Ok - Restore done - thought I would update this thread.
First, when I got in there, I discovered that was alot of rust damage - evidence of water inside this shell. Not sure how exactly what happened, but am quite grateful for the existence of a couple holes near both edges, I believe serving as a hole to hang the shell during manufacture, or for what I am thankful for - drainage. If not for these holes, it would have been BAD. I will include a pic of one of them here (but it is a pic of one on the top edge, not the actual one that drained the bottom - not visible right now due to assembly).
I am including pics of the rust inside the bottom edge.
Here's the thing - should this rust make its way through to the edge, this snare is DONE (at least the shell would be). So, it is critical that I got to it on time!
To treat it, I used alot of Chrome Polisher/Rust Remover (Turtle Wax - green bottle). I actually used a Q-tip to get it in there, as well as a screw driver and needle nose-plier tip to get in there and clean it. Then when I was done, I sprayed some Lemon Pledge in there and left it to dry out in there for about 2-3 days before proceeding with the assembly. I wanted it to dry out in there to leave a layer of wax in there for long term protection. I believe it will work, and there are no signs of rust making it through anywhere on the outside of the edge.
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There are a few signs of where rust really got the best of this chrome throughout this shell, but I have removed all the rust - used the Dawn bath method, then the Turtle Wax CC/RR.
The finish on this shell is not done as well as I would like, but oh well - not sure if this was the case on all these Swingstar COS shells, but at least it is all cleaned and polished up. It still looks way better than before the restore - and by all means it has cleaned up well to be quite nice looking :)
It sounds great (will sound even better when I eventually install a 1-ply top Ambassador, but that's another discussion). I am quite impressed with this seamless shell, as it sounds great. I understand that this was the same shell that Tama used on all their models - and terms of design, they got it right.
Not bad for $35!
