Its called a scarf joint.That is where 2 pieces of wood are joined at gradually tapered edges.Thats how Ludwig made their shells back then.They wrapped a 3 ply piece of wood ,tapered the edges glued them up and put them in forms.Not much you can do unless you want to completely sepatate the seam,to take out the remainder of the wrap.Thats why most Ludwig drums from that era that are stripped are rewrapped.That outer ply of mahognany is not the best candidate for a natural finish.Good luck .

Steve B

Well sh#*! That sucks! I guess its not a huge deal. The shell isn't ruined or anything. I will just have to use it for a different project. I can aways get a different shell unless others have different thoughts or ideas for me.

Thanks tamadrm

How about a straight edge, then a razor knife, line it up past the junk seam, cut through just enough to remove the top layers of wood and wrap, then bevel it back down with sandpaper. when the lugs go back on, you wont see much of it and it will be a straight seam.

Just a thought !!

+1 on that idea

And just so you know, mahogany looks really good when it's finished properly, but it looks like heck if it isn't. It has a very open grain. Do a little research on finishing mahogany if you haven't done do already. It's a little tricky! Good luck on the project whatever you decide.

Yeah I'm sorry I should have told you it was difficult to do a natural finish,not impossible.I assumed you didn't posess the necessary skills to acomplish that since it is not an easy thing to do well.Its also a lot more time consuming than just rewraping the drum.Another alternative would be to use wood veneer for the natural finish but that to is difficult without skill and tools.Just trying to save you time ,headache and expence,but if you think you can do it,then go for it....its your drum.

Steve B

You can always use a mahogany veneer instead of a wrap, although a veneer is essentially a wrap. . . James

O-Lugs??? Is it really you old buddy???

The best you can do with the scarf joint pearl issue is to use a stiff razor knife to undercut the pearl below the surface of the shell, but you will need to fill the resulting channel.

It's pretty rare to remove pearl from old Ludwigs without the mahogany giving up a few chunks. The pearl was laminated to the shell in the same press with the plywood, so it's on there TIGHT! Even when you do, you need to sand it back to remove glue stains, because they will "pop" when a new finish is applied. Hence, I also recommend veneering. Typically, the mahogany under the finish is not always the best-looking stuff they could find. It didn't have to be.

From what I see of it in the photo, that shell will clean up well, finnish well and look great !! The wonders of sandseal with sanding in between coats (at least three) (500 grit) will allow a DIY to complete it.

But first you must strip sand with 250 grit and straighten out that seam with a razor knife, tack rag clean all the sawdust, when you like the look, sandseal and dry well before final finnish !!

An alchohol based sandseal will make the wood look wet, it will dry completely after 12hrs. and look like you didn`t do anything at all, but what you did was seal the pulp so nothing penatrates too far in or is allowed to seep out from the wood to the surface you are finnishing.