I think that's standard; I just checked a Ludwig tom that is 1/8" under. My metal snares are 1/8" under too.

I checked the fitment for my shells by using some samples from Precision and/or Jammin Sam and stuck them between the shell and the head at 4 points (with the head and hoop attached).

The glass glitters are credit card thick, the JS sparkles are slightly thinner than a credit card.

Hi Jeff,

You won't have any issues wrapping a shell that is 1/8" undersize. The thickest wraps are the Glass Glitters, which are usually around .035" thick. When you factor in the overlap thickness, it still won't create any issues for you.

I have a 1994 Slingerland HSS kit, where the shells are NOT undersize at all! It was a real challenge to find any wrap that would allow a standard head to fit. I ended up getting my wrap from Bum Wrap Drum Co, which was .021". Still, the only heads that would fit were the new Evans 360 line. No issues at all!

-Mark

I have a set of 69/70 Rogers I wrapped in Precisions glitter glass wrap..

Both the 12 & 13 ....the hoops n heads went on smoothly..

Hope this helps

Thanks all,

Mark, love those American flag drums, very cool!

It seems that the problems are more with certain era Gretsch's than anything else. They may even be oversize to begin with BEFORE wrapping.

Interesting, I have only wrapped one kit and it was a Slingerland. The toms were fine but the snare is real tight in fact I cant tune it very good.

I've also had the same issues with some of my Slingerland wood-shell snare drums. Easy enough to test with different heads and check for clearance. I really think you'll find that the Evans Level 360 heads, which is the entire line, will fit great! As to many of the 60's Gretsch shells, there were definite head fit issues from the start! What many people do is to cut back on the wrap, top and bottom, about 1/4" so the heads won't bind against the wrap.

Mark

Slingerlands have well documented fitment issues with certain shells. Shells made before the mid to late 50s, when they used a scarf joint. If these shells left the factory with a lacquer or paint finish and you try to wrap them, you're gonna have a bad time. This is due to the fact that both wrapped and non-wrapped drums came out of the same (female) mold. For the unwrapped drums, they would lay up the wood plies and then insert them into the mold. For wrapped drums, they would lay up the wood plies AND the wrap and insert into the mold. This method results in shells that were originally wrapped having a smaller diameter (after having the wrap stripped off) than shells that were originally painted or lacquered. (I think Ludwig may have had similar construction techniques with their older shells as well, but I am not a Ludwig guy so I have never looked into it.)

TLDR; If a vintage shell has a scarf joint, check to see if there is a wrap layered in the joint. If yes, wrap away. If no, be prepared to either cut the wrap back and deal with how THAT looks, learn how to make an old DW style cutaway overlap or use oversized heads.

I have re-wrapped 100s of kits and run the drum wrap company; Walopus. (Link in my signature)

Most wraps fall between just under 20 mil for standard factory-type wrap and up to just over 35 mil for glass glitters and other thicker wraps.

95% of the time even the thicker wrap will fit just about any manufacturer's shell.

Issues mostly arise due to some shells not being perfectly round. Even if there's enough clearance in one direction, the head may not clear the wrap at the other direction. It can in these cases usually be forced on by squeezing the shell so it's round while installing the head, but the end result is a very difficult tuning process.