Mike - That's a valuable/historical old drum and one hell of a boomer I'm sure. I would work on that particular piece with 'preservation' in mind. If I might make a couple of suggestions:

If your going to add a kick pedal; I would remove and safely store away the wooden stand pieces. I'm sure you can unscrew them from the hoops. If the hoops provide some 'grab' for a couple of clip-on bass drum feet, so much the better.

You can drill the rims on the heads providing the hole isn't too wide and creates weak points along the rim. You might consider getting a set of single tension rods for it that go on the outside of the hoop and not through it.

Single ply! Amazing drum. Add some woody single tension toms and you'll have a Levon Helm tribute kit!

GREAT score.

John

John,

Thanks for your input. "Preservation" is exactly what I had in mind; absolutely no modifications or changes to the hardware or shell. I plan on using this bass in its original configuration with the exception of modern heads. I removed the two wooden cradle/base pieces only to clean the steel hoops, but I intend on leaving them in place for playing. The little piece of wood I added to mount a pedal is clipped to the bottom of the wood, so no mod there. I put this piece on only so the bass won't creep away from the pedal, although, with all that flat surface area resting on the floor, I don't think this bass is going to creep anywhere.

For the tension rods to pass through the head rims, I only have to drill a 3/16" hole, so I don't think the structural integrity of the rim will be compromised (at least I hope not). There's really no way to add an external single-tension claw to the outside of the steel hoop as its completely flat; nothing to grip onto...

[Attachment: 74652]

I occasionally play in a Dixieland group, and I've always wanted to play on period-correct drums for both visual and tonal authenticity. From vintage photographs, those early NOLA jazz guys used a mish-mash of whatever old drums they could piece together. So no toms for this setup; just bass, snare, cowbell, woodblock, and one cymbal. This setup will sound nothing like the Rogers Dayton set I'm using now, but it will sound "right" for the music (again, I hope).

Thanks again John for the input. Always value your opinion.

Mike

Mike what amusement park was this from? I'm trying to think of what was around here back then. I grew up in Ridgefield so the Danbury Fair was a yearly family function. And of course the stock car races there too. Playland in Rye NY was a regular stop as a kid too. Those were about the only ones I remember growing up here in the 60-70's.

Man this is a waaaaay cool drum! Got to love the solid maple shell too. Wow a big boomer for sure. I think your idea of drilling the head rims is the way to go. Did you get a snare drum also or just the bass?

Okay! wow, now this is cool stuff here. This is why VDF exist, Tommy P will be very proud to have this on his web site.

From the picture, I would agree, solid shell, not sure about the veneer, too hard to tell. But if you can get Matt on the thread he would know, this is his thing.

So correct me if I am wrong, you only have the bass drum, not the whole organ thing in the first picture, right?

Guys, thanks for your comments.

Glenn: The only thing I know about this drum is what my aunt told me. She said my uncle got it from Lake Compounce in Bristol CT, but it did not come from their famous carousel's band organ. Lake Compounce is the oldest, continuously operating amusement park in the country, and probably had a few band organs through the years. And yes, he gave me a snare also, but that's another thread sometime.

Jeff: I was talking with Matt about this drum yesterday. He's built another 16x16 rope drum for my group (he'll be posting pics soon) and I'm giving him the original heads off this bass. Hope he sees these pics and weighs in. And no... I don't own the actual band organ. Wish I did! My research showed that there's a huge collectors/restorers community for these. A LOT more restoration and parts fabrication goes into band organs than vintage drums, and they can easily run in the $100,000 - $200,000 range.

So here she is after final assembly:

[Attachment: 74740] [Attachment: 74741]

This picture shows why it was necessary to drill those holes through the head rims:

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Since there was absolutely nothing wrong structurally with this drum, it was basically just a clean-up and stain job. What consumed most of my time was hand-painting the head in a period-accurate design. I researched turn-of-the-century fonts and designs online, then printed out each letter in WORD and made stencils. With the whole design outlined in pencil, it was just lots of careful brushwork from there.

And how does it sound? Amazing! Deep, boomy, and very warm. To simulate the natural dampening of calfskin, I painted the modern plastic heads with a beige, textured spray paint (spray painting heads was discussed in its own thread a while back). It basically turns a smooth head into a coated one.

Hope this drum provided some interest or amusement. Please share your comments.

Mike

Beautiful job Mike! That has to be one of the coolest restorations I've seen.

Cam

Mike, I cant say enough good about this. This is one of the most impressive restorations I have seen. The artwork that you did on that head is truly top notch professional level craftsmanship if I ever saw it. Hats off to you for and excellent job and thank you for sharing your craft with us.

Definitely a single ply maple. [SIZE="4"]WOW[/SIZE] is all I can say. Mike that looks amazing and I hope I get the opportunity to see it in person when I deliver the next drum for you. If you ever want to make the switch back to calfskin I can get the 1/4" flesh hoops so you don't have to drill. The painted head looks amazing.

Cam, Jeff, Matt:

Thanks so much for your kind words and praise, but again, this wasn't a major restoration, just a "prettying-up" of an unusual drum. I'll never know a quarter of what you guys know about working, repairing, or finishing wood, but I do have a tremendous respect for history, so preserving this drum was a labor of love. I doubt I'll be looking to hand-paint any more heads in the near future though; way too time consuming.

Until we get together Matt and you can check it out in person, here's a final "before-and-after" shot...

[Attachment: 74761]

Next up on the project list, the single-tension snare drum that's going to be paired with this bass. (it's behind the bass in above pic)

Mike