Either way would look great, but I love natural finishes!

Well if you do natural and you don't like it you can always wrap it. I would take care of those edges first.

Ya - the edges - I saw that too.

Is there any easy way to do that or do you have to take a router to it? Can anyone with router skills - even if they've never done a drum - do the job?

++1, do you have a kit that natural will match with??

sparkle please...

I would recommend someone who has experience with drums do it. And make sure they know its a 30 degree edge on that and NOT a 45 degree edge. :D

What about staining the shell and clear lacquering it after? That would look sharp too! (depending on the color choice of course)

The only reason I wrapped mine instead of snading and refinishing the black lacquer paint on mine was because I didn't want to have to fill the extra holes in with plugs and dowels. Quite a bit of work to do that. So I decided to wrap it in silver satin flame. It did two things....covered the extra holes, and made it a cool finish that Gretsch would have used. Cool1

I vote Red Sparkle,

I like this route too.

Especially if the outer ply has an attractive grain pattern.