Thanks for the nice words and encouragements everyone! It's nice to see some people here are interested in this restoration.

@ Magnus & Retrosonic: this kit has international sizes indeed, must be one of the first Sonor kits using them. Magnus, I saw your kit already several times on other topics, really an incredible finish! I realize wrap issues on mine are quite problematic, but really do hope to find a solution... And btw, I live in Belgium (Europe), I guess these kits are a bit more common here than in the US (although not very…)

Anyway, some progress has been made: all hardware is removed from the FT and TT. You can very clearly see the difference between the non-UV exposured wrap and the yellowed parts (first picture). I noticed some striking differences between the FT and TT: both have different lugs (the FT using the older ‘bulkier’ ones, cf pic 2; the TT (and BD) using the newer ones, cf pic 3). Also the re-rings are from a different quality: while the ones on the TT are very professionally done and consist of 2 ‘lines’ (pic 4), the floor ones look like they have been removed and re-positioned later? Or perhaps done by a trainee in the old factory? (pic 5).

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3170925.jpg[/IMG]

FT lug:

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3170917.jpg[/IMG]

TT (and BD) lug:

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3170916.jpg[/IMG]

TT re-ring:

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3170918.jpg[/IMG]

FT re-ring:

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3170920.jpg[/IMG]

I also started cleaning the chrome on some lugs.

On the first picture, you can see the difference between an 'original' lug (left) and some other lugs which have been left in vinegar for two nights (this was a work I did last weekend).

Afterwards, I polished the vinegar-dipped parts with aluminium foil and coke. This worked wonderfully (as you can see in the second picture), however, I stopped it after 3 lugs, since small parts of chrome splintered off on spots were the chrome was already heavily scratched before... I think I will try some baking soda in water with a toothbrush or sponge this evening, hopefully that's a gentler way to polish them.

On the top lug in the second picture, you can still see some spots (pitting?), but I suppose there is no way removing them?

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3210928.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3210937.jpg[/IMG]

Koene. My kit was in real bad shape when I received it. I paid a very good Swedish drum builder to repair it. It had ply separation, the rerings had to be reglued and the bearing edges recut. I cleaned it, wrap and chrome, by myself. And it came out quite nice. It sounds wonderful.

Unlike your kit, mine only has the older type of teardrop lug. I had the same pitting/chrome issues as you, and did as good as I could, basically following the same procedures as you. I also changed quite a few of the lug inserts for nuts, as explained by ST Drums here.

Here is a pic I took then, showing the difference between the older (left) and the later, more common (right), teardrop lugs.

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Lugs_profile_2.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a pic of the TT bearing edge. It was really badly damaged.

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Edge%20close-up.jpg[/IMG]

As you can see from this inside pic of my FT, rerings were not always a pretty job on these old Sonors. It looked real sloppy.

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/TD%20rering.jpg[/IMG]

The drum builder had to reglue it.

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Loose%20rering.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Rering%20screwdrivers.jpg[/IMG]

[img]http://web.comhem.se/inventions/downloads/Rering%20regluing.jpg[/img]

The whole kit came out very nicely in the end, though. And I even had the incredible luck of finding a matching snare drum!

Good luck with your renovation now.

/Magnus

From 1956, the moment Sonor introduced the New Beat series, Sonor changed to inch sizes, also the lugs became the slim type. But as always during these transformation processes the manufacturer would first use the old stock he still has to complete these sets. (specially in those days). These are known as transition sets and can have hardware from different styles.

Your finish is called "Perlmutt weiss" not wmp. Your finish has a much more finer structure than the wmp finish.

Yours is probably from 1957 because of the boat shaped cymbal mount on the bassdrum.

In 1956 New beat catalog it's a little round cymbal mount.(like they again used in the 60ties).

Henk

Well this is a fascinating thread. Thank you very much for sharing it. Those lugs are cleaning up nicely. As to repairing the wrap, you can try injecting glue underneath the cracked areas then perhaps clamping it using a piece of plastic or Masonite or some other thin and flexible flat stick and then running ratchet straps around the entire thing. You might need some aluminum foil under the flat stock to keep from gluing your clamp to the wrap. Once completed you can try to fill in the cracks with some custom mixed nail polish or model paint. It won't look show room quality but it might work well enough. Good luck!

Magnus and Henk: Wow, thanks for this information! this thread is also really instructive for myself... the bearing edges on my FT are also not in 100% shape, but will be much easier to restore than yours (lukily...) But that's for later! And Henk, your knowledge is really impressive, thank you very much for sharing! I knew mine was later '50's, but I couldn't find it exactly in any catalogues on sonormuseum (f.e. only 2BD spurs etc).

Some small updates:

-hardware: the toothbrush/baking soda method proved even more destructive than coke and aluminiumfoil (since you can't really see what you are doing with all the brown fluids on the lugs); so i switched back to the 'coke-method', but did it very carefully, avoiding scratched areas. Worked wonderfully. This weekend, I will also apply some coats of turtle wax on the lugs.

-Wrap damage: thanks for the hint tnsquint, very helpful! I guess that's the way I will try it... I did some research on the net, and clear epoxy resin seems a better product than glue. I will try it on a very small place in the coming weeks (fingers crossed!)

-cleaning and polishing of wrap on FT, TT and BD: Here's what I intend to do: 1/ wash the shells with water and dishing cleaner. 2/ VERY LIGHT wet sanding with fine grind paper 3/ novus nr3 4/ novus nr2 5/ novus nr1 6/ several coats of turtle wax. It's my intention to slightly de-yellow the wrap (and make the pearloid more visible) and make it shine again. I read about some chemical whitening method somewhere, but to be honest, I started to like te yellow-ish colour of this kit:)

In case any of my methods seems too destructive, or better options are available, please notice me! Tomorrow, I will hopefully have a few hours to spend on this kit.

btw: a picture of the FT, where you can clearly see the scratchings:

[IMG]http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j152/koenytje/P3210935.jpg[/IMG]

koene: I used some kind of boat cleaning products for cleaning the wrap on my kit. I think it was similar to car cleaning stuff. It worked quite well, but didn't work any miracles.

/Magnus

you "could" wet sand the wrap with really fine grits to remove the scratches, then polish it out with Gel Gloss.

Very beautiful kit. I would love a vintage Sonor kit myself of that era. I should have jumped on some kits when I was still living in Germany and they were not so expensive.

koene:

You are doing a great job on that hardware!!

Awesome work, wished my hardware looked as good.

My set was also is bad shape when I bought it. I did not pay much for it tho. I bought it merely as a curio, because these 1950s Sonor sets are SO hard to find.

The hardware on my 1957 Melodie set is a mess. Most of the chrome is gone. I'm probably just going to clean them thoroughly and hit them a few sprays of Krylon chrome.

If you are going to keep the wrap you have, you'll need to glue down the cracks first, then give the wrap a very deep cleaning. My bass drum has some cracks in the wrap as well, but they are clean and complete, and all I have to do is glue them down flat.

You might be surprised how much difference a real deep cleaning with professional cleaners can make. After that, a good polishing and your set will look alot better.

Best of luck, and Keep posting those pics.

PS.....I would not do any sanding......I think it would ruin the wrap. Rather, use the three step Novus system and be happy with the result if I cant convince you to rewrap. :)