idrum4fun,

What a wonderful thing to do for someone! Are you are doing a great job.

Good for you!

Thanks for your comments! The hoop came out great. Will post pictures tomorrow!

-Mark

My hoop repair came out better than I had hoped and I'm very happy with the results! Here are the BEFORE and AFTER shots. The hoop is now in round at the repair! You can still see that there is missing ply on top. I might try some wood filler to smooth it out. I hadn't plan to paint the hoops, but I'm going to get a black enamel paint pen for some touch up.

-Mark

Nicely done Mark.

Thanks! Greatly appreciated!

-Mark

[php][/php]Mark,

Have really enjoyed reading the documentary of your restoration journey and it brought back lots of memories. I have a lot of photos but wish I had documented mine in the same way. I am building a brochure on my restoration journey but am sure I have forgotten some of the details by now. I'll try to give a relatively short synopsis here.

Some years ago I acquired a 1969 Rogers Londoner kit (13,13,16,22) in black oyster pearl with a 5.5x14 Powertone chrome snare from the original owner. I also got a Swivomatic hi-hat and a Swivomatic cymbal stand as well as a Ludwig Ghost kick pedal. Cymbals were Zildjian As.... 14" hats, 19" 'sizzler' and 20" Ride.

The seller claimed the kit was "used but not abused".... I drove an hour and a half with a wad of cash in hand but was prepared to walk away, if necessary. The kit had been stored in his shed for the last 15 years but even in the dim light I could see the kit was in pretty good shape for its age so I bought it.

A professional drummer friend who has his own drum company (Rio Grande Drums) and specializes in vintage drums helped me restore the kit. The good news was the shells were all solid with no extra holes. The bad news was the wrap was yellowed a bit from years of play in smokey bars, it was cracked in a couple of places, and the bottom floor tom hoop/rods as well as the kick spur legs were missing.

I considered re-wrapping the drums and found a very close facsimile of the original black oyster pearl wrap at www.precisiondrum.com. However, the only drum that really wanted re-wrapping was the floor tom. If I re-wrapped it alone, it would have looked out of place and according to my friend a total re-wrap would reduce the kit's collectible value. In the end, I elected to try to save the wrap as best I could.

The first step in the process was disassembly of all drums and hardware for cleaning/polishing much as you did. There was a little surface rust on the snare shell, some of the lugs, and a couple of the hoops. Fortunately it all cleaned up well.

When it came to the wrap, the biggest challenge was the floor tom. It was cracked and lifting in a number of places. A luthier friend of mine had introduced me to a product called water-thin super glue. It turned out to be a Godsend getting the wrap back down and re-gluing some small separations in one of the kick drum hoops. I also used some black epoxy to fill in the cracks after the wrap was once again secured.

After all the wrap repairs, I lightly polished the floor tom with 0000 steel wool till everything was smooth. I then applied a coat of a product called Wipe New which was designed to bring back the luster of plastic automobile parts and it worked well on the floor tom wrap.

Finally, I did repaint the kick drum hoops. I replaced all the heads with modern ones but kept the heads which were on the drums when I got them. I also replaced the the Ghost kick pedal with a Rogers Swivomatic. So in sum, everything is original except for the floor tom bottom hoop, the kick pedal, the snare stand (Rogers but not original to the kit), and the kick drum spurs (missing but replaced with replicas). I also decided to replace one of the original bottom kick drum lugs because it had obviously been badly worn (playing on concrete?)... At the end of the restoration journey, the kit looks pretty darned good.

I believe when one stops learning one stops living and I learned some great things following this thread that I wish I had known during my restoration.

1. Polishing with tin foil and water/vinegar. I have not heard of tin foil since my childhood but found this source: http://www.goodfellow.com/E/Tin-Foil.html

2. I was not aware of Novus plastic polish but will keep it in mind for the future.

These will likely help during my current restoration project... a 1964 Ludwig Club Date (12, 14, 20) in silver sparkle..... accompanying 5.5x14 Supraphonic snare is already finished.

Polo in NW FL

Couldn't find a way to post a second photo in an edit of my previous post. Here's a shot which shows the difference between the original yellowed wrap and the newer one available.

Polo sends

***************

Sonor 3007 Special Edition Fusion kit (blue sparkle)

1980s/90s Slingerland player's kit (red glitter glass)

1964 Ludwig Club Date (silver sparkle)

1969 Rogers Londoner kit (black oyster pearl)

1969 Rogers Powertone 5.5x14 CoB snare

1964 Ludwig Supraphonic 5.5x14 snare

1969 Ludwig Acrolyte 5.5x14 snare

1960s Slingerland 5.5x14 CoB snare

Hi Polo!

Thanks so much for sharing your journey in restoring your vintage Rogers kit! They came out great! You did the right thing by not re-wrapping the floor tom. Modern Black Oyster will never look like the original, vintage, style. Rogers "oyster" finishes (blue, black, pink) were called "Strata". Technically, they were "oyster" finishes, but had a completely different look from those used by Ludwig. That's exactly why you'll never be able to match a Rogers strata finish!

All the shell interiors and re-rings of the Big R kit are perfect! Bottom heads were never removed and all edges, top and bottom, are also perfect!

Only the 14" tom has some lifting at the seam, and it's very minor!

The batter-side bass drum hoop was repaired and is now in-round. I still have a little bit of repair work left in that area, but I don't anticipate any physical issues. I don't plan to paint the hoops, but will get a gloss black enamel "paint pen" to touch up those areas where the paint has come off.

All that's really left is to clean all the lugs, tension rods and hoops. We all know how much fun cleaning lugs and tension rods can be! LoLoLoLo

All Memriloc hardware has cleaned up very well, in-spite of the rust that occurred from being stored in an outdoor shed. Many parts are not rust-free, but they still look very good and perform as they should.

What's interesting about this Big R kit are the rack tom sizes. Rather than the typical 8x12 and 9x13 sizes, as in the very popular "Londoner" configuration, they are 9x13 and 10x14. You can tell this is factory by the positioning of the tom hardware. The 13" is made for left-hand mounting and the 14" for right-hand mounting. These sizes should appeal to the "rockers" out there!

I've been taking a break from parts cleaning to work with the non-Rogers hardware that came with the kit. Many of these stands were really destined for the trash bin, but I really needed to see if they could be salvaged. I'm happy to report that the majority of these stands (cymbal, hi hat and snare) are salvageable! There is also a Tama Iron Cobra Jr. double bass drum pedal that I'm currently taking apart for cleaning. The linkage between the pedals is missing one small part that isn't available separately and is keeping the pedals from being complete. I have a friend who owns a custom metal fabrication shop and this part will be very easy for him to make. Because all these hardware items are not Rogers, they will be sold separately from the Big R kit, as will the Ludwig 6.5" Super Sensitive snare drum.

Thanks again for your excellent restoration story. Enjoy your "Black Strata Pearl" Rogers kit!

-Mark

Quite a job you've been doing on those Mark. That Ludwig Super Sensitive must sound great. I gigged with the shallow model years ago. Loved it. Keep up the good work!

Hi Dan!

Thanks for the positive comments on my restoration job! Yes, the 6.5" SS sounds pretty darn good, too! Too bad about all those swirly scratch marks, but the drums is clean and shiny and should appeal to a few people!

-Mark