Howdy, y'all. I just brought home these Rogers XP-8s for $50-- a full set of shells (22x14, 16x16 and *two* 13x9s) plus original stands (stands and one 13x9 not shown).
[IMG]http://lossfoundation.com/ak/rogers.jpg[/IMG]
They are in sad shape aesthetically, but it does appear to be a matched kit, the hardware's all there, and for $50 I'm not gonna complain. I've always been a budget drummer and have been looking for a garage-sale bargain on a set of decent maple shells in rock sizes for, like, forever.
The worst part of restoring these so far: PO (or PPO) has ever-so-brilliantly glued a ton of egg-crate stuff to the inside of both rack toms as a permanent against-the-head damping method. The glue that was used appears to be either Elmer's school-grade stuff or wood glue. I can't be certain. It's old, yellow, currently very stiff, and slightly bubbly. That's all I know.
On one of the toms, I've ripped out the egg-crate by hand and gone over it for about an hour with a putty knife, trying to pick the glue off. (Below: Left = "before," right = "after".)
[IMG]http://lossfoundation.com/ak/before_and_after.jpg[/IMG]
It's on there *thick*, but what's left there now after the initial round of careful putty-knifery and crack-offery is on there thin enough that I'm worried that I'm going to end up heavily gouging the shell with the knife if I go any "deeper."
Is there a better way to get rid of the rest of this awful stuff? I'm kind of afraid to go at it with acetone, and I'm DEFINITELY afraid to go at it with a warm rag as Elmer's suggests.
Also, the glue seems to be removing an internal layer of varnish or other sealant (so far, I've not seen any *wood* come up, thankfully). You can clearly see where the glue's been in this photo, since the egg crate was only glued in on one side.
[IMG]http://lossfoundation.com/ak/afterknife.jpg[/IMG]
Assuming that I shouldn't leave this as is, would be there be any harm in just re-spraying the inside of the shell with something quick, or should I sand the shell's innards down first before respraying? What's the easiest / fastest / safest stuff I might use to respray, in either event?
Thanks!