I thought I'd share some updated pics of the BDP kit I am working on. So far, no extraordinary measures have been needed. I was able to get this far without removing lugs, just carefully masking off around each one. I much prefer this when the lugs and wrap are not too bad. It alleviates the chance of stripping out a screw, keeps the drum "factory tight," and the strain on your hands and wrists is reduced because the lug is held in place by the shell giving you much better leverage than holding it with your other hand. The lugs and hardware on the toms and snare all cleaned up really nicely, just a little sparkle in the chrome in some spots, but nothing left that I would call pitting at all. The wrap got a quick buff with Meguiar's PlastX and the hoops got the usual treatment...mask off the inlay, lightly sand the wood and repaint with several coats of satin black paint.
All that is left to clean up is the bass drum. I removed the Ludwig rail mount (for now at least), and polished up the spurs and some of the Swivo hardware. My question now is...do I do something with the fugly interior of the bass drum? It has obviously already been buggered up by the black paint job, so do I freshen up the black paint job, or should I try to paint it to match the original flat gray? Unfortunately all the washers were painted over with the black. To make it look Rogers respectable, I would need to strip, replace, or maybe just flip over the washers. If I am feeling particularly OCD, after the flat gray paint I could even have a reproduction paper label made. I have a friend in Portland that has a company called Retro Mechanical Labs (rmlfx.com). He is a flat out genius and makes the coolest distortion boxes for guitar or synths you will ever see. They look like they were made in 1950 right down to the faux-aged labels and instruction manuals. He could mimic a Rogers Cleveland era tag easily. Disclaimer: I would never try to pass it off as original.
Anyway...is the bass drum worth the extra effort, or do the four extra holes from the rail, make it a moot point?
Have a great day everyone.
