Hello, fellow forum members,
I recently saw an ad for an "ugly, black, short tom drum" in a local paper.
I tried to get as much information as possible regarding this "unique" piece and discovered that it was actually a vintage Ludwig snare drum without the bottom head and rim, throw, snare butt, and muffler (although all holes were present for the affected hardware). Someone had also mounted a piece of hardware simlar to the mounts on Ludwig rack toms, used to mount them to the bass drum.
Since the owner was asking a whopping $4.00 for the drum, I decided to pick it up. I discovered that it was actually a 1965 Ludwig Pioneer shell with keystone badge (also painted black), top rim and head, and nickel lugs and t-rods. THANK GOD the owner didn't paint the interior of the shell black! It remained in the original Ludwig white paint. The interior of the shell also had a date stamp in red from August 1965.
As I was driving home I took a closer look at the drum and was convinced that the "ugly drum" actually had the original Ludwig wrap under the black paint. When I got home I sprayed some paint remover on the shell and, sure enough, under the paint was an original Ludwig Sky Blue Pearl wrap. I've asked the Webmaster to post some pics of the drum prior to my use of the paint remover, as well as after.
NOW......... here's my question:
As you can see by the pics, there's still a LOT of work that needs to be done to totally remove the "ugly" black paint from the SBP wrap, along with the residue and whatever else might be on the wrap. I could continue to use the paint remover but my concern is that, due to the strength of the solution, the SBP wrap would probably be destroyed. I'd like to restore the finish to its original condition, if at all possible. Is there some solution out there that would be capable of removing all the "stuff" from the SBP wrap without destroying the wrap itself? ANY AND ALL suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
THANKS in advance for your time and consideration!Help