on this kit. My father played drums and my mother was not cool with it so he put them down. She passed in 1995 and my father bought a Slingerland 70's Chrome over Maple kit and I burned that thing up. Had never but always wanting to play the kit (genes) and figured it out. Attached in the photos is a pic I found from 1996 of me playing the kit. My snare batter was tired so I had used a buddy's TAMA. In 1998 I found myself in a band and contracted to do USO tours and decided to sell the kit ($600) and I grabbed a DW maple to tour with. Fast forward spring 2018, I was in Baltimore for work. I'm had been a traveling ambassador for Bulleit bourbon and the job has taken me everywhere and I had been blessed to frequent the remaining mom and pop drum shops around the country. Bill's Music was on my list and this spring I found time pop in. On the wall was this kit and stopped me on my heals. Took a pic and sent it to my dad, talked to the guy who took in and he claimed the guy acquired it for a guy from Kentucky. He had no idea I was from Louisville. I understand these not that rare and I have seen them locally but this kit spoke to me. Upon inspection I felt it really was the one I had learned to play on. Same hardware wear, Slingerland snare corner peeled from sticker), hi hat stands. 2 TAMA boom stands and a Ludwig Speed King. The same hardware! The resonant heads were original slinger land (cut out) and I had removed them then reinstalled them for the sale. I bought it for $600!
So now, it is in my basement and I am stripping it down for a meticulous restoration. As you can see in the pics attached everything is intact for the most part. Some expected pitting mostly on the COB snare. A few dents were rubbed out and the throw is riddled with oxidation. Toms and kick are solid aside from the beauty rings on the rims on the kick. The double tom mount always gave me fits and this wasn't any different. I decided to to disassemble it and the nylon ball fell into pieces.
Only pieces missing are the kick drum legs/spurs
From here, I would love to hear from the pro's mouth. I've read about Diet Coke and tin foil to remove tarnish and polish the chrome. Car wax to seal in the shine. Please, I would love to keep this thing as long as my arms would allow me to swing a stick. Tought's, suggestions is why I'm here.
Cheers
-Ian