hey there,

i recently restored an old 40's radio king myself. here is a link to a previous post i put up showing before and after. basically, you have to take the entire drum apart, and keep everything organized.

http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2783

Anyone??????? Bueller, Bueller

I think we left you hanging there shepfu. Any progress on the project or any specific questions right now.

1. Popular thinking is that the original finish is best left, even if it is not perfect. If your drum doesn't have an orginal finish then it would be appropriate to research what finishes were available at the time and go with one of those.

2. Yes, get yourself a nice, well lighted work space and disassemble the drum. I use an egg carton to keep small parts organized. I like to take each lug apart and clean all the pieces including the spring and insert. I also like to clean the threads on the tension rods. Look for strainer parts on ebay.. three points show up there all the time. Ask lots of question and try to match the correct year for your parts. If you have specific parts you can't find list them out here and somebody can probably give you a lead.

3. I oil everything lightly during reassembly. There is an extensive list on this web site of "stuff" to use to clean, lubricate, and polish your drum.

4. Examine the bearing edges on the drum... if there appears to be any damage maybe have your local shop take a look.

5. There is an extensive section on this site on how to do rewraps, if you need to.

Bottomline... you got yourself a real nice drum there, have fun putting it back together... if it doesn't come out right, have some more fun doing it over again.