Well...probably not everyone is so 'in' on the restoring-MIJ-drums world as some people here, so the post doesn't exactly read sarcastically unless you already know all these little details, right?

I mean until a few months back, I wouldn't have known which varnish/lacquer whatever to grab at the hardware store...

My early 70s Stars had a light grey matt paint finish, after fine sanding I've re-applied just one coat of same type of paint. It's a surprisingly nice sounding kit, Aquarian single ply heads top and bottom.