Two options DrumBob hit the nail on the head I absolutely agree. I'm a restorer here in the Uk and have brought premier carlton hayman arbiter autotune john grey shells and components back from the dead turning out class kits. I mainly work on English drums now as they are crawling out of the woodwork at a fast rate at the moment. The job on this bass drum is a bit out of my league. I would easiy get the rest of kit sorted and if it were mine that bass drum as we speak would be shipped over to JC. If he says forget it then Drum bob it.....sean

I've restored Bass drums in that condition (and worst) in the past myself. Totally doable. You might even consider removing one or two plies and patching with some plies from a donor shell. Wood is very forgiving and maleable on those kind of matters. A lot of elbow grease, Wood putty and intelligent problem solving should get those puppies back to life again. Good luck!

So, any news on this kit? I made an offer but it was very low, hope I did not offend the owner but the kit needs so much work and parts to make it nice again. Its hard to put a price on a kit in that condition and as much as I would like to take on the restoration I did not see having the time to do it so my offer reflected that as well. I have a few projects sitting around that have been waiting years. So with that said I hope whoever restore's them will share their progress with us.

Sorry for disappearing, you definitely didn't offend! Finishing up my final college semester, and have put the drums on the back burner. I hope to start working on cleaning them up in a few weeks, starting with the toms, and once I get done with those figuring out how to proceed. I finally got to see the drums in person today and the toms definitely look better in person. The bass drum on the other hand....holy cow it is baaaaaaaad. I might need to go with a new shell on those and try to salvage the wrap. I'll hopefully give some updates in a few weeks.

Thanks for checking in! Best of luck wit the restoration process and please post some pics of the progress.

Thanks! Hopefully it goes well. I'm still partially tempted to sell, but the thought of one day waking up in my bedroom, and having 2 1960s Ludwig kits set up, and being able to choose which one to play is a thought too good to pass up.

Now, would anyone happen to know where I can find me some proper 20'' bass drum hoops that are either from the period, or match what I would find on a mid 60s club date?

The toms are definately worth restoring. Like other more senior members have said on here, it is doable. If you had a larger pic of the bass drum, the complete inside would help a lot. If it is just that one bad spot, and the drum is in round it can be rehabbed. On the tom edges you can use Elmer's wood putty on the gouges and flea bites and sand them even. Ploughman's suggestion on that bad bass drum spot should work. Even I could probably have that set looking good and playable. No one would be offering to take them off your hands if they were toasted, believe me. Even if the bass drum is out of round and beyond repair, which I don't think it is, you can restore the toms and find a matching bass drum. Classic, or Club Date, They come up for sale frequently.

If it were me, and i'm no expert restorer, but i have restored some vintage drums in the past,

although not as bad as that bass drum, i would do the following:

I'd very carefully take my time removing the plies that were damaged, and leave the plies that were in tact. Then i would begin a very delicate sanding process in the places where the plies once were, to remove any imperfections/bumps,etc..Once the surface would be smooth and cleaned, i would just buy some maple veneer roles and begin the process of patching up the gaps in the plies with an industrial adhesive, until the surface was even. Even if the plies would overlap, i'd lightly sand them down again until the newly patched plies blended with the original plies, creating an almost invisible blend of two different plies. Then if all went well, i'd paint the interior and then apply 3 coats of lacquer to protect the interior as well as gain some resonance that the shell may have lost during the patching process. I'm sure it is quite doable, and would be worth a try. JCCabinets will have a different opinion of course, as he is THE resident forum wood specialist, but i'm sure he'd know what i meant could be done. Whatever the case, let us know how it turns out. Btw, i don't know if anyone else has pointed this out, but the floor tom hoop looks warped/bent, so it may not be useful anymore. Looks like a fun, albeit arduous restoration job, but i would tackle it. If it didn't come out the way i'd hoped, i'd try and "Frankenstein" that bass drum into a New Yorker style 20x12 or 20x10 bass drum, and use different lugs.Yes, there would be extra holes in the shell, but at least the shell would be put to use. Shame to throw it away.

Cheers,

Rob