Hmmmmmm I don't know poppy, those shells are showing some serious damage to them. If it was me, I would have passed on them as they are a bit far gone. You'll end up spending more time and $$ trying to fix someone elses neglect and abuse than what they are truly worth, even though it is a rare finish. CryBaby

Too late now. I have them and Im gonna do the best I can to restore them. The bearing edges are a little chipped up on the toms and the dent in the floor tom are the worst things im gonna have to deal with. I repaired a bearing edge on a conga last week. After I built the bearing edge back up with chopped up fiber glass cloth mixed with epoxy. I hand sanded it to match the rest of the edge, then I took it outside and rotated the shell pressing it against some course concrete. That made the edge perfectly uniform. The difference in the way the drum sounded was amazing. Maybe i should just grind this edge down a little?

Well maybe since they are damaged it could be the perfect time to check for a mod wrap, maybe where that dent is. Sorry, the recovered mod wrap thing is intriguing!

You've done it before, so why not try again! Go for it.

Another thought is that since the worst damage seems to be on the 16" floor tom......I see 16" Black Panther floor toms on Ebay multiple times each year. Just keep searching.

I squirted some glue into bubbled up area of the 13" tom. I took a couple of my drum stackers, a magnet the excact right size and clamped them over that area with a heavy duty 1'4" thick piece of rubber from a tote bag strap on the outer shell to protect the finish, and clamped the sh*t out of it. Ill check it late this evening or probably just wait till tomorrow.

The set is a rare/un-desirable finish set. I wouldn't worry about any of this work man! I bet this thing will look amazing real soon. I've seen your work and am pretty sure you can bring this set back to life!

By the way...after all your work I'm sure you could make your money back if you re-sold them. How much did you spend on these babies?

I'm not worried about the work. Im excited about it! I love it! I been bored till i found these! I recently aquired a blue vistalite kit that was in amazing condition! All it needed was a few small parts on one side of the tom tree and a snare and me! This is a fun project for me. There's a few hickeys on them, but I bet I can fix em'. The waiting part drives me crazy, but i usually work on polishing the lugs and rims while im waiting for glue, paint, or parts to soak. The end is what is excruciating. Everything's done except for that last little part you need to make it all perfect. lol This kit has the parts I need to finish off the vistalite kit. Imagine that! I had a royce kit I gave to my nephew 2 weeks ago. When I got the royce kit it was missing all the t rods and claws on the front head. Well guess what? I had them in stock! I installed them on the Royce kit, and gave em to my nephew. Im pretty sure they would have matched my Panthers perfectly! has that ever happened to you?

How do you figure this? I know plenty of collectors (besides myself) that would love to get their hands on a set finished in black panther, the more rare the configuration (such as a Jazzette) the more sought after they are. If they are so undesireable, why then do they end up selling for so much money on ebay and elsewhere?

I just don't see where the facts are based on your statement on this one.

All I know is this is a 71-71 Vintage Ludwig drum Kit. I like it, you like it, we all like it. I'm gonna' do my best to make these panthers look fabulous! I believe we can accomplish anything we really want to do. Question is"How much do I want to Invest?" My time is cheap and I'll gather up whatever parts I need to restore it. Thanks for the compliment and your confidence DrumBum. LD I really appreciate your sharing your knowledge on these Black Panthers. The seller found one spur by the way! yee haw!!!!

Exactly....."a collector"..... most collectors buy for rarity and re-sale. Now a normal everyday drummer who wants a vintage ludwig....I wonder if he would want a blue sparkle or a black panther????