I wanted to play a neato jazz kit. I checked around for a Downbeat or a Modern Jazz and quickly realized they cost more than I'm willing to spend. I guess I'm not the only one who wants to goof on a mini-kit.

I decided to put one together myself. I figured I would build it from spares and orphans.

I have a 1971 Ludwig clean shaven 12 inch tom left over from a previous kit restoration project. It is naked with no skin or hardware. I would have to build this one.

The 12 inch tom got the Gold Sparkle treatment. This was done because this particular drum came from another project kit and I didn't want to separate it from them. They can still go together if needed. The hardware was purchased through three different sources and needed a bit of spit and polish. All in all, the tom turned out well.

I also managed to pick up a cool 1972 Ludwig Red Sparkle Pioneer snare at about this same time.

The snare restoration went well. I had to do a bit of repair work on the inside wall and a touch on the rering. Nothing major. The finish is in beautiful shape. Still bright and vibrant.

A fine gent on this very forum slipped me a sweet 1970 Ludwig Club Date style bass drum. He was good enough to drill it for wing spurs for me. It is now naked and unashamed awaiting delivery of the new skin.

The bass came to me drilled for a two hole rail mount. I finally located one on the bay. It has a clip mount. I picked up a couple Ludwig L-arms so that I could swap the clip mount for an L-arm. My 12 inch tom is drilled for a standard Ludwig L-arm mount. Hopefully this will work. If not, you will hear the scream.

I spent a bit of time prepping the shells and cleaning 'em up. The 12 inch tom and the bass had some very tired wrap. It literally came off in my hands. Velcro is harder to pull apart. I've been very fortunate with the Ludwig wraps I've dealt with. They all seem to just fall off. But, that's why I choose to rewrap them. Duh. The wrap came off like unrolling a paper towel. The first pic is of the underside of the bass drum wrap. Note that very little glue is on the wrap. It seems to have jumped from the wrap to the shell over time. Anyway, that should help explain why I don't have an issue rewrapping drums in this condition. The hardware was the only thing holding the wrap on the shell. The seams were pulling a bit. Everything beyond the seam was barely touching. I've had quite a few Ludwig kits in this condition.

I waited and bided my time for that elusive 14 inch floor tom. Kevin slipped me a Ludwig 15x12 WMP Tenor Tom as a "just in case" measure. Go Kevin!!!

I stumbled on an auction that was listed strange. It wasn't one that normal search strings would have found. From this, I picked up (stole) my 14 floor tom. It's a 1969 Ludwig Standard in Blue Mist that has faded into a nice Teal Green. I did a bit of work to it and popped it some heads - Fiberskyn batter and Amb reso. My goodness! This drum sings. I hit it and timed the resonance - 7 seconds from strike to silence. Nice drum. My Pearl African Mahogany 14 inch floor did this, too. Unreal.

I managed to pick up some stands and such from several auctions. They should blend well with this kit.

I'm going to try that Pearl Optimount suggestion from another thread. I don't want it to stay black, so I'm thinking I might "modify" it a bit. We'll see. Still awaiting delivery.

This is the end of Phase One. Lots of progress made. Still have a ways to go.

The bass is awaiting it's new skin and such. My wife and I decided to experiment on it. I'll not give away exactly what we are doing until it is done and the pics are posted. Hopefully, we can pull this off. It's a lot tougher than I thought.

One interesting thing to note:

Take a look at the dates on these drums.

The dates are sequential. They run from 1969 to 1970 to 1971 to 1972. That's pretty cool.

They were meant to be.