The condition of the chrome and wrap would dictate the deal for me. You can repaint the hoops and even fill holes but replacing chrome and sourcing a good inexpensive wrap , unless you already have some appropriate wrap, hoops or lugs ferreted away can get frustrating. ....especially the Sonor stuff, where good teardrop parts are getting scarce. Modern wrap is garbage and doesn't do justice to vintage drums. It's like taking the finest A4 tenderloin medallion, and seasoning it to your perfection , cooking it as well, to your perfection : then pouring ketchup and ballpark mustard all over it .

Hello folks

Well I did buy the drums the price was firm at 300.00

plus the 160 mile round trip for them

as was mentioned here, the in-person condition was sure no improvement from the photos

the two loose hoops shown in the photos turned out to be

the reso side for the Sonor mounted tom

but the larger hoop which I was hoping was the missing reso for the Sonor floor tom

was in reality just a random fourteen inch snare side hoop

Missing are all six resonant side teardrop lugs and seven of the twelve slotted head tension rods on the mounted tom,

also missing is the wingnut for the mount

for some reason only this mounted tom

has been stripped of the original orange sparkle wrap

the badges for this drum, of course went wherever the old wrap went???

The bass drum has some fixable looking ply separation to the innermost ply

missing from this drum are all the resonant side T-rods and claws

The floor tom has the original Sonor head batter side and is missing the Reso hoop and all the reso side tension rods

I am fairly sure the spur rods are not original but it may be just the rubber feet that were replaced

All the chrome save for most of the lugs, Tom arm,

and the tom mount recievers on bass and mounted tom is all pretty rough

all three floor tom legs are still sporting the original round rubber feet

The remaining orange sparkle wrap on bass and floor tom

is badly checked and has that dark Caramelized look from age exposure and neglect.

No amount of cleaning will ever make it presentable again

The Slingerland drums are at least more complete missing only the reso stick saver for the mounted tom and the badges for the bass and floor tom

There are a few factory looking holes for perhaps another cymbal arm bracket

and internal muffler system? some of the adjustment screws are random non-drum related hardware type ..

These drums will most likely respond to some love

and will much more easily, shape into a decent players grade kit

The Sonors I will clean what is left and then put them on the back burner for now.

I could not really haggle for price as the seller was inundated with

e-mails with most of them expressing dire interest in the teardrops

I was lucky to be first responder and the seller did the right thing by me and was patient for me to make a plan to pick them up

However that aside

I was not overjoyed by the condition at full asking price

So the seller gave me a nice deal on some other random gear

to take some of the sting out of the poor condition of the drums

For another one hundred bucks

he gave me a blue/olive pointy badge Acrolite in nice shape

a huge blue/olive luddy boom stand "with the tubeular legs" and a matching snare stand also a double braced rocker straight stand, another pearl boom stand, a double braced LP double timbale stand

a Yamaha chain drive single bass drum pedal, two twenty inch Zildjian Scimatar rides, a 22" edge cracked but still usable Zildjian A custom ride. a nice Paiste 16" or 17' crash, along with a vintage heavy 18" avedis Zildjian which I am not sure if it is a heavy crash or a smaller ride but it is in really nice condition

some various plastic percussion blocks and clamps

and finally a three piece Remo roto tom set

missing is the original stand, but present is a massive gibralter clamp

to mount them to any sort of beefy cymbal stand base

This fellow had some really beautiful drums and gear

and he considered everything I listed here as no longer useable to him or worth his time to sell otherwise

I was a fairly happy camper all told Kenwood

Wow, sounds like you came out alright!

Keep us posted as to your fixing these up!

SAVE EM!! I've rescued some that looked similar.. Take your time!

I had to edit what I had initially posted since I didn't see that you had in fact bought them.

Speaking as someone who has restored about seven Slingerland kits and who is currently restoring two Sonor teardrop kits, while both kits will need re-wraps, the Sonors will be the most expensive to restore, as the missing items you mention will likely cost $200, give or a take a few bucks.

If the Sonor bass drum is repairable, then great, but bear in mind that wood that has undergone mildew and mold is sometimes difficult to glue. There looks to be some de-lamination near the spur, which is a "load-bearing" section of the drum. One could use these as the basis for a Sonor restoration, but the “all in” cost for such - wrap, missing or damaged parts, and whatever else might be missing and/or in need of replacement - will likely be in the $500-$600 range; splitting the cost of the two kits at $150 each puts the total outlay between $650-$750 to bring the Sonors back. Considering that with some persistence one could probably find a complete, intact Sonor teardrop for that price (or less), puts the economics into perspective.

