Great work, I also found a kit with the wrap quite a mess and re-wrapped it with a Butterscotch pearl. Came out decent for a player but did have a hard time with the bass drum wrap lining up right once I started and the glue stuck. Here is a picture just for reference. Mine had three mounts with the 2 hole types on the bass drum and is an Eagle badge set also.

Good luck with the restore.

Wayne

Wayne! Those two tom mounts are right where mine are. I was concerned that they were added after manufacturing, but it looks like they put tom/cymbal mounts all over the place back in the day.

Your set looks great. I purposely went with Jammin Sam because they use the high-bond tape instead of contact cement, and I believe the installation will be much easier. I used contact cement some 30 years ago, and let’s just say that it didn’t go well.

Josh

Even though the color was called Sparkling Blue Pearl, I believe it was always a glass glitter. I guess it's a moot point, since you already ordered the sparkle finish. Regardless, the drums should look great.

-Mark

Well, I received the wrap today, and it's custom cut, so there's no going back now.

Today I began the process of making my plywood patch for the large (1 1/2" roughly) hole in the top of the bass drum. I had an old maple table leg laying around the shop, so I used it to make my thin strips of wood for the plies. After resawing them to about 1/8" thick, I ran them through the planer a few times to get them just slightly over 1/16" thick. This will leave me a little wiggle room if the bending process experiences a little " springback," where the wood relaxes back toward it's original (flat) state.

I traced the curve of the bass drum onto a piece of particle board. I made a trammel (a large compass) 11" long and used it to cut the curve as smoothly as possible. I cleaned up the surface with a little sanding to make a fair curve. I then used a flush-trim bit in my router table to bring three more pieces of particle board exactly like the first one. I mounted the curved pieces to a base, then covered the affected areas with plastic packing tape so glue wouldn't stick to the jig. Lastly, I drilled large holes to accommodate clamps.

I slathered glue on all of the surfaces, and clamped the strips to the jig. I'll let you know if this worked satisfactorily after the glue cures over night.

Well, the homemade plywood came out pretty well. The edges of it didn't join as well as in the center. Next time, I will need to have a heavier duty piece of wood on the outside to help the clamps compress it all. Still, I got plenty of wood to work with.

I used a piece of the curved plywood to patch two holes in the 13" tom. The holes were drilled by a past owner in order to install the Gibraltar-type tom mount that was on it when I got it. I have decided that the curve over a 5/16" hole is negligible and will simply use standard pre-made plywood for the other small holes I need to fill. I will, however, use the curved plywood to patch the 1 1/4 " hole in the top of the bass drum.

Meanwhile, I took the silver tape off of the bass drum hoops and sanded the multiple coats of dripping black paint off of them. They are six-ply (see photo). I know many of you think that repainting bass drum hoops is sacrilegious, but these were already messed with pretty badly, and I think you would agree with me, if you saw them in person, that it was the lesser of two evils.

Below is a video of how I made the 5/16" plugs. The plugs that are commercially available are solid wood, and the grain goes in the wrong direction (top and bottom of plug is end grain). While this orientation will accept glue better, I did not want it for the drum in case of expansion/contraction. I am afraid that it would show as a depression under the wrap over time. This fear may be unfounded, but who knows...

Additionally, commercial plugs are tapered quite a bit. They are not designed to fully fill a plywood void - their purpose is simply to hide a fastener (screw, typically) from view.

As I describe in the video, I couldn't find a plug cutter in 5/16" size, so I had to make the plugs larger and sand them down. To use the plug cutter, you must use a drill press. The odds are against you successfully cutting them with a handheld drill. I came up with the method described in the video by determining that it is really no big deal to have to fill the 1/32" center hole with wood putty and sand it smooth.

Once I have cut the plugs in the plywood donor board, I pried them free with a small, flat-bladed screwdriver. Some of them needed a little sanding to level the bottom. I made far more than I needed, because something always goes wrong, and it's nice to have spares.

I sized the holes in the plugs slightly larger than the diameter of the brad so that they would spin freely, but not so loosely that the finished product was out of round.

More soon...

Josh

[ame]https://youtu.be/D9OpW5X0beQ[/ame]

The fella that built my 12" tom, Ronald Kendig, built my 16" floor tom three days later. He signed it exactly like the other drum. I'm wondering why he signed and dated a drum that he knew was about to be covered in some type of wrap. Did he know that his craftsmanship would outlast the covering? Did he suspect that someday someone would actually have occasion to see his signature? Was it a little game he played, believing that no one would ever know that his signature was underneath the covering of a drum they played, night after night? Only he knew? Was it a suggestion by his boss that he sign it so someone down the line would know he was the one who built the drum, in case of quality control issues?

I do know that the 13" tom was unsigned. Why, Ronald, why??

I have yet to peel off the covering of the bass drum. Intrigue builds...

Great work Josh! Making a curved ply plug for the holes is really taking it up a notch. Good tip on making the plugs smaller too. I have always rounded up in size to match plug cutter bits. Please show some pictures of them installed when you can. Interesting find that the shells were signed and dated too. Does not get much better to date things.

Glenn,

When you say that you rounded up to match plug cutter size, does that mean that you drill out the hole to make it larger?

Josh

Most times yes. This also allowed nice cleanup of the hole itself if needed. If the next size plug was too big it would get sanded down to fit.