I would say it's at least worth trying. It does seem to be the mildest stripper that's widely available, and you have to get the paint off somehow, right?

I just used the 3m stripper to strip down a '50s WFL floor tom that had multiple layers of paint on over the original duco finish. Based on my experience, it looks like the stripper works slowly enough that with a little bit of experimentation (say, under a lug) it would be possible to time it out where if your BD only has one layer of paint on it, you could leave it on just long enough to get through that paint, and get it off before it starts reacting with the wrap (assuming that it would even react with the wrap.)

In my case, I had to do three separate applications to get through all the paint. The stripper worked well on the top layers, but there was a coat of high gloss lacquer that it was working VERY slowly on - slow enough so that the stipper was actually drying out before it had reacted with lacquer. And this stripper has to remain wet in order to work. What I eventually had to do to get through all the lacquer was to score the paint (rough up / damage the surface) and then apply a coat of stripper, and then cover the whole drum in a plastic 'tent' to keep the stripper from dehydrating. After 24 hours everything came off fine and I got down to the bare wood, which is what I wanted.

If I had your drum, I'd definitely give the 3m stripper a try. A couple of things to keep in mind:

Depending on how porous the wrap is and the type of paint used, the pigment in the paint might have already absorbed into the surface a bit, which means that no stripper will get it off completely. In that case, you'll have to do some work on the wrap (light sanding then re-polishing / refinishing) no matter what type of stripper you use.

After applying the stripper, when scraping the paint off, use a squeegee type motion 'pulling' the scraper, rather than a scraping type motion 'pushing' the scraper whenever possible. Pushing the scraper increases the chances that you'll take a gouge out of the finish if the scraper hits a tiny bump or imperfection in the surface.

Good luck, and post some pics if you decide to undertake the job.

Scott

Can't help it!!! 3M Tiger "Woods" Stipper...any one of the 12 models will do..hehe

You Guys are sooooo funny LoLoLoLo I got a 1964 luddy FT for my birthday last night. it has white marine pearl under a coat of black spray paint. I guess we have our guinea pig. I'll be reporting in, so stay tuned.

I will be awaiting the "test results"!

My thoughts are with the patient and it’s family.

I used another brand, Lepages Supa Stripper. The drum had several coats of primer, top coat and urethane. Removing that many layers took a couple of soaks (and Supa Stripper is pretty strong).

When done, the old WMP was damaged. There was a general haze, and some areas where the pearl effect was nearly missing. I didn't mind, I was heading toward a rewrap anyway, but it made me cautious about mixing paint stripper and plastic wraps. (One experience doesn't amount to serious evidence though.)

Good luck, I am curious as well,

Patrick

I went to Lowes and home depot today, neither of them have the 3m stripper. Where can I find it?

I think Ace Hardware (in the USA) is where I got it, but that was many years ago.

They, ACE, have it here, but only in 1/2 gal. I just need a quart.

Ok Guys, I tried a few other strippers under a lug and leg bracket and they all seemed to damage the finish. I went ahead and bought a gallon of the 3M safest stripper. I am planning on rewraping this tom, but Im dying to see if I can preserve the WMP finish. I an fixin to experiment on it this afternoon. if it does work out and I do preserve the finish I will, either restore it in the WMP finish or use the hi bond tape method and wrap the tom. That way the original WMP wrap will be well preserved under the new BDP wrap. Ill report in a few hours.

If you do the wrap on a wrap method, mind the total circumference...head fit and all.