Very impressive restoration work! It's always great to see drums that might have ended up i the "dumpster" and given new life. Congrats on a job well done!

-Mark

Hey thanks for the kind words Mark. The pleasure I derive from restoring and using something that others might throw away is way more than I get from buying new gear.

GB! I couldn't agree more with that assessment!

-Mark

Very nice work. That snare looks factory fresh and ready to serve another 100 years.

Josh

Wow! This is a beautiful project! This drum looks awesome now. Congrats!

Thanks for the kind feedback. Actually, these old classic marching snares are a great and often inexpensive source of material for anyone looking to either restore or create a really wonderful drum. 15” snares have a terrific tone, depth and response which is quite different from a standard 14”. The only problem can be finding heads for them. Not such an issue in the US probably, but here in New Zealand, I’ve sometimes been told by puzzled shop staff that snares don’t come in 15”!

That is an amazing kit!!! Simply beautiful! What a great job you did! I was just cruising the forum when I noticed your post. I am waiting to try out a "new" snare tonight at practice. It's the first we've had in weeks. I love old marchers like you! For the last several weeks, I've been restoring a vintage COW Ludwig 12 X 15 incher ( the kind with those pesky imitation gut wires that have to be tuned individually). I wasn't far into this project when I realized that wasn't going to work for me. I got rid of the butt plate, replaced it with a generic one I had in one of my bins, kept the classic strainer, replaced the "wires with a Puresound set (attached with cord), used red sleeve washers on all of the new brass plated t-rods and replaced the batter with a new red Evan's hydraulic. I also used a SNAREWEIGHT M80 external damper for good measure even though the original internal damper was passable. A WFL flat base stand had to be cut down to accommodate the monster! It was worth the effort. This old marcher may just give my late 70's Supra a run for its money. It sounds amazing! We'll see. Anyway, sir, thanks for posting! Your set is a work of art!

Brian

Nice work there Gerard! I dig the sizes an I can imaging how great they sound. I also used that same strainer on a Slingerland snare I saved a couple years ago and it looks and works perfect. Enjoy the new kit!

Thanks for the kind words and praise. This ‘new’ snare sounds incredible. I prefer a high tuning and it is so responsive it’s unbelievable. This is the first drum that I have had to cut a new bearing edge on and it worked out so well. Did it by hand and very pleased with the outcome. I learned (by error) that if you want to cut a bearing edge with a router you need to do before glueing the re ring in place! I’d recommend having a go at a resto job like this to anyone. Very rewarding.