I picked up these two snare drums last weekend. The WMP is 100% original except for the batter head, and is date stamped OCT 1963. 3 Ply Mahog/Pop/Maple "Hollywood Ace".
The Student Model (of which I will be posting in the Restoration section of this site because I need some professional advice on how to fix it up) is date stamped FEB 1961 with a M or a W? next to that. I am assuming that the letter on the inside is an "M" and that it means "Mahogany" but maybe someone else can tell me for sure? The drum is 100% original...no extra holes...the only issue being that someone took it upon themselves to try to re paint the Duco finish after some chipping of the paint had occurred, and as you can see they FAILED miserably. It looks awful....and they even got some paint on the badge.
I will be doing a general cleaning up of the WMP drum and stripping the student model down to Mahogany and clear coating it. I will post pics when they are finished, but here is a little "before" action.
Like I said, I will post this in the "Restore" section, because I need some good advice on how to approach the strip down refinish and how to get the paint off of the badge safely etc. I have done rewraps before but never a wood finishing project.
Look forward to any suggestions.
Thanks!
-Adam