I bought this for $1 in 1970. I started sanding it in 1972 then I got busy until earlier this year. I stripped off the rest of the gold paint (high school colors were purple and gold.) and sanded down the shell and the hoops. Still need to figure out how to get the hardware cleaned up. I stained the drum to try and match my snare drum but it may be a little darker. Comments and suggestions are welcomed and requested.
Restore of Pioneer Bass Drum
Great buy for $1! The stain looks great. For the hardware I would soak it with CLR. That stuff works great. Can't wait to see it all put back together. Is that a 26"?
Not a Guru, just addicted to drums
- Jay
Thanks,
It's a 28 by 14. I plan to have the hoops natural for some contrast. I have seen some pictures of the drum that have that. I will google CLR and see where I can buy it. The drum heads are pretty well shot (split, cracked, and dried out) but I was thinking about gluing the painted head to a new head. Any thoughts?
That would be cool and would add a little muffling which won't really hurt the resonance on a 28". Loving the contrast idea.
Not a Guru, just addicted to drums
- Jay
This will come up a treat. Look forward to seeing your work!
I bought some CLR and maybe I can work on the hardware this weekend. Been pretty busy.
I soaked the hardware in CLR for a couple of days then washed it off with soap and water then I used tarnex as well and washed them again. I looked up the drum in the 1928 Ludwig and Ludwig catalogue and it says that the tension rods and claws have an artificial gold plate on them. I think a lot of the plate just wore off from age.
I now have 3 coats of clear poly on the shell and 2 coats on the inside of the hoops and 1 coat on the outside of the hoops. I left the hoops natural maple. The shell has a red mahogany stain.
I will finish it up this weekend and then I plan to buy some Remo Fiberskyn heads for it.
Pictures following shortly.
Here are the hardware pictures. I wish they cleaned up better.
Here are the hoops. I am pretty happy with them.
Here is the shell.
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
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