This is what I have found. Pre-68, Pearl and some Star shells were either 3 or 5 ply, typically mahog/poplar/mahog. You may find an occasional 5 ply that has a center layer of asian maple. The later shells are all heavier plies of mahogany that everyone assumes are the only way MIJ drums were ever made. The early lighter shells are my personal faves because they have a resonant quality you just can't find anywhere else. Our friends in the American Only Camp do not really know there is a difference. To them these are all plain garbage. The thinner 3 and 5 ply shells are really the most highly prized out of them all and since they are such garbage, I will continue to search them out. And make a sweet sound with them. (some of them are asking for pointers, anonymously of course...)

This is how to treat an older set of shells. First you want to sand the interiors to a fine grit. Start at 80, then after the grain is smoothed out somewhat, go to 100, then finally 220. After you are done sanding and cleaning the fine dust,Kleening which is a chore in itself, you should treat the interiors and rings with lacquer, not poly. And use good old fashioned lacquer, not the new age, high tech polimerized stuff, but just good old fashioned out of the can stuff. I treat the shell and the rings with 3-4 coats, buffing with 2-00 then 3-000 then 4-0000 steel wool between each coat. When you have finished, you will have the sweetest sounding drums on the block, and you will have far less than 1000bucks in them. And you can gig them without too much trepidation as to loss of irreplacable vintage American gear, and no one will be the wiser, if you know how to choose heads and contour edges.

But since they are garbage, don't tell the neighbors, they might think you have vintage American drums D' Drummer and really like listening, because God forbid they find out you are playing those trash MIJ drums, they sound like crap and and might hurt their ears.....and should summarily be thrown out in the next days' trash collection.Coffee Break2

OHHHHH..K....I have a ZimGar kit with cast hoops,re rings,etc.All the makings of a quality kit,but im certain there is nothing but mahogany in there...OH,it sounds just like my friends Gretsch kit...well,close anywayWalking

Yeah, I like it when a plan comes together. I guess I should explain a little as to why we want to start doing the interiors. As the quality of the mahogany used in our sweet little garbage cans is such that it is, as they have aged the shells are drying out and becoming brittle. It is unfortunate, but unavoidable. I know the feeling. My interiors are drying out and beco....no, we'll skip that.

Anyway, this is a preservation technique. Rogers did this with the wood shells, and Ludwig and Slingerland used lacquer as well. Gretsch used a different type, but it is for the dual purposes as well, to reflect sound and because well, they all wanted to hide either the type of wood, the unsightliness of the quality of the ply, all sorts of reasons, but they did not intend for us to be debating 50 years later exactly what we are to do to protect our drums. They all would prefer we throw them out every 10 years and buy new ones. They did this for 2 reasons. One, for the protection and preservation of the shell itself, and an unintended side, it brightened the sound. For our purposes, this is not the reason, but will be an unavoidable consequence. This is why we want to use lacquer not polyurethane. Lacquer will absorb more resonance and keep the shell mopre "round" than poly because poly is plastic and as such will reflect and refract the vibrations. It has a brightening effect that is not quite "warm" like a lacquer, and that is why I say to use a more natural lacquer rather than a fancy new age, high tech polymer based lacquer.

John, did you lacquer the interior of your Apollo snare? Do you recommend any certain brand of lacquer? Does it really take 3-4 coats?

Sorry for all the questions, but I know next to nothing about paint and even less about lacquer/poly, etc. Working on getting my Apollo snare fixed up and am thinking about doing the interior while it is all broken down waiting for parts.

