Call me a masochist, but I like a challenge. So I'm going to try to bring this 12" X 15" WFL Club Date tom back from the brink of the kindling pile.
I found it on Criag's List. A little kid about 10 years old had it as part of his first drum kit, and he spray painted it lime green, lugs and all.
I was very curious about what was under the custom paint job. It didn't take long to figure out - the paint was chipping off all over the place. Underneath was a really cool laquer that seems to be the "Galaxy" finish shown in the 1962 Ludwig catalog. I don't generally like black drums, but this is pretty cool - a high gloss black lacquer with a slight sprinkling of what looks like [SIZE="1"]super-tiny [/SIZE]silver and pink sparkles in it. It appears to be the original finish - it's chipping in places too, and it looks like there's nothing under it except bare wood. There's nothing I can see under the lugs, in the paint chips, or in the holes that would indicate this drum was ever any colors other than the current mess, and "Galaxy" black.
But there are two weird things about it. One, "Galaxy" isn't listed as a finish in the WFL catalog on this site, and doesn't seem to show up in the Ludwig catalogs until a few years after WFL was done. And the real oddity: The badge was painted over (to the point where I couldn't even tell if it was a Ludwig or a WFL when I got it), so I rubbed a little Goof Off on it, and the green paint came right off, but underneath it was the "Galaxy" lacquer - it looks like this finish was applied right over the WFL badge. I'm curious if anyone has ever seen anything like this before.
Anyway, I'm not going to try to re-do this color (although if it was in better condition underneath the green, I might conisider it.) I plan on re-wrapping it in silver sparkle to go along with my Club Date set. Any input, hints, or suggestions for a first-time re-wrapper are welcome :)
Scott
