Those aren't very close to an even inch size.

For the bass drum you are 3/8 inches undersized for a 22", which means a wooden hoop probably wouldn't be able to sit on the collar of the head and do the business. New wooden hoops are expensive so the custom head is probably the best return for your buck.

For the snare and tom you have an even bigger overhang problem with a 13" head. I've never heard of anybody making heads a bit smaller. They would tend to get rude letters from people who have standard inch drum sizes and discover their new heads won't fit. Usually the discussion is all about who makes slightly bigger ones to fit old Gretsch shells which are slightly oversized.

I've never heard of Japanese shells being anything other than standard sizes and spot on, but I don't pay very close attention to them.

Something I don't think we've established yet is do you have some standard inch sized heads on hand so you can try them and see? That will emphasize the tolerances you are dealing with. Of course you certainly don't want to buy new inch heads just to try them.

Sounds like custom is your best option. Good luck.

You don`t want to measure the drum shell,...you want to measure the inside diameter of the hoop flange. You may have floating heads.

Ah, true that. It's the what the hoop can accommodate which matters, once the head fits over the shell. Thanks for making that explicit.

I think I may have a workable solution to the odd sizes problem:

Both the tom and snare rims are about 12 and 10/16ths.

Perhaps the move is to put stock 13 inch heads on both drums, see if the single flange hoops will still fit, and if NOT, simply replace the hoops with 13 inch SF hoops from Drumfactory direct. Hopefully there is enough splay in the lugs and tension rods to allow that. A forum member also mentioned that if needed, small rubber washers under the lugs will push them out just a hair to accomodate a wider rim (I had never even thought of that!) and wont even be seen.

That would be good for 2 reasons: , One, I could now just use all stock 13 heads for the snare and mounted tom, and Two, the original hoops are in very sorry condition and shiny new hoops would make a great cosmetic improvement.

While I have the same basic issue with the bass drum, it seems that issue is very easily solved, as there is only one, very small center "post" for each tension rod on the bass drum, and Sonor used washers underneath them. If I use 22 inch stock heads, and get 22 inch wooden hoops, all I should have to do is put another washer or two underneath the small lug to raise it to the right height. That should work fine, as far as I can see. Additionally, the original wooden bass drum hoops are badly out of round and beat up...altho the WMP inlays seem to be complete and in good shape, with the right "fade" (cream color) to match the bass drum wrap. So I could transfer the inlays to the 22 inch hoops with double sided tape and that should do it.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!

why not put new skin heads on them? do you have the original wooden flesh hoops?

Your train is definately on the right track now,... When your done,...Photos please !!

Calf:

Yes, actually, I do have all the original heads from 1958. They are beat up and pretty much unplayable, but they are there.

I never really considered having the original heads respun because of the great cost. I'm not looking to spend "alot" on the restoration of this set. For example, the WMP wrap is faded and has some splits, but I'm planning to just spruce it up rather than a rewrap. At least thats the plan right now, but........one never knows. :)

Oddball:

Thanks so much for your kind comments and your expertise.

Yes, I will have a ton of "Before" and "After" Hi-Res photos to share at the end of the restoration, but thats down the line somewhat.

I have a bunch of problems to solve first, but they all look doable.

The biggest issue is the odd sizes, BUT I think I have found the work-around with the stock size rims and heads.

After that is solved the next issue is do I rewrap in brand new, dazzling WMP or BMP, or repair, clean and polish the existing faded (creamy yellow now) wrap. Thats next on the hit parade.

Maybe you could show the wrap issues,..there are quite a few people lurking here and all kinds of wrap talent amongst them !! My expierence with lanolium is remove and replace, repairing aint my gig !!

Oddball, thats a great idea. And I definetly want to hear everyones opinion about the wrap.

Actually, the cracks in the WMP look like they could be glued down and filled in effectively , BUT I'm not entirely happy with the severity of the fading.

After a good clean up, they might look a whole lot better, tho,

I'll post a pic or two soon and lets see what you fellas think.