Hello Drummers !

It's time for me to post a reply. I sure appreciate all of the comments and inputs. It's good to know I'm not alone!

Special Thanks to: Elmoonlightdrummer, Gerald Sterken, vintagemore2000, idrum4fun, larryz, Clubdate64 (love your duco kit !!), DownTownFarmer, and Peteinvicta1. Thanks for taking the time to post - your inputs give me lots to think about.

After weighing all the pros and cons I decided that clear coating was the best long term solution to preserve the kit's duco finish. Some of you suggested clean and wax which sure has its merits but I want the kit to maintain its cool deco mojo for decades to come and I think without more aggressive intervention the duco finish will be lost in time.

With that decision being made the next one is what to use for the clear coat. Several of you suggested using lacquer but I have no experience with lacquer and thought you needed pricy spray equipment to properly apply it. I do have experience using Varathane - a spray on plastic I used to refinish a set of Chanute Camco drums in 1975. I was happy with the job I got at the time although in retrospect I wish I'd left them original ... but that's 40 years in the rear view mirror. I've still got those drums and played a lot of gigs with them in the 70s and 80s. I think they are pretty special - I'll attach a couple of pics - check them out. Note the DW throne in the pics - got it with when I bought the Camcos used in early 75 - I've used that throne on almost every gig over the last 40 years - wow I must be getting old.

Anyway I did a little research and went over to home depot. I bought a spray can of Minwax Polycrylic water based for $12 and a can of Rust-oleum clear lacquer for $4. I took them home and used them both in a test on a piece of wood I found in the garage. I was much happier with the results I got with the lacquer. So I'm going to use the Rust-oleum lacquer on my slingerland duco set.

I'll put up another post with a few pics when I finish the project in 2 or 3 weeks. Wish me luck.

Thanks again for all the comments !

Drum Doug

Check out my website at www.dougbrucher.com

Those Camco's look great!

I did the clear spray to preserve the finish on the bass drum on these. Did minimal prep, didn't want to knock off more finish. Just wiped with mineral spirits, on the advice of a luthier. Toms were ok, bass was getting flaky. Been a few years now, and so far so good......

Great looking vintage kit !

Thanks for the tip on the mineral spirits wipe down. That sure makes sense to facilitate a better bond for the oil based lacquer clear coat. I will plan on doing that.

Doug

Time for another post.

First of all let me take a quick step back and apologize for not properly introducing myself on my first post. I'm a retired aerospace engineer who caught the drum bug in 1957 as a 10 year old watching a drummer at a wedding reception. You can check out my website at www.dougbrucher.com for more about me if interested.

Secondly I've spent a bit of time poking around the website here and have learned a lot and find many of you gentlemen amazing craftsmen.

It's pretty inspiring to see what you guys are up to.

Anyway I got the Slingerland duco kit back together yesterday. I've attached a couple of pics. I was happy with the overall outcome. I think the kit has the road worn look and vintage mojo character I was looking for. I put on about 6 coats of spray lacquer (Rustoleum spay cans @$4/can Home Depot)) after I wiped down the shells with mineral spirits as suggested by crash. I think the duco finish has been pretty well preserved from further deterioration. The hardware cleaned up pretty good and the kit is good to go for another 50 years !

I think its a pretty cool players kit now. Saved from an uncertain future.

What do you guys think ?

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions.

Drum Doug

Doug, nice to meet you!

Looks very nice, but then its not rocket science, ha ha ha. Just kidding sir, it really does look very nice. You did the right thing, especially the wipe down, that was good advice. Stick around we love to see projects like yours and the story behind them.

Nice save! Looks great. I've seen some repainted ones, and they just look too perfect to my eye. With my faux marble set, I doubt I coulda done anywhere near the original look. Had to save what I had. And, I'd like a 70 year old set to look like a 70 year old set!

Looks great, that's the one thing that's missing from my set is the real shine.

I think you did that kit proud! Proud, I say! :)

"road worn look and vintage mojo character" in spades! Well done!

As a side note, aerospace engineer is a very impressive career IMO.

Mitch

Great looking almost complete stage band kit sans the mounted tom. Duco colors love them. I 've had two blue silver duco Slingerland kit one was a Stage Band.

I love it. Perfect as is and just let it do all the talking.

And that Camco kit, like wow. That's stunning.