You might try Jammin Sam. He MIGHT have a piece that big. But don't count on it.

About a month ago I had an email "conversation" with the folks at Precision. At that time, Delmar had a "few" sheets of it left but it would be in the $250 per sheet price (24x54) range.

Precision does have what they call "Modern Bermuda Sand" and it's $108 per sheet. It's thinner, it's darker, there's really no "pink" in it, the copper and silver sparkles are larger and not as dense. In other words, it looks OK on it's own (if you were doing a whole set), but it don't match the old. According to Precision, it's the stuff Gretsch now has available as champagne sparkle, however.

Below are samples to compare. The thin strip is a piece I had left over of the old, and the larger piece is a sample of the new that Precision sent me.

Hope this helps at least a little. Good luck.

Bill

Thanks for the reply, Bill. Now I'm in a quandry. Here's the kit I have coming.

Apparently the new stuff is a complete no-match to the vintage stuff. I picked up some of the older wrap locally that a guy had left over and although it's kind of close, it still does not match the original 60's or 70's Ludwig wrap. It's passable I suppose, but I certainly won't be fooling anyone with my hoop inlays. When it's side by side like that, it's very conspicuously different.

Scotty - I'd just use that floor tom for the time being and sell/trade it when you find a matching one - they do come up at decent prices here and there. I think the time, effort and cost to turn your wmp ft into a matching one wouldn't be worth it based on the end result. The wmp looks to be in good shape and there's someone out there who will want it and pay good money for it. My vote is to wait for a matching orphan ft if you can.

Yes, your WMP FT looks good, and I wouldn't remove the old wrap unless it has serious issues anyway. I agree with Mspartacus -- somebody, sometime, somewhere is going to be looking for one like yours and will pay a good price for it. And sooner or later a champagne sparkle Ludwig FT from the 70s in decent shape will show up at a decent price.

He's also right on matching the 70s champagne wrap even with a piece of the discontinued champagne or bermuda sand you might be able to locate, but that also applies to any wrap you try to match from that time period. I've run into the same issue recently with Sky Blue Pearl.

Again, good luck, and enjoy those drums! I sure would! I had a Ludwig "Rock Duo" set in champagne sparkle that I bought new in 1971. I lost them to an accident following a gig in 1978. Had that not happened, I'd probably still own them!

The Drum Kharma Dudes have stepped in and saved another innocent WMP floor tom from an unneeded re-wrap.

Scotty, when you find your Champagne floor tom, you will have no problem selling your unmolested WMP one at top dollar to offset the cost.

Trust, it's the right thing to do.....Clapping Happy2

Scotty,

Don't strip that WMP FT! I was in the same position with a Rogers floor tom; it was Red Onyx and I was considering rewrapping it in WMP, but rather than taking a perfectly good Red Onyx FT out of circulation, I removed all the hardware from the shell and found a decent, bare Rogers FT shell for $50. Recovered it in Vintage WMP from JamminSam, and quickly found a good home for the Red Onyx shell.

Don't take that WMP FT out of circulation. I'm sure there's guys just waiting to get their hands on it.

Mike C.

Thanks for the replies everyone. The drums arrived today, but I am at work and haven't actually seen them in person yet. I know there are some issues with the Champagne wrapped pieces, but don't really know how bad they actually are yet. The FT is supposed to be mint. I'll keep you updated.

I suppose I was "thinking out loud" to myself, thinking that converting the FT to Champagne would be the easiest way to go, just to get them up and running, but now that I have them in my hands, my plan of attack has changed. I didn't buy these to restore and flip, I bought them to restore and keep. I'm going to start a new thread with pics. BTW, you guys were right, there is no way I will strip the WMP FT, it's a 9.5 easy.

Thank you for not stripping that drum .. :)