Spent some time this weekend stripping all the parts off, cleaning the shells and learning more about these beautiful drums.

[LIST]

[*]The lug inserts are easily replaced by 1/4 inch nuts. Nuts! Thanks Magnus.

[*]The lever floor tom leg bolt I have is the correct piece. I got three more of those lever bolts this weekend.

[*]The tom and floor are 3 ply with re-rings, the bass is 6 ply no re-rings.

[*]One floor tom leg is un-original, need one.

[*]I need the bass drum mounted cymbal stand.

[*]The batter side hoop is missing the inlay.

[*]The old Sonor hardware is as good as the Rogers or Ludwig hardware of the period, no question IMHO.

[*]The Red Strata snare I picked up cleaned up nicely. (And it's a 3 ply with re-rings :)

[*]The Black Galaxy Sparkle shells all cleaned up nicely too! Next week is the hardware scrub.

[/LIST]

PICS below

Nested shells, sittin' in a tree

[img]http://i.imgur.com/6OKvc5yl.jpg[/img]

My name is Tom 1.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/IiIwTfRl.jpg?1[/img]

My name is Tom 2

[img]http://i.imgur.com/3MJJ4sYl.jpg?1[/img]

I am a floor tom leg lug LOL

[img]http://i.imgur.com/vfCDbLzl.jpg?1[/img]

Look at this cool little piece inside the floor tom leg lug. That's what that makes that lever piece tick!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/ifMYg8dl.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Cg07opil.jpg[/img]

German engineered snare drum muffler. Smart.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/RdGRMxql.jpg?1[/img]

Very dirty Red Strata orphan I got. Original lugs, original muffler. The rest? Not so much.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/AlIFlGbl.jpg?1[/img]

But boy, that shell cleaned up nice!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/gT5Qkp4l.jpg?1[/img]

Thanks for sharing these pics. Very nice job you are doing! Strange that the BD is 6-ply and the toms 3-ply!

/Magnus

It is strange isn't it Magnus? I notice a real difference in sound between the 3-ply and 6-ply. An immediate and natural resonance with the 3-ply that is very nice. Because that finish seems fairly rare and the wrap fade seems to match so well, I'm thinking this kit is complete from the factory as opposed to assembled orphans. I have heard that on some of the 3-ply 'kits', the bass drum was 6. Have you heard the same?

My guess would be that your kit is indeed an original factory kit, but from a transition period, and that Sonor took what they had as far as shells go and mixed old-stock 3-ply with new 6-ply shells.

Are there date stamps inside your shells?

/Magnus

Thanks Magnus, I will look inside the shells closely this week. I put them in my storage locker to keep them far away from my eight month Doberman. :)

It's great you got to keep these! Lookin good....love that finish!

Mitch

This looks like fun project. I just love that wrap! Looks like shells are in good condition. I think my next project will be some 3 ply teardrops. I hope to find some as nice as yours.

BTW I have recently experienced a 3 ply sonor beech shell when I veneered my 26" marching bass. I turned it into a phonic style lug and was afraid the shell would not be sturdy enough but after the veneer being applied adding that extra "ply" really strengthened up the shell. I have it tuned to around an 80 on a drum dial and the sound is amazing. It's made a believer out of me for these thin shelled teardrops.

Keep up the good work,

Gary

I have been enjoying my time in the geek room! I took them all apart, packed the lugs, polished all the chrome, cleaned the wrap and fussed for a few weeks and just put the last drum together tonight. Such beautiful drums. No serial numbers in the shells. Pretty bagged out now, so off to bed, but here are some pics. They look just beautiful and are glowing!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/s92DmyDl.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/jIJdtA6l.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/sUE1Fpol.jpg[/img]