Good Matt. I hope after he sees my kit he will get just a little inspiration. MAybe a lot. The truth is these poor old, rotten sounding drums really don't sound all that rotten, if you can get someone to pay a little attention to them. Maybe you can get him involved in the project over a 6 pack. Get the shells stripped and get the sandpaper out and just sit down and B/S for a while. Take 2 grades, 100 then 220. The truth is you will be done in about an hour or so, with all three drums. You only want to close the grain, not really taking off any serious amount of wood. Then a couple of throw away brushes, a can of lacquer from Lowe's, it's a blue-ish grey label, and some coat hangers, and man, it is a done deal. While they hang out and cure, you are wating for few days for the heads to arrive and viola, they are complete!

Check this, I am going to show you how to get the best deal on heads, Go here: http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-ATT-DHAPACKB

then go here and call, telling them you want them to beat the other guy, they garauntee they will beat anyone, then sit back and wait!

http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Drum-Accessories--2464

The Attack heads are great reso heads and the snare and bass are really good for these shells. I hope he has a 22...

www.aitwood.com

and 43.00 ish bucks will get you two 10 ply maple hoops. Or maybe a couple more bucks and 12 ply.

Thanks man, now what is the coat hanger for?

I just tried every spare 14" head I have on the snare, which measures RIGHT at 14": Evans, Remo, Ludwig, and Aquarian, with no luck. Of course I have no Attack's or Aquarian modern vintage!

The bass is a 20" by the way.

The coat hangers are to hang the shells, if you need to. Scratch that, you would not need to hang them for interiors....I hang the shells when working the glitter jobs.

They do offer a fusion pack and that may have a 20", I think. Ask the guy on the phone if you decide to try them. As for the shell, man, I have one shell like that. I have an older Falams II that fits it, but it is a trampoline cover, more a field head. I can't remember if I tried it on that shell. Other than carefully removing the very outer ply, I really can only think of the Vintage Ameribcan as a solution. You could ask if the attack is a little bigger. Well, thinking about it, it is on my metal shell MIJ and the original Sound Master heads were tight, and this one slips on nicely. I dunno. Shells, go figure.

Hey tillerva! And everyone! If you want to get rid of the mold ,the proper way.... i think you should have a look at this first" www.concrobium.com.":2Cents:

I just swapped out the original (?) Remo Sound Master batter on my Majestic 20" kick for a Remo Powerstroke.... damn, that old head was tough to pull off. Seemed to "fit" tight. The new one went on and tuned easily though.

I brought these drums to an open jam I run on Sundays...the first drummer to sit in was telling/bragging about the Tama Starclassic he "was still paying off". He goes, "are those maple?" HAHAHA!!!! Good ol' Guitar Center mentality- if it's maple and expensive it sounds the best.

He was FLOORED by the Majestics, the kick in particular. I told him that the fun is in the challenge in selecting the right heads, tuning and whatnot for these cheap kits and making them sound good!

Its a good feeling when you see thier eyes light up,especially when you tell them how much you paidFalling Do

..uh dude, I got like....maybe $168.14, and about 8 hours in them...wanna check 'em out?

As far as sandpaper for the interiors always use garnet paper,not emery,or zinc etc.Garnet is made for wood and does a supeerior job.Also do it by hand,and do not use sanding sponges.

Just wanted to pipe in real quick. First of all, that's a very cool set. Looks to be in good condition, despite the missing parts.

However, I do think this is an earlier Pearl made kit. It could possibly date as early as '62, but more likely a few years after that.

Take a look at this tread. This is an early set that we know for certain is a Pearl (still has the badges.) The lugs are the same as the lugs on your friend's snare.

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=4891

Also, the 'tab screws' on the tom mounts point to Pearl as well. I dont think Star ever used this type of design.

Here is the link to the discussion about the maker of John's WMP set. In my mind, anyway, there's no question that it was made by Pearl.

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=12917

Last thing, the Attack heads are slightly larger in diameter than Remos. I dont think they are quite as large as the Aquarian American Vintage heads, but they will not be as tight as Remos. So unless the drum is severely out of round or swelled, I would bet that the Attack heads will work, and they're much cheaper.

How come no sanding sponges?