After much work, I'm finally ready to show off my 1959 WFL Barrett Deems in Black/Gold Duco.
In the first couple of photos, you'll see why I never posted a picture of it on here before.
There was rust, stickers, major pieces of the finish flaked off.
I shined up the metal as best I could, touched up the large bare spots with a brush, touched up the wobbly bearing edges and played her for the better part of a year while working up the courage to strip the finish and redo it.
Rather than "rattle can" the gold stripe as has been done by others on the forum to lovely effect, I decided to do it with an airbrush instead. The big hitch in this plan was that I had never touched an airbrush before in my life. Also, the Deems was my only wooden snare, so it was in pretty tight playing rotation.
Couple of months ago I picked up my Slingerland Student Model Radio King, so I could pull the Deems out of rotation for deep refurb.
Upon close examination of the fade and overspray, the gold paint was originally laid down on top of the black base coat, so I decided to do it that way.
The black base on my drum is about 5 coats of Rustoleum lacquer, wet sanded between coats. After the last coat went on, I let the drum sit for a couple of weeks, allowing the paint to cure. For the gold strip, I just used Testors airbrush paint from Michael's, with a medium tip in my Paasche brush.
I'm quite happy with the results. After the gold dried, I went over the drum with auto detailing clay, which resulted in a glassy smooth finish. I may clear coat it after letting it all cure for a few weeks or months.
How does she sound? The Student Model Radio King is sweet and sensitive, with a wide dynamic range. The Deems now cracks like an M1 carbine.
