Here are close-ups of the top rim, the Hardwhite logo on the batter head, and the bottom of the drum. Are those calfskin heads rolled around and tucked under a metal hoop? Do I need to find someone local who has experience with calfskin heads before I try to even remove them? Ditto the gut snares. And once everything is taken apart, what are my options for cleaning and polishing the hardware?

I see no reason not to use a little cooking oil to let soak in before backing off the t-rods. Take the butt end side of the wires off before the bottom head. (you can leave it attcached to the other side.) I think it will clean up pretty well and still sound good !!

Sometimes it`s just better to leave and old functioning snare as is with a little dirt removal. Although the heads may need to be adjusted oil before tightening too !! (little bit)

Hi,

Congratulations on acquiring your Leedy Elite...

1. The missing screws are 4-40 and are no problem to find.

2. The calf heads should come off easily, if not, don't be afraid to use a rubber hammer to loosen them from the shell, this should be very easy to do, just be patient and work evenly around the shell.

3. In my opinion the least you should do is to totally disassemble the drum...have fun with those 4-screw lugs (4 screws, 4 nuts, 4 lock washers, 2 inserts, 1 insert "lock piece" and 1 backing plate + 1 lug casing = 17 pieces x 8 lugs = 136 pieces...yeah! Simple Green will loosen all of the gunk from the tension rods and the rest of the hardware...you can also use SG on the shell...

4. Some lemon oil or 3-In-One oil will work as a final cleaning/"polishing" but this would be a soft restoration/cleaning...

5. The shell can be polished if the old lacquer is still good, if not then you can strip the old lacquer down to the black nickel and have the shell lacquered with a layer of clear coat....caution, the Leedy black nickel finish is not as hearty as L&L or Slingerland so be sure to use a light stripper like those orange-based strippers...be sure to test first on an area like the edge of the shell that the calf head would cover up.

6. The hardware is the tough part...a few ways to go here are: to try to polish the tarnished areas as best as can be done and then gold lacquer those areas to bring it to life...[SIZE="4"]OR[/SIZE]...strip all of the old lacquer off of the hardware, polish up the original copper plating and re-lacquer with gold spray.

I do this type of restoration so if you want to pursue it further feel free to contact me at: [email]mike@curottodrums.com[/email]

Mike Curotto

OddBall, Mike, thanks very much for the tips. I'm generally pretty happy with old stuff looking old, so a soft polish/restoration is a good starting point for me. In my head this drum will be left set up at my house (most of my gear's at a rehearsal space) and I'll play it--gently--a lot. So:

Any recs for what brand tarnish remover to use? When I polish the shell and hardware, should I stick to a soft cloth and elbow grease or do you mean with something like a rotary polisher? Is a soft cloth and mild soapy water safe for an initial cleaning of all the metal parts? What about cleaning the heads--should I, and if so how?

When the time comes to reassemble for playing the drum, should I stick with the calfskin heads and gut snares? I guess I'd like to unless there's a reason not to, but again I've never played a snare with natural skin heads and gut cables.

Thanks again for all the help. I'm really excited to have this drum.

There's certain things that you can do to the shell but if you are leaning towards a soft restoration I'd just try a very, very light polish (no elbow grease) to highlight the shell, although you may not need to after you clean it with Simple Green.

As for the heads/snares: If you are going to play the drum then I'd put modern day heads and modern day wires as the original calf and original gut sound like crap and will not serve you well. I'm not trying to sway you here but if you do go the modern day route I'd be willing to buy the calf heads and gut from you as I put them on my old snares for authenticity even though they sound like poop. I don't play vintage drums, I just collect them.

Mike Curotto

Thanks, Mike, I'll keep that in mind. In general I favor keeping original parts and pieces together, but we'll see how these heads and snares work out. I have to admit I'm disappointed but not necessarily surprised by the categorization of their sound. Probably true, otherwise I guess we'd still be using them.

Anyone have a good tarnish remover to recommend for this hardware?

Remember to try out the drum yourself in whatever head/snare wire configuration that suits you...you are the final word on this.

I have been using an orange-based stripper that is very friendly to vintage drum parts and your nose! I'm not at home right now as the name escapes me but I did get it at ACE Hardware...very easy to use. If you do strip the hardware down to the original copper plating then I would use Cape Cod Polishing Cloths (also ACE Hardware) to bring the copper back to life but remember that you will need to gold lacquer the parts so that the copper does not tarnish again.

Mike Curotto