Normally original wraps are desired even beat up and faded. I like them. :) I guess it's ones personal taste. I don't know much about Deri drums (German?) but would maybe try your Q in the non US made section. More details and some pics are helpful. You might have a very rare wrap color and someone may have some extra drums for you. Never know?? I think any wrap that has stood the test of time deserves to be left alone. But I would really do whatever makes you happy and be able to enjoy them more.

My vote is to keep as-is. Your logic makes sense. It's only original once. The wrap is a part of the drum's long history and tells the story. Pretty, ugly or in between. Keep it :)

Once the wrap is gone its gone forever. But show some pics please!

Here are a couple pix of the set. As I stated in my earlier post I am looking for a Tom arm and cymbal mount for the bass drum. I also have the original Cambo pedal, but it needs a couple parts. As you can see in the photo this set must have spent time in either a store window or in a windowed attic. The Deri set was indeed made in Germany.

I thank you guys for your help.

I 've done a lot of vintage German drumkits and there is not always an obvious reason why one piece of wrap cracks, fades or disintegrates. Sometimes it's the colour itself, sometimes it's the storage conditions and sometimes it's the production run. A case in point is,the bass on a Gold Pinstripe Tromsa kit I sold about a year ago. Like most bass drums it had a strip on the bottom, where the wrap didn't make it all the way around. The entire drum's wrap was oxidized and covered with myriads of little cracks. From a distance; it didn't look too bad but up close you could see the ravages of age; the strip on the bottom---clearly cut from a different sheet was almost like new.---and it wasn't due to being on the bottom and away from the light because the demarcation between bad and good was the seam of the two pieces of wrap. Clearly the one sheet evaporated, dried out and oxidized , when the other didn't.

Turkis Flitter from Deutsche Celluloid is what your wrap is and it does seem to be one of the fadier colours. Light is a factor, bleaching the colour but so is oxidation, of the metal particles in the wrap--darkening the sparkle . If you look at the wrap, closely----it probably has a lot of little tiny cracks. This is due to drying of the solvents in the wrap. That said, I have a number of drums in my possession wrapped with the very same wrap that are almost mint. Some dating from the 50's, so it is a sheet to sheet thing.

Your kit has the old polished aluminum lugs and cast aluminum T-rods and claws that Deri used for a while and they are in good shape. The drums would really benefit from a rewrap. Having been around the type of wrap you are dealing with a lot, I think they are way beyond any potential vintage value based on originality. There are lots of options too. Deri used most of the sparkles of the day as well as oyster, ripples and pearls. You could bring life to them with a close to authentic rewrap. You never know---you might even find some N.O.S. sheets of Deutsche Celluloid wrap. I've seen them sold and have pinched myself for not buying them.

I recommend you try the process I used to restore my Slingerland WMP kit that had yellowed severely and very unevenly

It is truly amazing how this works...it will REVERSE the yellowing caused by UV exposure

You can find the details of the process here:

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

You can see pictures of my project here:

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90954&page=2

WOW! What a difference! I'll try the retrOBright treatment. Any last advice before I begin?

Do you really just apply the gel and set it outside?

Did you wash the shell before you started?

Have you used the product on a shell that had stains on it?

if so did it remove the stain too?

How much of the product did you mix at a time?

...see what you started? :-)

This suddenly got very interesting with the Retr0bright concept. I followed the links from papaherb (thank you very much) and now thinking I try this on my Ludwig downbeat. Only thing is,, should I do it??

Papaw, not trying to hyjack your thread but it looks like we have the same issue here and would like to hear what others say. I think papaherb has found something that hasn't caught on yet.

If you havn't yet, click on the bottom link that papaherb posted and see the before and after pics, you will be amazed.

Question to papaherb, how long ago did you do this? And, is there any indication that the yellowing is coming back?

Thank you computer nerds!

papaw, good luck and please let us know how it goes.

Jeff C

Can Retr0bright do anything for colors other than white or beige, where fading has occurred as in the green wrap which started this thread? Just curious if it has been used on anything else.