[COLOR="DarkRed"]Nice set of Big R's...are the shells 3-ply grey painted or the thicker XP-8 natural maple interiors ?????[/COLOR]

I thought the gray painted ones were five ply. I have some Big R drums from jussssst over the "borderline" when they first transitioned to the Memriloc stuff. I ordered the kit in winter of '74. It showed up in January of '75. Looking back, I wish I had gotten the Swivomatic version I intended on, but when the Memriloc set showed up, it was so advanced looking from any other drums of that era, i fell in love with them. And I'll say this much....I bought a Black Cortex wrap on mine and those things wore like iron! They are as good today after numerous tours in the late 70's and early 80's as they were. Yes, a few scratches here and there. But no wrap problems. No ply separations. No broken/cracked metal parts. Overall, I rate the Big R drums as the best road worthy drums I've ever owned. of course, to be fair, I was never interested in vintage drums 10 years ago. It's a relatively new thing for me.

3 ply grey and speckled... memri-locs and stinkin' HUGE!!!! Some of the toms are 'more' speckled than others... not sure why... when I put the serial numbers up here for yall in Feb I think it was Ploughman that said they were about a 78 series...

Made one repair that is not permanent, but should keep the spur mounts from further pulling through the kick shell. After I did it I saw that Rogers had done the same thing on later models... Put a pic of my repair below.

I have loved restoring this kit, its been great...

Any suggestions on heads anyone??? [Attachment: 7962]

Remo clear Ambassadors for the toms -clear or coated Emperor batter for the bass and a coated Ambassador front -muffle with a felt strip or a vintage external clamp-on muffler

Very sweet... want to get a Rogers sticker for the kick head... think it would stick to a coated head? Ever try? Ever seen any 24" Rogers kick heads lately?

I've got several brands stickers on coated heads - no problems. I tension them and THEN put on the sticker. It makes sense if you think about it.

24" Rogers ....................

I have coated Ambs and Clear Ambs on my set, from about the same vintage. PS3 Batter on the bd, with a Fiberskyn medium on the Reso.

Something you might want to do.

[IMG]http://inlinethumb62.webshots.com/42237/2495516720028342110S425x425Q85.jpg[/IMG]

Hey Ploughman, or anybody else for that matter, whats the best way you've found to really clean/shine the kick legs and the tom arms?? They're not smooth as you know, kinda 'pebbly' I call it and really hard to get somewhat 'shiney' again... any thots?

Thanks for the ref on heads. I was going coated or smooth white, still not sure...

Ive used soapy water and a soft scrub pad.