Funny U should mention...

Lot's of thoughts here:

http://www.vintagesnaredrums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3388

Cheers!

My advice would be to look into having the crack repaired (if possible). Sometimes, a good craftsman can "inject" some appropriate glue (literally -with a syringe) along the crack and force it back together by lacing some rope "clamps" over the area so that the wrap is flattened out and forced back together.

Your keystone badged drum likely has a 3-ply shell wherein the original wrap has been tucked into the scarf joint of the drum shell, itself. So, there is no way to re-wrap a Ludwig shell of this vintage so that the "evidence" is cleanly hidden. Also, most modern wraps look...well..."new" for lack of a better term. And, considering this, it would therefore behoove you to keep it original -IF you want to keep any kind of collectible value attached to it.

You could always trade it for another one -or sell it and then use the money to buy a clean drum....but re-wrapping a keystone badge Ludwig drum is pretty much the end of the road for it to a collector.

Is it possible that you could post some pictures of the drum in question? It makes it easier to get a reference on things.

Thanks O-lugs,

I didn't know about the tuck in the shell. With that in mind I checked the shell and found out that it's not the original wrap. So it's the re-wrap that has 1/4 inch splits in it. So I guess that drum isn't worth much. Would it be worth selling off the legs and the baseball muffler. If it's not worth much to a collector then I'll keep it and re-wrap it. It sounds great, I had the bearing edges tightened up by one of the best edge guys that I know. Thanks for the reply.

Yeah! there's no sin in re-wrapping a re-wrap! ;)