To anyone following the thread, thought you would enjoy hearing how this project ended.
I shipped the shell back to Oldschool a week ago, he received it and sent me a very nice email saying how happy he was with the work and how grateful he was for me volunteering to do it. Gary has been grateful/thankful throughout this entire project, I have never been thanked so much.
Yesterday was a long long day, started out to job site at 6:00 Am, installed cabinets until 5:00, went to band rehersal right from the job, no dinner. Talked with the band members until 10:45, got home at 11:00 tiered and hungry could not wait to microwave some hot dogs. But here was this box sitting by the door leading to the house from my shop. Had my name on it and return address from Gary. This box was about the size box you would expect to ship a snare drum in. I was so excited I forgot about my hunger and suddenly had a lot of energy. Opened it up and here was this beautiful Slingy snare drum, I could not believe my eyes. This was a total surprise, I had no idea he was doing this. Also in the box was a very nice card with a personal note that really made me feel good!
I just wanted to share this with you guys, Gary is a stand up super nice person, wow, now Im on the thank you thank you thank you side, I just cant get over what a nice thing he did for me. Thank you Gary, we will meet at the show or somewhere in person someday and I really look forward to it.