Have not yet. It has some issues I have yet to address. All of the lugs will have to come back off for some cleaning and maintenance. I have to silence the springs and change the heads so I will do all of it at the same time. As for the number of coats, it is really up to you. It really more depends on the shell itself. How dry and brittle has it become is the first thing I look at. One to three coats is pretty much it, but you have to see how the first goes, does it become absorbed right away? That is the indicator. I usually use 2 coats in most instances, but three for a polished look. The lacquer I am currently using is Deft, from Lowe's...I think. But talk to the paint guy/gal and tell them you are not really needing the high tech stuff. This is a "brushing lacquer". It is formulated for brush or wiping, but I find brushing more to my liking. And make sure to get the lacquer thinner for clean up. Sand and clean very well when you are getting ready to apply lacquer. Use of satin or gloss is totally your call. For the interiors I am using up what I have, it happens to be satin, or semi-gloss. Use gloss or high gloss for final finish. If you want a tough top coat, use one coat of poly, on the extrior only. I don't use it on the interiors, and only use for my glitter finishes Let it cure for 2 days after the final coat and make sure to buff between coats with a light steel wool buffing. And make sure to tpe the exterior holes to keep the lacquer inside the shell.

Make sure to do the edges. It protects them and if you burnish them well, they will have a polished, slick feel. It will help the heads slide easier, like lubing the t-rods, it is a lubricant, but let it cure a couple or three days first.

What about sealing the interior by rubbing some kind of oil? I read on the Pearl drum forum that a couple of coats of teak oil would work. Any thoughts on that? Or would that not be as lasting as going ahead with the lacquer?

Oils and polish are meant to condition wood temporarily,and need to be done as regular maintenance as needed.Its like it gives wood new life.Personally,i would not use anything to seal off the wood simply because wood needs to breathe.Permeability is crucial to wood lasting for many,many years.I,ve been in the paint business for years and have seen enough failures to know this.

And that is why I use a turpentine based lacquer, it is not true a "sealant" like polyurethane. It allows the wood to breathe. There are a few different types of lacquer, so the more traditional ones are what I go for. That is also why Rogers did this to the interiors of the wood Dynas. They wanted them to last, and the only way wood will last is if it is:

A) completely encased in poly, or B) painted in some manner with a quality product.

I have been in the furniture restoration arts for years and have had my hands on many very old peices of wood, many that have been oiled, and many lacquered.(mom was an antique dealer) Both offer great protection. To me, it is more of a personal preference. I prefer to minimize the amount of long term maintenance, as the amount of hardware we have to deal with on every single drum is enough when it is time to strip a drum and clean all the chrome.

As Wayne states, it only matters that the wood is preserved. I do this as a way of maximizing the overall tonal quality of these old shells. Let's face it, besides the politcal issues many of the American Drum Gurus constantly throw at us, these drums have sound issues that we are only now, as technicians and restoration artists, able to understand and correct.

See, they contend these drums are and always have been and always will be, inferior in both build quality and tonal quality.

Now, for the quality of parts, I don't see that as a huge problem, because I take care of my stuff. Yes, many of the parts are noticably lighter and less effective. The chrome is not as heavy, and so on and so on... So if we, the artists, learn to use the good stuff we do have to our advantage, and that takes some trial and error and sharing our results with each other and the rest of the world, through this medium, we can turn around the negative image and save these drums from the landfill or fireplace.

One of the issues we are aware of is the fact that the shells are made of different and lesser quality woods. We also know that mahogany has certain good tonal qualities, when used in the right way. 100% African Mahogany shells are seriously nice, and have a great tone. It is a higher grade of wood, in that when it is used in drum building, it is cut and layed up in a certain manner. The Asian Mahoganies used in import drums of the era we are concerned with are layed up in much less mindful ways. They did not pay that much attention to much more than getting them round. So, with this in mind, and the fact that the layers of mahogany on the interiors are very open grained, thin and just not well thought out. So, this is why I always, when restoring and working on the thin, 3 and 5 ply type of shells that most resemble the contemporaries they are intended to emmulate, begin with a good sanding. That is more than half the battle. After you have the grain of the surface smoothed out and "closed" you have already made a change that will be immediately noted simply by listening.

To go one step further, I use a good lacquer to finish it off, further emmulating Ludwig and Rogers. And I guess Slingerland.