Hey, I have a LOT of experience filling holes. The REAL way the masters do it is the way I do it. You must buy an EXACT match drum shell to make wood plugs out of. Go to home depot/lowes or any hardware store and get a drill bit for making wood plugs. You need a drill press to get perfectly straight holes, or a lot of concentration, practice, and a steady hand. If the shell is a match you barely need to sand, just glue the wood plug into the shell with wood glue and sand flat, which if the shell is a perfect match, you can do by hand.

The re-chroming all comes down to cost. If you are on a budget, use Whink rust remover, and if its not too bad a super concentrated solution of dawn dish soap and Bon Ami. Brand name cleaners are very importand when cleaning drums. You must use the correct brand name cleaner, glue, tool, etc if you want good results. Most cleaning products arnt made to clean vintage drums.

If you want an amazing chrome job and can do it yourself heres a sight that sells chrome plating kits pretty damn cheap. http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/

I love there stuff, the electro-less plating kit works super and at an awsome price. Because lugs are small you can get away with buying the smallest amount of chroming solution.

If you want to chrome a shell, dont. The drum companies have specially formulated chroming solutions. Not every chrome job is the same. It will affect the drums look and especially sound.

Any more questions my email direct is [email]mattkinel@hotmail.com[/email]

The chroming im not an expert on, but I am an expert at hole plugging. Im in the middle of a Bonham Green Sparkle kit conversion/restoration job. Ive plugged 34 holes on 2 drums and because I used the correct era matching ludwig shell to make the wood plugs, there is NO affect on the sound. DO NOT USE A DOWELL OR ANY OLD PIECE OF WOOD!!! You really need a donor shell from ebay with a matching date. Please dont try and save a buck by using any old wood, it wont work, I learned it the hard way on my first hole plugging and I ruined an entire drumset.

-Matt Kinel

Hey, dont send it out for recovery. Thats the easiest part. Buy the cover pre cut from Precision drum. If you follow there directions, they say if your not happy with the results, send them the set and theyll redo it for free.

http://www.precisiondrum.com/

On my green sparkle bonham set, I ask Frankie Banali for restoration help. On his bonham green sparkle restoration he used the same wraps. There awsome wraps, white plastic backed, not the cheap ones backed with ****ty paper or cardboard that Ludwig used for a while.

The easiest part of restoring a drum set is the recovering part. Just strip the old wrap off with a heat gun (69.99$ from home depot, expensive but worth it unless you want to beat the **** out of the outer layer of mahogany and ruin the drum). If you have 3 ply maple shells, and have LOTS of experience with a belt sander, that can take the glue off without ruining the shell. If you havent used a belt sander on a drum shell before, dont practice on a drum your actually planning on keeping to play, its not as easy as it seems to not scratch the shell!

-Matt (again)

Again, one step precision drum dosent say is the best way to get the drum wrap to stick even better to the drum shell is to lightly sand the back of the wrap with finshing sand paper. The little grooves on the smooth slippery backing helps the glue stick easier to the shell.

[FONT="Arial Narrow"][SIZE="3"]10 Million Thanks Matt!! The master!! You are a lifesaver (timesaver, shellsaver, etc...!!) I will give it a shot! I have seen Frankie's kits on his site, and they are quite sweet.

My project is semi-Bonham minus the 26" bass. More of a Mitch Mitchell Woodstock set up with the 24" bass. I am probably re-covering in Blue or Gold sparkle though. Who knows...if I find a 3 ply 26" bass for less than the price of a car I may opt for that. Have a pretty nice 71 Supra as well (need to use your methods on the chrome.)

Also doing a 3 ply 20,14,12 after I finish this one. I'll be in touch soon with more help.

What are your thoughts on the best way to re-clear my shell interiors??[/SIZE][/FONT]

If you are only planning on rewrapping a few shells..... Dont waste your money at Home Depot buying a heat gun. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35776 I have one, and have recovered 3 shells so far with no problems

I had my hardwares re-chromed by them: en.cromkontakt.hu They made a good job, and i'm fully satishfied!

Boy, I have been filling holes wrong now for 5 years.