Sounds like a cool kit Bill I look forward to seeing this! ;)

Like I have said before, you have all the fun. Enjoy it and show us some pics before you put it in the mail.

Jeff C

Interesting hybrid, Bill. Can't wait to see how they come out. What are you using to fill holes in the fiberglass?

John

You may have mentioned before but where do you get your BOP wrap from? Which one looks closest to the original?

Thanks

Curtis

John,

I had hoped to get the 9x13 ready this week, because I'm going to try using the same filler I use on wood drums -- Rock Hard water putty. This job isn't a rush, so my intention is to "beat" around on the drum after the Rock Hard has set to make sure it's going to do the job. If it doesn't, I can always fall back on that very messy resin for fiberglass. Can get it at Lowes, Home Depot, Menards. I'm pretty confident the Rock Hard will do the trick.

Yes, this is an interesting "hybrid." Will be doing a Buddy Rich Slingerland "repro" also made from Pearl FG shells sometime after the first of the year.

Curtis,

I've already got my wrap from Jammin' Sam's. I do have a sample from Precision, and IMO they both look about the same. And, IMO, they're both "close enough." I've honestly not had a lot of experience with the original stuff.

Thanks all of you for the interest. As I said before, I'm really excited about this project. IF this one and the BR one come out as well as we think they will... well, we hope to be building a lot more!

My youngest son is getting married this weekend in Lawrence, KS. We'll be leaving here tomorrow (Friday) morning. So with all the prep for the trip, this will probably be the last heard from me on this post until Sunday afternoon. Maybe I can get "BEFORE" pictures taken and posted then.

Bill

Sorry, but with all the jobs I had going on, the wedding, and of course then the holiday season, this project got put on hold.

However, I've got it started up finally and it has expanded a little.

Below are some pics and explanations:

1) The first pic just shows the 3 pc set of 70s Pearl FG drums (14x22, 16x16, and 9x13 all in white and all hardware removed, of course) along with a 10x14 (the blue one) that is going to get cut down to make a matching 5x14 FG snare drum. (And, from the piece left-over I'm going to make a copy of a Slingerland Buddy Rich 4x14 SD, but that will come later!)

2) Bass drum with wrap removed, and marking where the new holes will be drilled for the Ludwig hardware. The blue tape is covering the original Pearl drill holes (this view is looking down at the top, with the larger areas of tape covering the Pearl double tom mount), and the Rock Hard water putty will be filled in from the inside.

3) 2nd view of BD, just showing the markings for the Ludwig folding spur mounts.

I used a 60s keystone era Ludwig 3-ply shell for a "master" for marking the locations of the new drill holes. After the Rock Hard is filled in the original holes and sanded smooth, the insides will be painted white.

That's all for tonight. Next is the mark the other drums, then fill the original holes with Rock Hard. I'll keep you posted, and hopefully more frequently now than when I first started this thread!

No new pics for today, but I have all the drums marked for the new Ludwig-spec holes, and all of the old/extra holes filled in.

All of the fill-ins will get sanded tonight, and am planning on the fact I'll have to do some 'touch-up' filling... then a final sanding (probably tomorrow), then they'll be ready for drilling the new holes & painting the interiors (white).

Then next is the wrap. With a little luck I'll do that over the weekend!

Bill

Bill is that 10x14 an old marching snare? I ask because iif you cut a snare bed on the shell I would like to see how you do it. I am making a go at my first snare drum with a Keller shell. I oredered it with know edges or bed.

Interesting to see how the rock hard works. Any concerns of it popping out over time?

See ya!

Jeff,

No, the 10x14 is just a FG double-headed tom; so no snare beds at all. And to be honest, this is actually new territory for me as on all of my previous marching drum 'cut-downs' I've cut down from to top, purposely re-using the original snare beds. Plus, this one of course is fiberglass... so I'll cross that bridge when I get there, probably this weekend.

The one thing that concerned me most on this drum was the position of the breather hole. Had it been right in the center (top to bottom) of the shell it may have posed a problem with bearing edges, but its location ended up being almost perfect since I'm making a 5x14 and a 4x14 out of this shell.

As for the Rock Hard, I've not had any trouble with it falling out on wood shells. So even though this is also new territory for me, one thing I discovered when filling in these old holes in the fiberglass -- none of the holes I filled were 'clean' holes. What I mean by that is that all of the holes actually had fiberglass 'fibers' (still attached to the shells) inside the holes. I had noticed that when working with these shells before but usually just reused the same holes so I didn't thing anything about it. But, these fibers should actually help to hold the Rock Hard in place, if it don't 'stick' as well to the fiberglass. I hope all of that made sense... it did to me!

Bill