Two months not getting better needs a trip to the folks that fix these things. Hope same are better in the UK than here.
I've set up almost every playable drum into a monster kit. No illusions that I have any talent. Just physical/mental fun to bang away.
Creighton
Trying to decide wether to go ahead and pay the ridiculous price for a whole new set of Clubdate floortom leg brackets or keep searching for two more springs and tabs...
I had a screw drop from my table, into my pocket. You can imagine that would be the last place I'd look. Until the end of the day when I take them off and don't need the screw anymore. As far as the worst part of a restoration....I hate having to patch a hole from a ludwig double post mount. Or a pearl...or from a shotgun or what ever makes those hideous gaping wounds on bass drums.Secondly, I really hate cleaning hoops too. Third on that list, I hate trying to decide to buy heads or not for a kit i'm gonna sell. I like to buy project kits and fix them up. I play them for a little while and then sell them. Kits that most people wont or can't handle. There's a lot of good drums out there that people pass on that can still be brought back. Most people would be surprised. Anyway...after i've revived a kit and i'm on to the next project, I go through this internal struggle of "do I buy heads to pretty this thing up or not"? Jason
I do the same thing, look for diamonds in the rough, or in rough shape. I actually love it when a big hole needs patching, that's where the best deals are often.
Head supply for kits I'm going to sell is a long-term project. I buy any decent used head of a common size and model, Ambassador, Pinstripe, Emperor, american Vintage, SKII, etc. and I keep a stack of 60 or so laying around for the next kit that comes through my hands. This way I generally only have to buy one or two new heads to match the ones I have on hand for a restore kit.
Old Gretsch wraps are the biggest pain. Cloth glued to shell, wrap glued to cloth. The hot air gun doesn't do it. Hot air does work on a number of other wraps though.
Selling them after you make them sweet
Because I work in a closed basement, what I enjoy the least is having to inhale the noxious fumes from cleaners, strippers, and solvents. Even using a mask, the fumes are horrible and almost make me sick, but then after a while, they're not so horrible... they become tolerable. Then for some reason, after an hour or so, they actually start smelling kind of pleasant, and I begin to smile and enjoy the smell. Then more time passes and I become a little giddy and start giggling to myself and thinking what great fun it is to strip paint and glue off an old drum, and wonder why the room is spinning and tipping, so maybe I'll sit down on the floor for a while to wait for the spinning to stop. That's when my wife comes down into the basement and asks me why I'm sitting on the floor just staring at a bass drum with a stupid look on my face.Cool Dude
Maybe it's not my least favorite thing after all.
Mike
Because I work in a closed basement, what I enjoy the least is having to inhale the noxious fumes from cleaners, strippers, and solvents. Even using a mask, the fumes are horrible and almost make me sick, but then after a while, they're not so horrible... they become tolerable. Then for some reason, after an hour or so, they actually start smelling kind of pleasant, and I begin to smile and enjoy the smell. Then more time passes and I become a little giddy and start giggling to myself and thinking what great fun it is to strip paint and glue off an old drum, and wonder why the room is spinning and tipping, so maybe I'll sit down on the floor for a while to wait for the spinning to stop. That's when my wife comes down into the basement and asks me why I'm sitting on the floor just staring at a bass drum with a stupid look on my face.Cool DudeMaybe it's not my least favorite thing after all.Mike
Bravo, sir! Maybe it's time for a new drug song, "Toluene" lol
Mitch
