As a teacher this pandemic has the silver lining of giving me time at home to complete some projects that have been on the side-burner.
Thanks to the nice folks at Drum Factory Direct, and America’s still amazing distribution network, I received the last of the parts I needed within 48 hours of placing my order.
This kit was a complete impulse purchase. I saw the post on CL, dropped everything and drove an hour toward the Ohio/PA border. All I needed to see in the pictures was the wrap, and those teardrop (Lawn dart) lugs, and I was gone. My wife gets irritated when I do that, but has come to accept it. I think she is just jealous of the pure joy on my face when I get home.
As those of you afflicted with VDF know, the hunt and capture are only part of the joy, the rest comes more slowly and requires some hard work, and usually some additional cash outlay. This kit has been a lot of fun to restore. It had some condition challenges mainly with the Fantasia Pearl wrap, and the missing reso side rims and tension rods. The fact that it was a double bass kit really saved the day. I was able to harvest the inlaid hoop, claws, and T-rods from the second bass drum to put together one complete original bass drum. The wrap on the extra drum is split badly so bringing the kit back to it’s original double bass glory was never really an option.
After seeing how scarce MIJ tension rods with the goofy thread size have become, I used a tap tool to (quite easily) rethread the reso side lug inserts to take standard rods. I left the batter side lugs original so I imagine there will be a future owner of this kit scratching their head as to why the rods are not interchangeable...let’s hope they realize it before they take it down to the shells for a deep cleaning and mix all the lugs and rods together. If I sell it, I may keep that little detail to myself if I don’t like how the negotiation goes.
The wrap on the kit posed some interesting challenges. The Fantasia Pearl pattern is great at hiding imperfections and repairs, but the background “color” of the wrap is nearly clear when removed from the shell. It may have been more opaque before UV light faded it, or maybe it was window clear to start with, and UV has darkened it to the slight amber/ginger-ale cast it has now. I guess the fact that the shells are painted white on the outside indicates that the wrap was designed to have it show through to one extent or another. It made me wonder if there have been other wraps made like that, with a clear background, so that the color of the shell shows through. That’s one for the Gurus?
The other odd thing I came across is that sawdust from the drilling of the lug holes at the factory was trapped between the shell and the wrap. What I first thought were rust like stains on the surface of the wrap, turned out to be the dark Luan sawdust showing through the clear parts of the wrap. I was able to tease quite a bit of the sawdust out from under the wrap using a vacuum, small brushes, and tweezers. Because the wrap was clear I also needed to use a clear contact cement (Gorilla brand) when repairing and stabilizing the wrap in the few places that needed it. Thanks to someone along the way using clear packing tape to do makeshift repairs, the wrap was all still there, no patching was needed. Gravity had also made the wrap “flow” and ripple some, but the ripples are completely obscured by the swirly pearly pattern.
In the end, the wrap turned out amazing, the hardware cleaned up great, and I feel good about saving this kit from rotting away in that barn. The other bonus was that the deal included a 1965 Supra that has since had the shell re-chromed and looks as good as new.
If you are still with me, thanks for reading. Please stay safe everyone.