Crumbled aluminum oil and water - doea the least chrome damage. Most anything physical (as opposed to straight polish) will break the bubbles and espose the shell underneath.

What's crumbled aluminum oil? or do you mean aluminum foil?

There seem to be a bunch of online suggestions for using white vinegar or cola and dipping the aluminum foil in it and using that to clean chrome...

Never tried it... but it is all over the place out there.

I'm sure he meant foil...

Started cleaning very gingerly last night with a little windex. The worst of the chrome is flaking off as I do it. Fortunately, those bad spots would be facing me when the drum is set up, so not really sweating it. In the good spots, the drum shines like a champ. Everything else is in order so far. I got the mechanism back on and I am working on the lugs now.

I gathered all the parts I needed via ebay, the local drum center and from a guy who specializes in repairs, who is about 15 minutes from me. He had bins and bins of parts and probably 100 kits in this little shop. If anyone needs anything this guy probably has it. He has some vintage, but no full ludwig sets, so I didn't get specifics on anything else. I will post his info in another thread.