[COLOR="DarkRed"]Well...

Yes.....

and Yes.

Basically, what the rewrapper did was proceed with wrapping the shell without first checking whether contemporary heads would fit right.

It sounds stupid..but, dammit...I have done that once or twice in my time, too...makes you just feel like sh#t.Toilet

So there are only 2 alternatives once that has been done:

1) do what he did (not a good solution, IMHO)

2) get abunch of files and do some serious, serious feathering of the wrap edge....combined with searching for the widest heads (or ones with the most flexible rings) available. *

c) toss the shell in you pile of rejects and curse yourself...

(OK, that's 3 options).

* Now...of ALL head mfr's, Aquarians are the tightest diameter heads out there...combined with their heavy inflexible rings, they oftentimes do NOT fit vintage shells well at all, in my experience. You'd think that would have been alleviated with their American Vintage heads....but truth be told, I have had those heads NOT work as many times as I have had 'em work. True they are a teeny tad wider than their other coateds...but their other coateds are tighter than Remos or Evans. Too bad, because I really LIKE Aquarians...but I just can't use 'em on a lot of my old renovations.

My experience has been that Remo clears are looser fitting than their coateds, thus at least as loose-fitting (if not more) than American Vintages. Of all heads, believe it or not, the Ludwig coateds are the easiest to flex onto this sort of shell, because their rings are the most flexible. Their tone however, is reputed to be inferior to a good ol' Ambassador. Dunno about that...I suppose they are a tad less lively...but they still sound like decent coateds to me.

I am finishing up a wrap on a nice Gretsch 18" shell which had a demolished lacquer finish on it. The client came in with Aquarian heads on it...and the first thing I did when I saw those heads was check how they were hugging the shell. I then informed him that if he wanted his kit to be Green Glitter, he was gonna have to switch to Remos or Evans or Luddy heads, because the Aq's will not fit afterwards.

A week later he e-mailed me that he was talking to a very reputable drum dealer about that situation, and the dealer recommended doing EXACTLY what the pevious owner of your shell did....cut the wrap back all the way so the Aq. heads could fit without having to overlap the wrap edge. So, you see, it IS done. Even by very knowledgeable drum folk. It's not THAT outrageous.

He e-mailed me back and told me what this drum guy had said. I replied that I just didn't recommend doing that for a lot of reasons, but if he insisted I do it, I would. He went along with my suggestions.

It's just really NOT a detail which I prefer. I don't do it and would NOT have enjoyed doing it had my client insisted.

And finally, honestly, the seller should have let you know about it before he sold it.[/COLOR]

Thanks for the response Jaye... I just needed some closure.

About the heads... I purchased the American Vintage heads before the job was started 'cause they were the only ones that would fit the snare. I should have tried them again after the wrap was applied and trimmed! Stupid me!

One of the problems, or THE problem, with cutting back some wrap on the edge to allow heads to fit on the shell is that if you don't cut enough off, the head ring will push up against the wrap, making the drum hard to tune and it will push the wrap down causing some buckling of the wrap. If you cut too much wrap off, the heads will work, but you can see a line of missing wrap that can look a little funky. (Most non drummers wouldn't notice it, but who cares about them?!)

It's hard to cut off the exact amount because head rings vary as does the tensioning of the head...

I too am another victim of the "Shorty re-wrap job"

I purchased a Ludwig Club Date kit about a year ago for $600 on Ebay. The seller failed to mention that the bass and 12" tom had been re-wrapped. The 14" floor tom on the other hand was gorgeous and not re-wrapped so I wasn't toooo ticked. I e-mailed him with my dismay and requested a $100 refund and I would keep the kit and not raie a fuss on Ebay. The seller complied. Still not worth $500 but a nice kit nonetheless.

The problem was the 12" tom. The re-wrapper, knew of the head fitting problem and left a 3/4" border between the edge of the wrap and the bearing edge. The heads fit fine but you can SEE the edge of the wrap and the white paint he applied to the outside of the shell when the rims are mounted. S __$%)^(%(#$(%!!! You don't want to take this kit to the ball!

OK- playable but disgusting at the same time... I feel your pain man...electricit

My solution at this point is to search for a 12" Club Date tom shell (since I have the lugs, rims and t-rods)

in Silver sparkle ginger ale fade that is NOT a re-wrap.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]Yup.

To clarify...there's NOTHING particularly wrong with holding the edge back from the edge. That is my standard way of re-wrapping (I call it the vintage Japanese method because, up until Pearl in the '60's, American and UK makers took the wrap to the edges. But after the Japanese makers took off, Tama, Pearl, Yamaha, etc..holding it back a tad became a second industry standard.

Whenever I rewrap an old American kit, I always tell the client that the new wrap is gonna be further back from the edge than the original. Nobody has yet had a problem with that, nor should they.

I always hold it back between 1/8" -1/2". At 1/2", that is my max, I am playing with fire after that because it's about as far as you can go to get the ring to cover the seam.

3/4" is way too much...even 5/8" is really not gonna work....9/16" is an absolute max., but again is pushing it.

Nothing wrong with a good re-wrap which holds the edge back, but there are maximum allowances.[/COLOR]