As a continuation from above:
Bass Drum:
The bass drum was in worse shape than the toms, so I used 3M Heavy Duty Headlight Restorer:
http://3mauto.com/products/headlight-restoration/heavy-duty-restoration/3m-headlight-restoration-kit-with-drill-activated-sanding.html#G7YKu3vi5OGBF1Iq.97
This was basically the same type of deal, except the foam Velcro pad was slightly larger, and is also made to fit into a standard power drill, which made it go much faster. After doing the 12" tom, I bought this to use the drill attachment on the other toms first, before I started the bass drum. What a time and effort saver!
This one came with 500, 800 and 3000 grit discs. I made this my own 5 step process, and I added the 1000 and 5000 grit discs from my Medium Duty Headlight Restorer (so it went 500/800/1000/3000/5000). The process was the same, spray the discs with water, spray the shell with water and go for it.
In the photos below, the first photo shows the bass drum completely untouched, no surface dirt cleaned off. The second photo shows the drum in the same state with all hardware removed. The third photo shows the drum after all sanding steps were completed. I wanted to do this in direct sunlight outdoors like the other photos, but we had gotten about 5 straight days of rain/no sun here and was anxious to put it back together, so I took that photo in good artificial light. The fourth photo shows the drum fully assembled with all parts polished. Notice I am only using one tom arm and I replaced the cymbal bracket with a Ludwig for security purposes (love that eyebolt!).
Also, just as an aside, this particular bass drum had three seams on the wrap. Anyone ever see that before? There were two on the bottom in the normal position, and one near where the cymbal bracket is. Maybe they were trying to get mileage out of scrap pieces at the factory?
Here are my overall impressions about the project:
It was very easy to do (with the drill attachment), and it really helped make these drums look great. It's hard to tell in the photos, but in good lighting, particularly in direct sunlight, these drums sparkle and glitter like crazy! Also, this process completely restores the wrap's texture to brand new condition. If you feel the wrap, it feels brand new. It's literally baby's butt smooth.
Doing all 4 drums, I ended up needing several of these 3M Medium Kits. Remember that these discs were designed for car headlights, which are much smaller than the surface of even a smaller tom, so the discs wore away rather quickly. I used 4 Medium Duty Kits (1 for each drum) along with the Heavy Duty Kit for the bass drum. The Medium kits run about $12 each and the Heavy Duty ran me about $25, so there is a fair amount of cost associated with doing this. I might have been able to get the discs cheaper, but probably not with Velcro on one side. Just something to be mindful of, that again those discs wear out pretty quickly.
It's hard to notice a huge difference in the photos. There is still some "browning" and some general stains and water stains on the bass drum, but overall, they do look much better. My results may have been more dramatic on a darker wrap, where the contrast between wet sanded and un-sanded may have been more drastic. On the flip side, the lighter wrap really conceals scratches very well, much better than darker wrap, so I may have had not quite as clean of a finish on a darker wrap-the sanding may have left fine scratches that are only visible on darker wraps? I'm not sure.
Anyway, this was a fun project and I am pleased with the results. I may or may not do it again in the future, but it worked out good this time. I hope you enjoyed me taking you through this process, and hopefully you learned a thing or two.
Finally, what is the official name for that color of wrap? It looks pretty close to modern silver glitter (which is really more of an off white than silver).
Enjoy and thanks for letting me spread some knowledge.
V
