Poppy,..What did you end up doing to the inside of the drums ??

I use natrual beeswax,..it goes on wet looking and dries completely clear. When I last did my SONOR kit I used 5 coats allowing a day in between. I do this every three years and right now I`m way over do. The dry wood has the best acoustic values, and the beeswax don`t fill in the pulp. It don`t build up and dissolves into the air eventually. It has no odor and no effect on the sheen.

Most drum companies use one of the poplar woods in between two hardwoods to get acoustic value that hardwood lacks. Beechwood is both hardwood and acoustic.

BTW raw linseed oil will not dry,...boiled linseed oil will !! Both will color the wood as well !!

I used tung oil, but I dont ever play these drums. I have so many drum kits i dont know what to do!! I cant paly em all, but I just love em!!

Well, I think you need to think about exactly what it is youre trying to accomplish.

Tung Oil, Beeswax, etc will only lubricate the wood. It wont protect the wood, really, and it definetly wont help it resist cracking. In fact, Oil of any kind will start to seperate the ply. Bad.

On my 1963 Pearl Valencias, the shells were paper thin, VERY dry, but thankfully in

VERY good structual shape. I have a hunch that the heads on the snare , mounted tom and floor tom had not been removed for over 40 years, therefore the insides were not exposed to any elements. Still, they are so thin I was worried about them cracking if I dropped them. So I needed a way to strengthen the shells from the inside.

Several layers of Polycoat did a super job in building them up and adding some much needed strength to them. They should last another 47 years now, hopefully.