The ply seperation is very common on old radio kings, and as I first asked you was your shell in round, 30's and 40's radio kings are almost all out of round, I haven't seen one yet that is! but the ply seperation is an easy fix, and yes sand down the old fiinsh and re stain it!!
thanks alot you have been a big help. i guess thats normal for my radio king
Sure glad to be of help., yeah very normal for the Rk's! but nothing sounds like the shell you have once you get through with this project you will know Radio kings very well!! it's a good thing to go through, as I was telling Kevins, the great thing about these old RK's, each one is completely different from the others, they where all custom made so to speak!! there where 3 guy's that bent the shells for slingerland!
Personally, I would leave the finish the way it is unless you are going to replate the hardware, the hardware is pretty worn and it matches up with the shell. If you had a pristine shell and worn hardware it might look a little out of place. I'm always one to refinish something, but I personally like the look of the shell, it looks kinda rat cool.
baby crawl2
yea i kind of thought about keeping it the way it is but then i also kind of wanted to make it look cool and re-wrap it but i got alot of money tied into it already. i just really dont want to mess with the badge. and i am kind of new to the vintage seen. i still need two parts for it but i cant afford it. but it plays and sounds good and loud. so far i have i gotten alot of help from many people and thank you guys, but i am pretty sure i will still have alot of questions.
baby crawl2yea i kind of thought about keeping it the way it is but then i also kind of wanted to make it look cool and re-wrap it but i got alot of money tied into it already. i just really dont want to mess with the badge. and i am kind of new to the vintage seen. i still need two parts for it but i cant afford it. but it plays and sounds good and loud. so far i have i gotten alot of help from many people and thank you guys, but i am pretty sure i will still have alot of questions.
Do you have any wood working skills? this drum as long as it's not got extra holes, is worth fixing up! the shell repair staining or painting, hardware detail, is not that hard to learn, go to the top of the VDF there are links to how to do on just about everything to a drum+ we will help you!
what if there are two extra holes?
some idiot who owned this before me drilled two holes to put a strainer on it.
STOP LOCAL DRILLING.....ON DRUMS
Crap, like you said idiot??? Radio king owners are some of the most fickle bunch you would want to mess with, meaning those extra holes will hurt big time on resale, you can get the wood dowels to plug the holes at lowes, home depot etc!! you had an offer from one of the forum members to repair your shell, you may want to consider that route, you also could possible wrap this shell, do it the way the modern drums are wrapped now not all the way to the bearing edge, that way the extra holes doweled would only be noticeable from inside the shell! precision drum co is a good place to get the wrap from, and they are a complete drum manufacture! here the link, http://www.precisiondrum.com/
yea i wanted to cry. thanks alot for your help i might have to consider wraping it.
Look at it this way, when you do get it up and running, this will quickly become your go to snare drum, there is a reason they are so famous, nothing sounds like an old radio king snare drum! your drum will be a keeper you'll see! for the money you'll spend on this drum you could not buy anything that even comes close!
Look at it this way, when you do get it up and running, this will quickly become your go to snare drum, there is a reason they are so famous, nothing sounds like an old radio king snare drum! your drum will be a keeper you'll see! for the money you'll spend on this drum you could not buy anything that even comes close!
+1! Any $$ you spend on it and all the effort you put into it will be returned to you many times. In fact, every time you play this great drum!
