SO here is the story with this one:
Date stamped "Feb 23rd 1961 M" on the inside. No extra holes. All original hardware. Mahogany/Poplar/Mahogany 3 ply drum. Sounds AMAZING, and the part of me that doesn't care about looks almost just wants to leave it and play it at every show I do...but alas I think I should fix it. The previous owner told me how it got into its current unfortunate visual state, and I will tell that story now.
Apparently the original Blue/Silver Duco finish was chipping and looked kind of sad so he took the drum to a guy who was starting a "musical instrument restoration business" along with a pic of the original finish and asked that the guy re-fin the drum to look like the pic. When he came back to pick the drum up, the dude tried to charge him $150 for THIS re-fin job. OUCH! I doubt ol' boy's business worked out too well. The previous owner threw $50 down on the table and tried not to punch the guy before leaving with his messed up drum.
I bought this drum last weekend from the original owner, and want to take it down to Mahogany and clear coat it the same way that Slingerland would have done to other student model drums of the time so that it can be as close to original as possible. For this project I need the forum's help. I have done re-wraps before, but never a quality wood re-fin. If at all possible I DONT want to have to remove the badge. As you can see in the pic the badge has some blue paint on it around the edges that I need to get off, but I need advice on how to do so without taking any paint off of the badge etc.
Please chime in if you have any ideas as to the best way to approach this job, and I will post pics as I get the drum back to its former glory.
Thanks!
-Adam