I agree with Creighton. Repainting the hoops would make a big difference though.

24" is somewhat hard to find. All lugs go up with the wrap thickness. Not a biggie on a single tension bass but will see some alignment issues...

Creighton

Have you tried any brand of modern heads on this [very cool] drum yet? Once you get the wrap sorted out, for the hoops I'd go classic black with kit-matching inlay [have to get them channeled]. I had an MIJ Antique WMP kit with natural hoops, eventually painted them black for historical continuity and "visual anchor". :)

Mitch

If you do re-wrap, after the shell has been stripped, you can place the heads you are going to use on the bare shell, and mark with a pen or pencil where they sit on the shell. Then, simply only wrap up to that point, leaving the space that the head occupies free of wrap, so you won't have to worry about the additional thickness of the wrap. Plus, you'll never see the bare part of the shell unless the heads are off.

Good Luck!

V

Thanks for the info. Yes, I guess that is the only way to get around the issue of wrap thickness. My only concern is that the point at which the wrap is trimmed will need to take into account the tension applied to the heads as they are tuned. If not enough wrap is trimmed back then there is a risk (as I see it) that the hoop of the head will foul the wrap, preventing the head being adequately tensioned. Thus a gap will have to be left between the edge of the wrap and the head hoop which might be unsightly.

The saviour with this method is ~supposed~ to be that the collar of the head constitutes a smaller circular area than the aluminum hoop. So the hoop clears the wrap and the collar sits on the shell. The method is definitely supposed to have the wrap extending up past the hoop toward the collar, maybe halfway, no gap. Of course if the shell is over-size enough you are correct and there would have to be a gap.

Amazingly I could not find a cutaway profile of a drum collar/hoop - attached pic is as close as I could get, tells the story tho. Anyway you probably knew all this....:)

Mitch