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60's Ludwig Downbeat restoration

Posts: 8 Threads: 2

Hello boys and girls.

I'm Jonas. I just got back home (Switzerland) after studying in the US for one year. I didn't just learn a lot about drumming there, but fell also in love with vintage drums. I bought two kits: A 70's Slingerland 18-12-14 and a Ludwig Downbeat (pretty sure that it's an original matching kit, serials are close etc...). The Slingy was in pretty decent condition and I already restored it, it just needed some chrome and furniture polish.

But before i can start restoring the Ludwig, there are some issues/questions you guys may could help me with. I'll post a sh*tload of pictures, so you hopefully get an impression.

I have to say: I'm not a collector, I'm a player. I don't want to put my drums in a museum, I want to play them. But of course I'd like to make them look as nice as possible, and I'll take care of them as good as I can!! But the main thing is the sound.

The main questions I have are about the inside of the drums - the BD is in decent condition (may've been repainted?), but the white paint of the toms flakes (don't know if this is the right word - it comes off in small pieces... :-) ). And there are some small cracks in the inner ply. So here they are:

- It seems like someone already tried to repair some separations of the reinforcement rings & the shell with some nasty glue. What do you think? Should i try to remove that?

- Should I repaint the inside of the toms?! What should i do about the "flaking"?

- What should I do about the cracks & the separation of the inner ply?

- What should I do about the separation of the wrap?

- What do you think about the bearing edges? In one picture you can see that there's some "space" in one edge... should i fix that? There are some funky spots, but I think I'll just leave them how they are... That's what's gonna make the drums sound "vintage", right?

- There's some green rust on some screws... How can I remove that?! I don't think that all the screws are original - do you?

I'd be happy about any comments - let me know your opinions! Thanks in advance!!!

Jonas

Pics:

12''

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/12_1.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/12_2.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/12_3.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/12_4.JPG[/IMG]

Posted on 13 years ago
#1
Posts: 8 Threads: 2

14'' A

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_1.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_2.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_3.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_4.JPG[/IMG]

Posted on 13 years ago
#2
Posts: 8 Threads: 2

14'' B

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_5.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_6.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_7.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/14_8.JPG[/IMG]

Posted on 13 years ago
#3
Posts: 8 Threads: 2

BD

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/BD.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/BD2.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/BD3.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/BD4.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.clapotis.ch/ludwig/BD5.JPG[/IMG]

Posted on 13 years ago
#4
Posts: 442 Threads: 102

What i would do is:

-leave the interiours alone (maybe remove some of the heavy flakin, so it's not gonna lie around in the drum suddenly (yeah, the BD looks repainted)

- clean the screws (WD40 and steel wool)

- repaint the BD hoops

- have the bearing edges fixed that are the worst (the 14")

- clean and polish the wraps with Novus polish (bought it in the US and had it shipped to Germany)

- polish Metal parts with NevrDull

- put it together

- ENJOY

Schöne Grüße aus dem Norden!

Posted on 13 years ago
#5
Posts: 8 Threads: 2

Thanks for the reply und liebe Grüße zurück :)

Any other ideas?

Posted on 13 years ago
#6
Posts: 10714 Threads: 579

Will you be keeping this kit for a long time? and with that Let me ask you this do you have wood working or carpentry experience? the drums would require at least basic to advanced knowledge to repair it to factory spec, I would strip the old white paint to first see all the damage that will require attention, the reInforcement ring separation and the bearing edge ply separation , wold have to be re glued and clamped to fix them then some wood putty filling to completely repair that, inside the shell where the cracks are would require re gluing and clamping that to repair it, I would rate this a medium intensity repair, just mostly time consuming! let me know if I can help? good luck, you have a great drum set!

Your drummers not much good is he!? What you need is someone that's as good as me. ! John Henry Bonham !!
Posted on 13 years ago
#7
Posts: 8 Threads: 2

Hey

Thanks for your reply. That helps already, goes in the same direction I was thinking...

I definitely want to keep this kit for as long as possible. And yes, I have some (very) basic woodworking skills. At least I think that reglueing and clamping are things that I can do by myself. I have several friends that work as carpenters, so I could get some help if needed. The only thing I don't want to do is cutting edges... But I don't really know if that's necessary.

I understand that I'd have to reglue and clamp some stuff. But why would you strip the paint down? It seems pretty obvious to me where the separations etc are, so why should I do that? I want to leave as much as possible in the original condition.

I think the best way would be if I just did everything step by step and ask for help here if needed.

I think I'm gonna do the repair one drum after another. So I'm going to start with the 12". I already took all the hardware off the shell, and I know what to do with the metal parts.

Now I would try to scratch off those nasty leftovers of the glue that somebody already fixed the drum with. Then I would sand all the parts on the inside where the white paint is flaking. Then I would glue and clamp all the separations of the shell, reinforcement ring and wrap. Then I would clean the wrap and reattach the hardware. Done.

Any complaints? :)

Two questions:

What glue to use for shell separations, reinforcement ring separations and wrap separations?

How yo clean the wrap and get it shiny?

Thank you a lot for all the help!

Jonas

Posted on 13 years ago
#8
Posts: 10714 Threads: 579

Jonas. you want to only work on one drum at a time your correct on that. And don't re cut the bearing edges, leave them factory, If the paint over all inside is ok then yes strip what you'll need to and that's all, I use Titebond 2 wood glue or Elmers Carpenter glue, I took some precision screwdriver and filed them very flat and thin these are my main tools for repairing ply separation, the screw drivers unable me to separate the plies to get the glue inside the shell to re glue the plies. look at the pic of the screwdrivers the last screwdriver is stock just to give you a comparison, you'll use the screwdriver to push it into the separation, using another screwdriver to push the glue into the crack., let it set up for 20 minutes, wipe off the excess glue, clamp the area your working on, then wipe off the excess remaining glue it will need to dry for at least four hours or so, hope this helps,?

Your drummers not much good is he!? What you need is someone that's as good as me. ! John Henry Bonham !!
Posted on 13 years ago
#9
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