The 12" tom was the only one with a date stamp remaining. I made a protective cover, stripped the hardware and followed the same process.

[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZuLHfN-xRfg/Unx0H08mfAI/AAAAAAAAA2k/AuPfF4SnFRU/s800/20131107_233256.jpg[/IMG]

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At the bottom right you can see the cover I made. I taped on all sides of the date stamp, then used a piece of plastic wrap over and finally taped that plastic wrap over top.

[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--I7VuvEQioM/Unx0Ou1PHaI/AAAAAAAAA24/zLhOCb9eWcg/s800/20131107_234241.jpg[/IMG]

The good:

1. Covering for the most part in good condition considering its age

2. Shells mostly round and of course the side with batter heads have nice edges

3. I have lots of spare heads (thanks Evans!)

The bad:

1. Some slight separation of plies at points

2. The inside of the shells MIGHT have been repainted - I am guessing this after removing the hardware and seeing not only a different lighter shade of white but also what looks like an earlier coat underneath at a different level.

3. Reso side bearing edges are pitted in places as you would expect with the reso heads left off.

Overall the investment will be minimal to get it sounding great. I have $5 in cleaning supplies so far. Tomorrow I will pick up some glue syringes, thin CA, and small supplies. I am going to sacrifice el cheapo snare that came with it. I will use the wood shell as parts for my clamps to hold the various shells firmly while I glue.

I will inject carpenters glue where needed, use thin CA for the tough spots, and likely an epoxy / fine sawdust mix for some of the rough edges. I will then level the shells.

My goal here is not for a museum piece but to get it back in sound order. If I can find the original T rods enough for the reso side great. If not I will use the new club date t rods on the batter side.

Looking good so far. keep up the good work. It will be worth it.

YesL liking this. More pics!

I'm doing the same thing for a friend. Same kit basically, but a 16" floor. It's a surprise for his upcoming birthday. I like the result you got from the Simple Green and bleach. Ill have to try that!

So today while my wife was working and I had my little one I made a few stops.

1. $30 at harbor freight for some misc. clamps and so forth

2. $20 in glue and syringe injector from local woodworking store

3. Wax paper

Here is a tip; I don't think you always need the wax paper to protect the wrapped side of drums. When I built a lot of model planes that had similar covering I used to spray areas likely to get glue on them with some WD 40 or similar. I would then cover with masking tape. The tape prevented most of the big glue runs and the WD 40 would help it not to bond to the plastic surface. Anyway I just used some Titebond Extend (longer setup time) so I could wipe away most any excess.

I used a series of small clamps for the 12" tom and a strap clamp along with small clamps for the floor tom.

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All the hardware was easily removed from the bass drum though I did not do much to it tonight.

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All the hardware is kept in a box and also individually bagged per drum it was removed from.

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I set the drums in my drum room to dry on top of old heads. If any glue does run it will do so onto old heads!

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JC815uoLM6c/Un8Kp8vNcaI/AAAAAAAAA34/yu5zIVOMQnY/s800/20131109_223608.jpg[/IMG]

Key things to note:

For large ply separations try to clean out as much as you can. I used a small razor and very small file to clean out any crud. This is the same for re rings that come loose. The glue is stronger than the wood but will only bond as well as you prepare your surfaces. I also made sure to clamp where needed and in a way so as not to cause shells to go out of round. I had my tape measure and heads around to make sure.

The glue syringes are a real must have item to get glue deep into places you cant otherwise. I did have some CA glue but used that more to harden any soft wood and not for bonding.

More progress was made. Earlier this morning I put more glue down into the 12" tom. I did not get a chance to do that to the 14" floor tom so I ended up gluing a little more and clamping again. No need to rush and if it takes me just a week of sorting out these little issues so be it.

I started with the 14" floor tom. The strap clamp really helped in keeping the loose re rings and plies together very nice. After I removed it I now had the reso side sorted. I was now easily able to slip on a new head.

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There was still the smallest gap I could squeeze glue down into with my syringe so I repeated the initial gluing process. This was likely overboard but it could not hurt.

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The first side I started on the 12" tom was the batter side. I again tested my repairs by checking the re-rings, plies and by placing a head on. Because the previous owner left off the reso side head - it meant that this side needed the most attention. This time I used the strap clamp on the 12" tom. I glued one loose ply and one section of loose re ring.

[IMG]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-uaeirWbTWNw/UoBeeREwANI/AAAAAAAAA4g/WyNdJdEKRHo/s800/20131110_222858.jpg[/IMG]

By this point I was getting tired and was out of clamps. I decided to clean off the bass drum. It cleaned up really nice with just a few rough areas. There are some areas of rust that simply won't come out. They might be covered by hardware so I am not overly concerned yet. What I did try was using my Ultimate Compound on a small area. I then followed with liquid Carnuba Wax. Left of the seam you can see the results.

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Big thing here is that I am taking my time and doing this right. I could probably have skipped nearly all these steps and still have good sounding drums. I was more interested in having very functional drums that would present no issues down the road.

I am going to try hunting down blue oyster pearl; I believe at this point there is none left so I might have to get creative for my other bass drum hoop inlay.

Looking good buddy!! guitar3

What kind of kit is the red one? That's gorgeous!

Thank you! The main kit is my Sonor Prolite. It has vintage maple shells; 9 Ply 4mm Maple shells with 2mm reinforcement rings for toms and 12 ply 6mm Maple shells with reinforcement rings for the bass drum and 45 degree bearing edges. The two snare drums are the Benny Greb signature snare and a custom SQ2 snare I had built to my specs.

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So yesterday was Veteran's day and I just spent time with the family. After I get done practicing tonight I am going to work on the bass drum and filling some of the voids on the reso sides of the bearing edges. I have done this even with my nice drums no issues. I also spoke with Jack Lawton today to source some of the missing parts. He was so very nice and will get all the things I need. Much better than me going to half a dozen places to source everything.

For those wondering here are the kits I have:

Sonor Prolite Red Tribal

Sonor S Classix Walnut Roots

Sonor Phonic custom bowling ball wrap be bop sizes

1967 Ludwig Club date

1980's Tama Imperial star (second kit I ever owned)

Next up will be a Rogers kit or a Round badge Gretsch - still trying to decide...

So between being a dad, a businessman, a drummer for two bands plus session work and spending time with the wife its certainly hard to make time for anything. I know a lot of you out there can relate!

Slow going progress tonight. Had my daughter going wild, my band practice / meeting and friends over. Anyway Here are the three types of tension rods on these kits.

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I started with gluing any loose outer plies and reinforcement rings and now worked on the inner most ply.

12" tom

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floor tom

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9c4qVBc79HQ/UoMB5FFEdrI/AAAAAAAAA5M/NeYlbyF1w3k/s800/20131112_232220.jpg[/IMG]

bass drum

[IMG]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-loCj4GtR4do/UoMB7H81tsI/AAAAAAAAA5U/FkJzSsHX_MY/s800/20131112_232339.jpg[/IMG]

I also used some CA glue to reinforce any areas where wood had gotten weak. The area around the bass drum feet is where I concentrated my efforts. I used a special flexible CA glue to allow flexing. If you are doing these repairs the glue syringe is really a must. Also to apply pressure in the right places a deep throat clamp:

http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-deep-throat-c-clamp-45917.html

For good measure a strap clamp helps a lot although you could get creative with some rope or heavy string to accomplish the same thing.