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restoring a late 50's sonor 'the new beat' teadrop

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Hi everyone!

Finally, I have found a nice vintage kit with a 20" bassdrum, so I proudly present you: my late 50's sonor teadrop new beat! This is meant to become a player's kit, but considering its current condition (plus the fact that this kit didn't come cheap), I am planning to do a full restauration on it. Since this will be quite some work, I'd like to share the progress with you guys for some tips and hints where needed.

Anyway: this is the intended end result:

http://www.drummuseum.hu/foto.php?i=gyujtemeny/kepek/66_1.jpg&l=a&t=Sonor+Star+1957

And this is its current situation (all hardware is included: tom mount, cymbal arm etc. Original calfskins on head and beater BD. However, no snare):

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160932.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160929A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160916.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160923.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160924.jpg[/IMG]

Posted on 10 years ago
#1
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Congrats on finding the kit. It will be a great project and I will really enjoy seeing the progress.


Thank you!
Jeff C

"Enjoy every sandwich" Warren Zevon
Posted on 10 years ago
#2
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As you can see on these pictures, the wmp wrap on the bassdrum has some serious damage on 2 spots. The outer layer of the wrap has come loose, revealing the white layer underneath. I would like to restore the Original wrap (instead of re-wrapping), but have no clue on how to do this? I'm afraid regular glue would damage the outer layers, and would be too visible... Any ideas on how to restore this?

Also, the wrap has yellowed seriously (in fact, when standing further than 2 meters from the kit, you can't see its a wmp wrap, it just looks like some yellow wrapping). The wrap on the floor tom has been sanded (dry) by the previous owner, since the owner before him had painted the FT white... So it is full of tiny scratches and lost its shiny-ness. I thought about sanding all shells wet with very fine grit, followed by a buffing and polishing.

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160935.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160918.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3160917.jpg[/IMG]

Posted on 10 years ago
#3
Posts: 1525 Threads: 127
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I really like that kit. The older vintage Sonor kits are just beautiful to me. The staggered teardrop lugs are so Art Deco looking. I am interested to follow this resto thread. A rewrap would look great but maybe someone here has some ideas for the present wrap.

Posted on 10 years ago
#4
Posts: 6170 Threads: 255
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these are well worth restoring. glad to see that youre not going to rewrap them. that's a beautiful kit..

mike

Posted on 10 years ago
#5
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wow what a looker!

Posted on 10 years ago
#6
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Stunning Beauties.

You are very lucky to have found em. not many like this around any more.

Jim

60's Sonor Teardrops & 70s Premier AMs
Sabian
Vic Firth
Remo/Evans

"unless it's vintage, it's just another wooden tube."
Posted on 10 years ago
#7
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Has to be one of the coolest logo bass drum heads ever. Good luck, looking forward to the finished project.

Posted on 10 years ago
#8
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Koene: This thread is very interesting to me because I have a Sonor "Melodie" kit from 1957. My kit is very similar to yours. Mine is WMP and the wrap is actually in pretty good shape. My hardware is in terrible shape tho. Almost all the chrome is off and it all needs to be power cleaned.

There are not many of these old Sonor sets around at ALL. A 1950s Sonor Drum set in the USA is a real collectors item no matter what the condition. ALL the 1950 Sonor wraps will yellow, it was the chemical composition of the wraps they used.

Is your set Pre-international size heads? It must be, I would think. Thats the hardest part of these old Sonors.....the heads for these are so hard to find. My snare and tom are 12.5 and my bass drum is 21.5....ridiculous!!

The wrap issues you have are pretty huge. If it was ME, I'd rewrap your set in antique WMP...you set would look brand new like it did in 1958.

Best of luck with it!!

Posted on 10 years ago
#9
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From Retrosonic

... Is your set Pre-international size heads? It must be, I would think. ...

Not necessarily so. I have a kit that seems to be identical - with one or two minor exceptions, and the wrap of course. I have posted extensively about it here on the forum before, but here are a couple of pics. It is all international sizes (i.e. normal, inch head sizes).

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Kit_left.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Kit_front.jpg[/IMG]

/Magnus

Posted on 10 years ago
#10
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