Can someone tell me where all these farms with discarded drum kits are located?

Seems everyone here has found at kit like this except me :)

Hi and welcome!

That's a beautiful kit you got there.

My opinion about Your concerns is this:

1) Unless You overtighten the screws when putting them back, You shouldn't do any more damage to the shells. You might want to glue the cracks anyway, though.

2) Depends on what You want from the kit. If it doesn't bother You, leave it be. If You'd like the original natural interior better, sand the paint off.

3) If you'd rather have uniformity, then get a matching pair. The new pair might still not work the best, because MIJ hardware from this era tends to be somewhat unreliable.

4) In my experience, this shouldn't be a problem, unless You play in a really heavy style. Some guys take the rack tom off the bass when they don't play so it doesn't stress the bass drum. That's probably wise with these old, fragie shells.You might want to inspect the bass drum from both isnide and outside - is it warping? Is th wrap developing wrinkles? Is the wood cracking around the mount? If not, it's ok, just maintain it like I suggested above, if yes, mount the tom off a stand.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. Enjoy Your drums and hav a good time here at VDF!

what Gilnar said but I'd add that they look remarkably good for a kit that has stood in a farmer's field. The wood on these shells has a very open grain and can split and splinter but I think you'll find they'll be solid. I've never had an issue removing hardware from the shells of these kits and I've worked on some very sorry examples condition wise.

That mount should work fine. I find them to be very functional.

Steel wool on chrome - no! Aluminium foil - yes! If your hoops are rusty then aluminium foil and water or white vinegar will work well and it won't scratch the chrome like steel wool will. You'll be amazed at how well it works, although it can't fix flaking chrome.

Larryz - I think it's a throw back to the times when cows wore cowbells. But by the late 60s/early 70s the only way to get a cowbell was to buy a whole drum kit. This is why you find so many discarded kits on farms. Oh the irony.

Welcome!

That is a great looking kit. From what I can tell from your photos, the rust must not be too awful bad. I have used aluminum foil with metal polish such as Brasso and it works great to clean, remove rust and polish all at once on lightly rusted parts.

For just a good deep cleaning on very grimy chrome, an overnight soak in dishsoap (Dawn) water works very well to loosen all the gunk.

Great find!

Thank you all for kind words and advice!

I would reply to you all individually but I have a feeling it might be too messy.

I've taken on board all the advice you guys have offered and have just completed the snare and the rack tom. The snare was in a pretty scratched condition so I had to make do with it. The tom is looking amazing now. I reworked all the lugs, tension rods and washers (but not the screws/washers on the inside as they were fine).

Here are some photos of them both!

I'll be posting some more before/after photos as I work more on my kit in the coming days!

Looks great! I really like that wrap. Good job on these so far.

I love the wrap too! You'd be hard pressed to find a simple wrap like that nowadays. Can't beat vintage wraps. They don't make them like they use to do they?

Hi everyone!

Sorry for double posting, but I thought I'd update the thread with some more photos (for those of you who are interested).

I've finally finished all the cleaning and polishing and now all that is left is to wax.

I had 2 final questions I was hoping I could get some advice for.

1) Will turtlewax branded wax be fine for the final waxing of the chrome parts?

2) When reinstalling the lugs for the batter head, I noticed that not all the lug designs were similar. I'm guessing they were replaced sometime during the 40 years. There are two specific tension rods that have caused me some issues.

When I tighten them, it reaches a point where it 'skips' a thread and loosens again. And then when you try retighten, it will reach that 'point' and loosen if you turn it some more. I figured it wasn't the lug because I chose a different tension rod (of different design) and they worked perfectly fine on same lug. I managed to rectify the issue by wrapping the thread in copious amounts of plumbing tape.

Am I unknowingly re-threading the lug or is there some issue with the 'other' design?

Are the threads of the screws that "skip" in good visible condition? Sounds like the thread count is the same on both types of screws if they both thread all the way in to the lug. Maybe a slightly smaller diameter or damaged threads on the ones that are giving you problems? Post a pic of the two side by side if you can.

Your kit looks great BTW!