Slingerland parts are plentiful and relatively cheap. Re-wrapping this will not only involve the removal of the polyurethane, but also filling all the gouges (because the wrap was removed incorrectly. i.e. against the grain). One may have to sand extensively so that the pores on the mahogany are exposed well enough to serve as a proper substrate for the wrap adhesive. The cost to bring these back is not as high as the Sonors but besides wrap, there are some missing hoops and a lot of the chrome looks to be in poor to fair condition.

Whether either project is worth the time, effort, and cost required to restore is certainly up to you, and if you like challenges and are not at all concerned about getting back what you put in if and when you decide to sell either kit, then perhaps these are two good projects. However, given the condition and completeness of what you bought, parting out may not be as grave of an offense as some may maintain.

Hello crankyfrankie

Thanks for the input pal yeah these drums are pretty rough

I am going to start by just cleaning up the chrome on the Slingerland kit

granted that even after plenty of elbow grease there will be plenty of

overall chrome loss but what chrome remains will be clean and free of actual rust

The shells do have plenty of gouges

the wraps were removed

and the shells sanded stained and polyed all by my seller

when he was fourteen years old

He bought both kits in a neighborhood yard sale years ago for 150.00

the sonors he never touched according to him

He did his resto on the Slingerlands and played them for a few years

and then threw everything in his father's basement for several more

Recently his father passed away and he dug the drums out snapped a couple pics

posted them on Craig's list and that was where I came in.

I will clean one drum at a time as best I can and hopefully when I am done

they will inspire me to go a little further with them

I have some orphaned Slingerland drums around so should I decide to do a rewrap

I can at least upgrade the condition of much of the chrome

Otherwise I may just stick with what I recieved for my 150.00 and make them as presentable as I can ..I have them set up now and have not lifted a finger with regard to cleaning in any way and just as they are they sound pretty good

On the Sonors I am not sure what I will do

I have been offered all of what I paid for both kits (less the extra stuff )

the offer is a standing offer good anytime

So if I end up going that way that will leave me with these rat resto old Slings for the bubble. ...Kenwood

Hi. Please let me know If you decide to sell the Sonors for parts. I need bass drum hoops 8 lugs, spurs. and 16 T's and claws. I have a lot of Slingerland parts in case you need some on a trade.

Thanks!

Vinny

For $250 , it would be a good deal. You have a ton of work to do there.

Hello drum folk

I thought I would dig this old thread of mine back up

as I have taken sort of a odd direction with these old Sonor drums

Though as described up above they are just loaded with problems

and they have sat around untouched since this thread was started

the main reason I have never tried to at least make them playable

was mostly the condition of the mounted tom.

the original champagne sparkle wrap missing completely, along with all of it's resonant side hardware

So as much as I really liked them, they were just set aside

That is until just recently

A short time ago I was surfing the online vintage drum market

and found a nearly pristine champagne sparkle tear drop mounted tom

It was for sale among the used gear at the Music-Go -Round up in Natick Mass

I liked the tom, but due to the condition of my other drums

I was initially hesitant to invest the one hundred and sixty-nine clams for it

So I let it sit up there totally up for grabs for several weeks

before it finally dawned on me suddenly, just how much having it would instantly improve the over-all condition of these same old tear drops even with all of their other problems still fully considered.

So I bought the drum for 140.00 over the phone and picked it up the very next day.

Now this poor little kit looks like Cinderella and her two homely step sisters

then to really up the stakes with this mix, almost simultaneous to buying the mounted drum, I also found a beautiful champagne sparkle tear drop snare drum on Reverb It is near perfect save for the missing cap on the strainer

I figured "in for a penny in for a pound" and since I took the step with the mounted drum

I reasoned that it may be only a matter of time until I was looking for an appropriate snare drum anyway

and with it being a perfect match and all I went ahead and bought that drum immediately.

So now What? ...my thought is to try and stabilize the damaged bass drum innards next

I still need a 16" hoop and rods for the floor tom and claws and rods for the batter side of the bass drum, as I put the eight originals out front

the wrap discoloration problems I can live with, at least for now but I really want to have them playable and this bass drum needs some help first

As for the old Slingerland kit

I first cleaned them, but otherwise left them alone save for re-heading everything with the exception of the resonant bass drum head

Then I just fleshed the kit out with cymbals and hardware and it has been one of the half dozen kits that my visitors and I alternate playing here at the shop

last summer I found a sweet Slingerland 14" floor tom for just 50.00

It also had been stripped of its wrap and stained so I added that in with the others

And as could well be expected, these old Slingerland drums really sound fabulous

The last two pics show both drum kits as of more recently

Not sure why they are not restored by now. For sure you have to get them at $300