After a good look, and while my young buddy Ever Ring was here yesterday, earning his "due", we had another quick look at the top and bottom edges to find out exactly how far out of level the edges really are, I took a pencil and marked the areas where the two "bumps" are. As stated in an earlier post, they are not quite machine perfect. The top, or batter bearing edge, has two very small spots, less than 3/4" in length that cause the shell to rock ever so slightly. Again, and yes, I am tooting my own horn because I want you all to know how seriously easy this is to do, if you have the confidence in yourself, this side is less than 1 MM from level. This was done without the aid of any tools. I will take the sandpaper to it tonight and level it out. The snare side was so close to perfectly level that I am going to leave it as is. The snare beds had already been cut in, all I did was take them to the proper angle as they were actually cut at an opposing angle to the bearing edge.
Now, to be clear about who should, and what drums should be done, this is going to be a tough question that only you, the owner of the drum, can make. If you have a drum that has no hope to ever sound good because it is just out of shape, or some other problem has caused your edges to become rough, or you come up with a shell that has been left lying about and dragged about the country without a hoop/head to protect it, this is for you. And I am going to go further and ruffle some feathers here, by making this statement. If I have any drum, no matter how old, no matter who built it, and the edges are rough, causing the drum to have poor tuning characteristics, smooth them and close up the grain. I have seen some Older Ludwigs, on feebay and on here, that are said to have "perfect and original" edges. Upon my closer inspection of them, through the miracle of software, I have seen some horrendously rough wood and wondered how anyone could consider these anywhere close to "perfect". I understand "original", but I cannot understand how anything other than calf could possible come close to getting a good seat on those rough edges. If you have one of these shells, I would like to know how it is they tune, if you have any tuning or playing issues, such as harsh or unwanted overtones. A poorly seated head can be a big contributing factor to this. That said, I struggle to understand how anyone could prefer this to a properly prepared bearing edge. Just because it "original and undisturbed" does not make it a perfect drum, and I don't understand this mindset. Having been a restoration buff for years, I understand the value of many aspects of originality, however, these are musical instruments, and as such should be tuned to it's utmost capability, and this should be viewed as acceptable, rather than discouraged. Please, help me to understand why you would prefer a rough, un-even edge that is painted, to a smooth, easily tunable instrumental quality edge, with or without paint on it.
