I tried figuring this out a while ago...but no one helped. Many guys are going to tell you they like it when WMP Fades. But it is your opinion so stick with it. I've tried asking tommyp the WMP God but I got no answer. It must be his little secret. Sucks that eventually he will die and so will the secret. Maybe you will have better luck his name is tommy p and he has the greatest collection of wmp on earth.electricit

You should see his wfl titanium badge set he has.

Yeah, there is lots of mention of a process but nothing concrete on

the materials needed. I emailed Tommy P as instructed from his

1949 WMP snare drum restore says to do. Just figured it would be faster

to get some ideas from the forumso I can try to start today, Sunday.

:)

Thanks again!

The problem with the yellowed WMP is that when the finish does that its IN the actual wrap....its not just surface grunge and filth. Some is caused by the days gone by of smoke filled clubs....nicotine residue is part of the WMP funk, the other is caused by time from ultraviolet light, a natural occurance. Not much you can do to get it its proper color again. I've tried the wet-sanding and buffing/polishing method on a few different drums where the wrap has yellowed or even gone green! Minimal to moderate success with this method. You'll probably have to live with it unless you want to rewrap the drums.

Man, why take the chance on messing 'em up???

They've EARNED the right to be yellowed and should be allowed to display it proudly!! It's a badge of HONOR that took YEARS to accumulate!!!!!

I say leave them alone also.. I keep wondering why drum companies have come out with aged WMP as a finish option? When I see a vintage drum that has WMP wrap that is white, it just loses the vintage vibe to me.

The process does remove the top layer of finish and it will not work on all WMP from all of the drum companies from every era. So it is a hit or miss and should not be left up to chance on a complete set.

I say clean the drums up and make them shine, they have a look to them that you will get used to. Look around Ebay for drums that have been re-wrapped with new bright WMP and it just looks out of place and just does not have the same cool look to them as a set that is aged.

Give them a chance prior to any drastic changes.

David

drumbum 3131/Zerek/Ludwig-dude!...

drumbum 3131: I apologize for not getting back to you, except I don't recall ever receiving an email from you regarding this question. Unless... ??? When did you send/request that information? Regardless... I assure you that it's not "my little secret", and although I am indeed headed to the grave... ( but hopefully not yet! ) ... I have no desire to take that with me! LOL!! I am trying to mount a luggage rack on my coffin though... LOL!!! Sooo...

Zerek/Ludwig-dude, and drumbum 3131: I have lightened/restored WMP with GREAT success, and it was one drum in particular where it all came together: a 1949 WFL/Ludwig 3x13 Buddy Rich Be-bop model snare drum. It was HARD WORK!... very time consuming... and risky... but at the time I THOUGHT it was what I wanted to do with all my WMP drums, which I do indeed have quite a few of, all Buddy Rich models too, but already I digress. I have since decided that for the most part, they are almost always nicer left in their original aged/faded state, and as Vipercussionist states: A badge of honor!! Anyway...

The procedure is risky as it utilizes a chemical solvent that actually dissolves the Pyrolin, which is what old WMP was made of... it wasn't a plastic... it was actually a cellulose based film. Cellulose acetate is what it's basis is. Anyway... this solvent literally REMOVES the outer layer of yellowed pearl leaving behind "fresh" WMP. Again though, it is very slow going, and extremely risky as the solvet will in fact soften the wrap as it works. There is also the risk of removing the glue if the solvent is allowed to come in prolonged contact with it. Then... the finish has to be restored to the "stripped" pearl as you have literally removed all of it. Soooo....

This is why I shy away from telling the "secret"... it occured to me that guys could literally RUIN their drums... and that would be awful. Also, I had noticed that not ALL WMP wrap responded well to this! ( interesting in itself as I always thought that the same company made all of it ) Old WFL/Ludwig wrap responded the best in my experience. Truthfully though, I'm not trying to hide the "secret"... it's more of an I don't want anyone to RUIN their beautiful and valuable vintage drums. Hopefully this will explain my reluctance to divulge the "secret" !

Tommyp

Thank you much for the replies guys :)

I will more than likely keep my YMP in their aged state but I am very curiuos

what the chemical is so I sent Tommy an email. I promise not to

wreck my YMP. :D

BTW, I picked up this 4 piece from the original owner off of Craigslist

for 450. And, the reason I even went for it in the first place wasn't the drums.

He had two 22'' Zildjians and a Supra with the kit.

I'll join in the crew that says to leave them alone. I believe this about SOME WMP -not all. Some WMP wrap is lucky enough to fade to a beautiful butter cream or vanilla cream color. Other WMPs fade to a minty green. I think the vanilla cream color that your drums have patinated to is THE most beautiful form of it. You can get new WMP wrap that looks nice and bright, but you can't buy the vanilla cream color anywhere. It only comes with time. Consider yourself lucky to have a nice matched BCP (butter cream pearl) kit!x-mas1

I find that when I first get a yellowed WMP drum, it's tempting to want to try some way to make it white again. But once I've lived with it for a while, gotten to know it, etc, it just seems wrong to alter it in any way. I've never tried to whiten any drums, nor will I ever.

I do, however, know a collector that had some success on a 60's Rogers kit using a paint stripping product called Citrus Strip, which supposedly is less chemically harsh than other similar products. He left it on the shells for the instructed amount of time, then wet sanded it off, and the drums were significantly whiter. It wasn't dirt, or nicotine...it was actually yellowed cellulose that was removed with the paint stripper. He was lucky in that it didn't go deep enough to need any kind of lacquering or protection. He has since tried it on other brands, (and even other Rogers) without the success of that one kit, so it does depend on the particular batch of WMP, and how deep into the wrap the fading goes.

A further warning I can offer is this: you may experiment on a drum, and find that after some harsh chemical and a couple of hours of hard work wet sanding, you create a small spot where the wrap is actually whiter. But now what? The drum no longer has an even fade, and if you want to continue with the rest of the drum (or set), you have many, many hours of long, hard work ahead of you, and a low chance of being successful and even across all of the surfaces.