Hey, What's with the tape on the inside of those shells....Excited

I'm kidding. I always forget that step, and end up with poly and glitter inside. What color are you gonna glitter 'em?

[COLOR="DarkRed"]That's sorta what these looked like before I was let loose on 'em:

http://vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=9358

....the edges on Exports are pretty OK. I mean, OK, they are the Toyotas of the drum world, but, they are respectable enough drums, really...and heads and shoulders above the older vintage Japanese stuff as far as structural integrity and precision. They just don't have the vintage Japanese Mojo, though....

I would try to do what I could to maybe sand those water marks away on the interior, although they may never disappear. Do a light sand of the bearing edges and then maybe some Tung would be a good idea.[/COLOR]

Floor tom is now sanded (in-out)and in first coat primer.Benjamin-Moore alkyd penetrating primer in gray.I brush it on with a China bristle brush.Paint does not seem to affect shell resonance any more than covering.

As stated before,this coat will be almost entirely sanded off-then sprayed twice with auto primer.

Finish coat is in flux right now.I thought I had the color picked,but it may be augmented with flake in the clear,as an experiment.I've already been in on 2 sets done this way-My first "bastard"put together set in 55 Cadillac pink,with a flake called "spindrift".Very fine flake,almost too small to see.Results were mediocre.Next was the 73 Rogers set,substantially larger flake,which Big Daddy will attest,came out pretty good-.Sanding the destroyed black covering on these drums gave a good base for primer adhesion,and I avoided the dreaded pearl removal.Is it pure vintage restored-no.It is attractive,functional and repairable in an "accident"-yes.

i could be wrong but i think those are poplar shells. that is if they are exports. i have exports such as these with those long 3 piece lugs and they are poplar. love mine.

The exterior is the long-grained mahogany.Poplar is a whitish wood and soft-easily scratches with a fingernail.My church set is a put-together with a Verve 10X12, Gretsch Blackhawk 14X14 and a Percussion Plus 14X20 and the toms are either Poplar or Basswood.For some reason Mahogany is not the wood of choice on budget sets lately.Maybe the trees are all gone.....

Another funny quirk about Poplar-sometimes you'll get a green grain thru the drum amongst the yellow/white.I really like the poplar drums.Want to upgrade a Verve or Blackhawk with practical hardware(not 3/4 tubes and ****ty mounts)and work it.

The floor tom on the Exports is in primer-bass is stripped and awaiting same...

Did I hear my name mentioned? :) I did recently see the Rogers mentioned above and I can say without hesitation that the finish is excellent. So good in fact that I may do the same thing to my vintage import set.

I may have to wait until spring to do it as I don't really have anywhere to prep the shells indoors (too cold outside now).

I also saw the drums pictured above in person and they are coming out great.

[COLOR="DarkRed"]"Export Pro"s had/have luan exteriors and maple interiors...basically Export shells with a better interior ply. If the interior is light and tight-grained, horizontally running, it's likely an Export Pro shell.

They aren't bad at all, really...

Yeah, Poplar IMHO is kinda terrible...it's almost chalky on the surface and is really only good for an interior ply, as that's what the classic companies always used it for. Slingy, in their "race to the bottom", started using it as an exterior/interior ply on their dopey-thick 3-ply shells of the late 70's...and man, those seriously sucked. As Tev said, you could literally gouge the surface of poplar with a fingernail.[/COLOR]