Because the drum was just a shell and hoops, heads and ears had to be hand made, new rope added and gut snare cord added to the bottom. In addition to this, I cleaned up the shell with a little polish and smoothed out the bearing edged by hand and re-glued. There would not have been a snare adjuster on this drum originally so the gut was run through a leather but on one side and just tied in a know at the other.

[IMG]http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm231/rainbowlove44/DSCN3312.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm231/rainbowlove44/DSCN3325.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm231/rainbowlove44/DSCN3323.jpg[/IMG]

Gratuitous shot with drum sticks and a Cloos fife from 1864.

[IMG]http://i297.photobucket.com/albums/mm231/rainbowlove44/DSCN3311.jpg[/IMG]

Hi Matt! Cool projects... I've been catching up on the thread....

Concerning your 5 x 5 trap door in the Bass Drum... typically, most older orchestral bass drums had a trap door for a "humidifier". A wet sponge would be put in the drum (usually mounted on a stick) to regulate the humidity in a drier environment.

I believe the doors were for access to the lightbulbs that used to be used in the drums. Thanks for checking out the thread. More coming soon.