Thanks for the tip regarding the lead-based Duco Paint.

I believe I have some good news regarding the size of heads related to wrapping my 1960's painted Ludwig shells. I've cut the wrap to size and scotched it to the 12" shell. I've tested 7 old 12"heads and all 7 slide over the wrap. The 12" Ambassador seems to be the widest, a Ludwig rocker was the tightest but still went over the edge. (Wrap-protection sheet was still on)

I'm not sure if the 3M glue will add something to the diameter tough.

Meanwhile I received some more parts and hardware from US this week.

- Beautiful Speed king WFL-logo.

- Flat based Hi-hat stand WFL-logo.

- L-cymbal arm.

- ...

Pictures of the restoration-progress to follow,...

Hi Guys,

More or less finished the 1966 Combo restoration.

I couldn't wait to play them and my God,.. what a sound !

The 14" tom and the 20" bass are perfectly balanced and very easy to control. Most of all I'm shocked by the richness of that 20" bass.

Couldn't be more happy with that!

The wrapping went smooth and I didn't have any issues with the shells becoming to wide, Remo coated Ambassadors slipped on very easy.

In general I'm not a huge fan of wrapping old drums but in the case of an over-painted Duco, options were very limited I suppose. I also made it very obvious that this is a re-wrap as green sparkle is known for its fading.

For the moment I'm playing the kit with a 1970 Acrolite, a Paiste 602 flat-ride and 1960's Zildjian Avedis hihats 15". The hihat stand I scored on Ebay Germany for 25 Euro!

Still to come:

- 1964 Pioneer (restoration probably finished by mid next week)

- WFL Flat-base snare stand. (pls send me PM in case you can help me out)

- Ludwig weather master front head

- 14" Club Date floor-tom (if ever to find for decent price)

- 18" or 20" Vintage Zildjian ride. (not decided yet but have my eyes on a 1960's K-Zildjian Istanbul 20")

Just wanted to thank you guys for the great help and advice.

Also Len Howe from Classisdrums.com deserves a word of appreciation.

More pictures here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/105649967031533048822/LudwigCombo1966#

They really turned out well, First class color choice also!!

Very nice job, They just look like they`ll sound great !!

Very Slick!

Quite a transformation! :)

Those look beautiful. Great job.

Glad to hear the heads fit so nice. Great looking job!

Very nice...you must be proud. Research,patience and work always pays off well.Jump For Joy

Thanks for the great feedback guys.

Meanwhile I've finished the 1964 Pioneer.

Again a re-wrap of a Duco. Just like the bass drum and 12" tom, the paint on this snare had reached a point of no return. The paint had become very fragile and chipped off only by looking at it.

To remove the paint, I went for a very easy and healthy solution by using adhesive tape. As good as all the paint came off just by sticking duct tape to the shell and removing it half an hour later.

The badge had been removed by previous owner but did a lousy with it and bended the poor thing. The nickel was in very nice condition and just needed a bit of polishing. P-83 and B-bat muffler were in perfect working order.

This is also my first wooden snare ever. What a difference in sound compared to the Supra and the Acrolite (very warm and friendly). It matches perfectly with the set, very happy with that !

Now I need a 14" floor tom,...

Very NICE!!

Club Dates are great drums for sure!!