Day two: hardware and "wrap" stripped. It totally seemed like they used roofing paper to wrap this thing. There's nothing nice looking underneath, just blackish luan. I'm going to wrap these with wood veneer, and figure out some sort of inlay to use. Most of the screws/washers are beyond saving, but I'm ok with replacing those. I'll keep a bag full of whatever I replace just in case the next owner wants it.

OK, here we go...what are you wanting to accomplish with this kit? You will be limited as to tonal range, and possibly projection. You can increase the projection by applying 4-6 coats of lacquer to the interior of the shells. If you really want to increase range, add an interior veneer of maple. Not easy, but well worth the work. Not worth anything monetarily, as far as I can tell because I have done this to my kit, but the tone is so much better.

I can give you so much information as to how to make these sound better, but it takes time and a lot of patience. One thing, never use steel wool or polyurethane. Steel wool kills the shine on chrome and poly lends a plastic sound to the drums.

I do use steel wool, but only when cleaning my t-rods. I use a neat attachment for my screw gun ( http://www.americanmusical.com/ItemList--Drum-Care--m-1171--page-2 ) and use it and mineral oil to deep clean all my t-rods. It does not work for bass Ts, but....

I'm not sure exactly what I'll want to do to the bearing edges. I think I'd like to see how they sound with the current rounded edges and some new heads. For now I made sure the edges were flat and even, then sanded them down smooth. I suppose I should strip the paint from the interiors, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. I guess I would have to do that if I wanted to laquer the interiors or apply maple. More projection is always nice, but I really do like the warm tone and shorter sustain of vintage drums. So I'm hesitant to change the bearing edge.

I decided on paint for these shells. I'll try to get them smooth enough for paint, but I'm cooking up some plansnfor a paintable covering if I can't get them smooth. I'm going to use the Jonnistix glitter finish method to put a stripe around them. Here is the approximate color scheme I'll be going for.

These shells are cleaning up well. I got the paint/glue off with some paint stripper, and am most of the way through sanding. I bought a spray gun kit today for use with my air compressor. It has 2 guns: one for water based paints and one for solvent based. So I can spray the paint and the lacquer too.

For the record, this kit was stained black, then painted white, then wrapped in a textured matte black of some sort.

I dig that finish idea man!

-Adam

See red text for response.

Yeah, I'll sand them to 220 and keep the contour they have for now. By "flat", I just meant level, like flat when you lay them on a countertop and the whole edge contacts the counter. They're still rounded.

I used a paint stripper on the outside to get rid of the paint/glue. I can see from that process the inside would not be worth it. Since there's no glue inside, I can just sand and paint over it like you suggested. I'll just use the same paint as the outside, which is a high gloss enamel. I'll tape off the bearing edges and leave them bare.

I was planning on trying the Z-100 heads on top with the cheap attack reso heads (5 pack for $30!).

Things are coming along. I got everything repaired and sanded, bearing edges are ready to go, and priming is done on most of the drums. I decided to plug the hole on the bass drum for the tom mount. I won't use it, and I think it will look better as a (born again) virgin. Ha, drum joke!

For the tom mount hole, I didn't have a dowel that was the right size, so I added some shims. Once the glue dries, I can snap off the shims and go over the top with wood filler.