Glenn:

I am new here and to the "art" of drum restoration. I am working to piece together and restore some old Premiers. I am sure there are lots of opinions and tons of great advice from folks here in response to your questions. And spending a little time trolling this forum will reveal many answers and lots of good advice and guidance.

It seems like the consensus is glue, not tape, but there are folks who disagree. Measure and end the seam behind some lugs and it looks and sits just fine.

For me, I chose Precision Drums as the source of my new wrap. The folks have been helpful, responsive and knowlegable. I bought a pre-cut piece to do my first re-wrap; a kick drum. But if you explain to the people at Precision what size drums you're trying to wrap, they'll help you figure out what you need/

The re-wrap process is explained very clearly in their instructions. The process is actually fairly straightforward. There is lots of good advice here about prepping the shell, cleaning hardware, filling unwanted holes, etc.

Lee

First, everyone buys the wrap from one supplier. Drummaker does some custom wrap on a base and can match most anything supplied by the manufacture.

Wraps com with large or small piece pearl in the pattern. Some match better than others if you are trying to match an already covered shell.

Don't recommend the tape method, though it has it's fans. Easier but not long lasting and prone to bubble, especially when it get hot or cold (expansion uneven on the shell).

If your son does guitars (boo!), then you should be able to handle this at home with reasonable patience. Biggest thing is shell prep and sanding. First time I tried, I left some of the shell with slight dips from sanding. Hard to get an even wrap contact that way. Use a straight edge to check for flat contact area before gluing. They make edge trimmers for wrap, or you can be trimmer if recutting the bearing edges with a router.

Buy a cheap shell to experiment with. Order a scrap of wrap from Precision Drum (on sale) or another supplier to experiment with. Not rocket science, but best not to start on valuable vintage shell first time.

Other will chime in with more details I'm sure. Just wanted to cover some basics first. Good luck.

Whever you glue or not, take a Look at the "Jammin Sams" video first.

Cheers

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's all great. I've been looking on Jammin Sam and Precision sites. I watched the tape on wrap vid and gave a good idea of the process. I would try a practice shell first to get a feel for it. Very good advice. I think glue would be better as well but more difficult I'm sure. Seems fairly straightforward.

Amosguy do you have a link for Drummakers site? I'd like to see what they have thanks. Precision is a couple hours away from me and if I bought from them I'd take the ride to go see it and them in person. They seem to have a nice selection too. Good tip on checking the shell with a straight edge too thanks.

Here is link for their custom wrap. Otherwise check out www.drummaker.com

http://www.drummaker.net/1-800-NEW-DRUM/www.drummaker.com/FMPro?-db=DM_Orders.fp5&-format=jumpfinishes.htm&-new

Thanks!.........

FFR: just to help you in your project, I myself FAR prefer the tape method.

For a beginner to drum rewrapping, the tape is much better solution. If you make a mistake in location of the wrap on the drum, you can pull the piece off with the tape and reposition. With Glue, you are dead in the water.

Also, some of the videos will tell you to only place the tape at the very ends of the wrap, and then pull it tightly around the drum. I place strips of tape about 3 inches apart the whole length of the wrap. This provides a very strong bond and keeps everything consistent. I feel this is just as strong as glue.

As far as lasting, If you press down hard on the wrap and shell, the tape bond should last years. I always say that I dont WANT it to last forever, because since I've rewapped the drum once, I may very well want to do it again in a few years in a different color. Tape gives you that option. If you use glue, you will spend weeks sanding and trying to get the gooey glue mess off the shell. Myself, I have better things to do!!!

Good luck in your project. I just re-wrapped a Getsch 9 X 13 tom in Blue Sparkle and it came out great. You cannot tell its been rewapped.

Good luck!

Retro

Thanks Retro good to know! I was wondering if more tape around the shell would help and that confirms it. This is all very helpful information I've learned quite a bit. Seems very straightforward and pretty easy. I like the pearl wraps Drummmaker sells. And also the vintage white pearl Jammin sells is very nice too. I think I'll send away for a few small pieces from all 3 company's and see which I like the best. Seeing them first in hand is the way to go before I buy all of it. Thanks again.