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Premier Dominion Major - bad paint job!

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Hello there - following on from my Premier Dominion Super (Pearlex Regal) thread, this morning I found a Premier Dominion Major (with stand) and an unbadged piccolo for £15 the pair! (17.50 euro or $23.50). The Premier had an unusual white enamel finish, with understandably a missing snare lever and all but one of the snares present. Upon closer inspection (see pix) it becomes obvious someone in the past has done a shameful spray-job on the shell - both inside AND out - and in fact the shell is brass! I just had to get these pics up to share with you out there before I strip it and get it back into shape! There seems to be no nickel plate, but we'll see what gets revealed!

Also - any ideas on the nice little piccolo? - pic attached

Posted on 12 years ago
#1
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I've seen at least 3 other Premier Dominion snares white (inside and out), so it's not a crappy paint job, it's just paint failure. The drum is old and paint is flaking off. White is the original finish.

Nice find!

Posted on 12 years ago
#2
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Thanks for letting me know about the white finish - but oops! - I've already stripped the paint back! I could tell the outside had definitely been re-painted in the past due to a few nicks and knocks that had been painted over, so I can live with the stunning brass shell that has now been revealed - or should I do a re-spray? - the re-paint job had been done with the strainer mechanism only partially removed (it's a bit of a fiddly undo, the strainer lever attachment being particularly sticky to get off!) so it's been good to have an opportunity to clean that lot up properly. I'm not averse to leaving drums as is - I decided a few days back not to touch the 'Regal' finish on the Dominion Super (see my other thread) - it'd be foolish to try and obtain any kind of match!

Posted on 12 years ago
#3
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Post pix of the stripped shell. If it looks THAT good, leave it stripped. Polish and clear coat it with gloss auto lacquer.

Posted on 12 years ago
#4
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Did," i see a little of Rust behind that paint "

Posted on 12 years ago
#5
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From Nsra65

Did," i see a little of Rust behind that paint "

Not rust... brass!

Score!

John

Too many great drums to list here!

http://www.walbergandauge.com/VintageVenue.htm
Posted on 12 years ago
#6
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Part 1 of 2 - Disassembly and strip - The pics speak for themselves, but I'll walk you through a few bits. As you will note from earlier pics above, the paint on the bearing edges was all a bit flaky, so a full strip really was the only solution! The damper had totally (i dunno) ossified and has been temporarily replaced with a wrap of semi-rigid foam. You can see from the more detailed pics the second paint job from years back, and the paint on the then not-fully-disassembled snare mech. So - as brass is robust enough, I went straight in there and used Mangers paint stripper to shift the old paint, which more or less came away like sheets of pasta. Scraped stubborn bits off with a soft plastic spatula...

More pics to come

Posted on 12 years ago
#7
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Part 2 of 2 - After getting ALL the gunk out of the flanges (blister-inducing work!) I've polished it up with very fine wire wool and Brasso polish. Everything done by hand - using a Dremel polisher on either the chrome or brass was just too aggressive. The chrome work was in pretty good shape for it's age with really very little pitting, and again very fine (i point out!) wire wool and Brasso did the trick cleaning it all up too. The whole process has been most satisfying. I will give the old girl a few coats of clear auto lacquer, but as I have nowhere suitable to do this job - and it's winter right now - I'll wait till warmer (and dryer) weather returns, strip it again, polish it up properly and lacquer it outdoors in a breeze-free spot I have!

I'll have a look for a nice old mustard spoon or something to jimmy up a new snare lever - I doubt I'll find a replacement anywhere...(?)

Cheers out there guys, thanks for the comments and advice you have given, and for any other you may have!

Posted on 12 years ago
#8
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One more thing.... Note the dissembled butt-pieces; it seems as if some part of them was snapped off many moons ago to accommodate some other strainer scenario - any ideas?

Cheer out there guys, thanks for the comments and advice!

Now back to the Pearlex Regal Super...

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Posted on 12 years ago
#9
Posts: 1071 Threads: 128
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Great job on the snare. The dominion snare is a winner in my books.:cool:

80's 13 pc sonor signature
1979 12 pc ludwig power factory
Posted on 12 years ago
#10
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