When I sanded and repainted the hoops on the late 50s Slingerland kit I had, I just masked off the inlays. I put 2 layers of tape over the inlay, then carefully trimmed the excess with a razor knife.

Lynn

when it comes to old vintage inlays, i too mask them off. some of them are really brittle and will crack if you try to remove them.

i always use adhesive moleskin pads on anything that i have that comes in contact with the hoop. i do this for protection of the hoop and the finish on the hoop. its pretty easy and they last a long,long time.

mike

Mike. nice tip on the pads!

I agree with the others. I have done it both ways and the safest thing will be to mask it off. Just take your time and you will have good results.

Jeff C

Ditto on just masking them off. I use the blue painter's tape anymore instead of just plain masking tape. It is possible to remove the staples that are holding the inlay in place, but if you do choose to do so keep in mind it is NOT going to be easy to replace the champagne sparkle inlay IF it does crack or otherwise fall apart.

Now, as for the moleskin pads... Mike, you and I may have been cut out of a similar mold! Way back on my very first set (1971) any place that I had any metal part in contact with anything it got protected with that. I would buy "Dr. Scholl's" moleskin pads with the self-adhesive backs at the local Walgreen's and 'custom cut' to fit whatever it was... particularly for the pedal clamp parts that came in contact with the freshly refurbished newly painted BD hoops! Shoot, I even would cut a patch of that stuff to use where my BD pedal beater came in contact with the head, and that was considerably cheaper than the pads you could buy for that purpose at the music store (and the only difference was the color!).

Thanks for the "walk down memory lane!"

Bill

Excellent tip, moleskin is great for saving your hoops, trap rails, etc. from being marred !!

the moleskin pads are very cheap to buy. i use them on cowbell holders,hoop clipper mounts,bass pedals,hoop mounted legs and also the front bass anchor. i feel like you can torque down on the items a little more and not have to worry about damaging the hoop any. they are easy to cut out and adhere well.

i too use them on bass heads whe i am using a wooden beater. works like a charm.

mike

I actually just used a piece of cardboard on mine until I could grab a real "product" from the music store and that was about 2 years ago. This has actually worked great. I haven't used it gigging or anything though either.

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This above is what you wanna do. Make sure it lays flat,..the edge will need paint as well !! Trim with the razor along the edge of the inlay, not the edge of the wood. Use the painters blue, rub it down and nothing will go under it !!