Yup. You pretty much hit the head on the toe nail. Actually, you are most likely doing a very good thing by preserving the complete authenticity of the instrument. I'm just too fat and lazy to do this. Kudos to you. For real.

Some do and some don't.....

I tried (once) and it drove me nuts.

The worst part was all the second guessing after I was done, or thought I was....DOH

Thank God I sold that drum !!

When I do it , I put the screws back into the lugs after I take each one out. The tolerance on the lugs is prolly +/- 10 and shouldn`t matter wich ones go where. Same with the mounting brackets and the legs. You`ll find that a left wont do for a right and top wont do for the bottom. Never can be to careful when preserve`n quality.

It`s a good time to put the scratched or pitted ones on the bottom of the bass or floor tom !!

I thought it might be a good idea to keep all the hardware bits in their original order, but I didn't know to what depth other drum-people worried about an instrument's originality. Thanks for the feedback, suggestions and counseling. Only four more drums to go.

B

PS - Oddball, I put the screws back into the lugs, as well. Seems safer that way.

So, you clean the screws one by one, and put them back in the lug?

Man, you are patient !!

Hats off !!

:)

Oh, no. I mean, I may give the screws and holes a quick puff of air from my maw, to blow out any loose fines, but that's it. I don't actually clean the threads. Should I? (Too late for two drums.)

To keep your screws from freezeing in place and your screwdriver (no power tool) from stripp`n the head (cuz it will) wipe the screw down with a rag with oil on it (not too much). Wipe the spring down as well to keep it from rusting. Don`t put oil down the hole in the lug. Dont get oil on the sponge either,but wipe the inside of the cast lug too. Wipe the tension bolts down with the oil rag too. If you`re gonna do it, do it right !! Again, don`t have alot of oil on the rag, just enough to leave a wet look. Clean lubed screws prevent freeze`n and head stripp`n !!

....I guess that is the only bit of patience I have...I use a screw gun, steel wool and mineral oil and run all the screws, t-rods through the steel wool. Cleans and lubes everything.