There have been a number of wrap makers. Both Slingerland and Ludwig, for at least part of their production purchased wrap from Europe; both Italy and Germany. This could account for the thicker wrap on the Slingerland.The wrap made by Deutsche Celluloid was quite thick and the premium stuff was very glossy with great depth yielding a stunning 3-D effect. The earlier German glitter/sparkle wraps were about 30 thou. The wrap thickness is somewhat dependant on the pattern. Glitters can be as thick as 50 thou, due to the embedded material. Where the pattern is dependant on the interplay of dyes, suspended tiny particulates or thin flat objects, the wrap can be thinner. There has also been a change in the wrap base over time. The earliest wraps were organically based----casein, etc. , then some cellulose based "plastics" became common, then acetates, foils , and others. Some wrap patterns are images, others are physical materials. The acetates and foils tend to be quite thin.

If you look at the catalogues, there was a concerted effort to reduce the cost of wrapping drums ,as the 1960's progressed. Although drum companies, buy in volume and get good deals, wrap still costs and it could be a considerable part of a drum's overall price. Cheaper wraps became common, with acetates entirely taking over certain companies' offerings. Glitter and Sparkle were interchangeable at one time but because the construction of those was expensive the wrap makers came up with a cheaper almost 2 dimensional version, with identical particles, in a thin flat plane. This became sparkle and the version made with tiny uneven glass chips floating in a deep substrate( which had previously been known by some companies as " sparkle") became glitter---staying expensive. There is a thickness difference , determined by the particles.

Calfskin thank you for the excellent detailed reply! Being a newcomer I have a lot to learn and this has been something of interest for a while with me. And also to help me better understand how things were made. That's interesting some of the glitters were .050 thick!! And the fact some came from Europe. I had no idea. This has been great to learn about and again many thanks. :) Exactly what I was looking for.

Glenn.

glad if it was a help. i have the priveledge of having a considerable array of wrap samples handy. i put the mic. , as you did, to a bunch and got from about .005 to .050. the real thick one was a roll of tangerine glitter from Delmar----quite new , the thin stuff was a kind of foil; also quite new.

That's great you have a good selection of wrap samples. .005 is waaaay thin. Sounds like some cool stuff you have there. That tangerine glitter sounds pretty nice. And thick too!

Somewhat related, but perhaps participants in this thread may know: Did the ink-stamped designation I have seen on drum shell interiors "P 0.20" indicate the shell was intended for a pearl covering, 0.20" thickness?

Thanks