A laymans view, do you want to do this to improve your enjoyment of the sound currently produced, in other words do you play the drums for your own enjoyment or, are the drums an investment and you can live with the sound currently made by them ?

If you re-cut the edges could this potentially de-value the drums in investment terms ? I don't know enough about this subject to be able to say, but if so why not leave that decision to the potential next owner ?

Perhaps consider this, something is only ever original once, if you recut the edges any remaining originality will be gone forever.

I hope the above (which upon re-reading appears to ramble somewhat!) makes sense ?

Good luck with your decision ! Remember that the one you are proposing is irreversible.

Just how bad are they and who is doing the advice?

Yes. In all probability it will devalue the drums...especially when consideration is given to who is doing it. It may increase the value of the drums to you. So if you are going to have it done, choose a craftsman whose name will instantaneously demand the highest respect.

I have had great success with sanding sponge and butchers wax for finish

Well I love the way you do this yourself. With great skill I imagine.

I purchased a Ludwig Classic Maple Downbeat kit in 2012. Every drum had bad edges! Rather than send the drums back to Ludwig, not knowing how they will fix the issue, I chose to entrust all the edges to my friend Chris Heuer, owner of Heuer's Drum Lab in Burbank, CA. The edges were not re-cut, but rather re-formed and contoured by skilled sanding. When done, the edges were better than what the factory could achieve!

-Mark

Actually if u get that rotten stone it mite be pumice sander that they sell on tv it conforms to the radius and takes out the imperfections enough to coat with wax or oil even lite coat lacquer

Yes, to any collector it devalues due to altering the originality. Ludwig and others often had some rough edges, seen it. 50+ years later they get worse.

There are exceptions as many vintage era bass drums had the front heads removed and were badly Road worn. To recut a damaged edge(s) from such damage is required as the drum won’t produce a tone acceptable to the ear.

I have rehabbed kits, most recently a ‘64 Jazzette! It had been painted black, inside and out and several edges were shot. Although the shells were intact the kit required a full resto. I sent the shells to Precision for recutting and rewrapping in Vintage Oyster Black. They came back beautiful and while needing a few parts and cleaning came out looking and sounding unimaginably amazing! I feel had this arduous process not been done, the drums were all but worthless.

So, there are exceptions. Will this kit ever be a super collectible kit? No, but they have a better chance of making it another 55 years!

Here is a before and after. About 45 hours not counting Precision’s time.

If the edges were either bad from the factory (not a rare thing) or damaged from abuse like using the drums without their resonant heads, then it makes little sense to preserve that condition whether the drums are vintage or not. However, as Ploughman and others have noted, who are you going to get to do the work. On recommendation of idrum4fun, I sent a set to Heuer a number of years ago. A beautiful set of Rogers drums that had very poor factory edges. They came back like Dynasonic edges. Awesome work. The kit still sold for $2k, so it was not a mistake in my view.

Yes, it will devalue the drums no matter how masterfully they are re-shaped. Most of my Ludwigs have bad edges....most. But that's true of Gretsch and Slingerland, too. Rogers...not so much! :).

It really depends on the overall value of the configuration, too. Super Classic configurations are SO ubiquitous, it really wouldn't matter that much unless it was a rare finish. But a Jazzette?.....I wouldn't alter it at all!

Opinions will vary!