It's all done! Just waiting for the right snare wires and a batter head to come in the mail. I absolutely love how this drum turned out. I don't usually like nickel as much as chrome, but I think it goes together perfectly with the dark mahogany. This one will definitely be a keeper. It's hard to get the finish in pictures, but I'm more than happy with the results. I ended up with 5 coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly and a coat of paste wax. I had to do a little more work on the bearing edges to get everything flat. Now it's tuning up great. I can't wait for the wires/head so I can play it! I know it's not a flawless collector piece, but this may be my favorite drum ever. Oh, and once I got the paint off and got a better look at the badge, I could see that this is a 55-59 drum, not 48-52.
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