Its actually a finish grommet to do two things....vent the drum and also to hold the badge in place, however by then ludwig was also using adhesive on the backs of the badges as well as the grommet. Its there mainly to give the hole a finished off look to it. Cosmetics.

Thanks again for taking the time.

How simple would it be for me to attach the grommet myself?

There was a post mentioning somthing about torque etc, at this point i am definatly in the dark.

Also, if you have confirmed this drum as a BB, does that mean the shell is brass?

Yes, it is a brass shell

Ah exellent. I hoped so.

One thing i am really interested to know, how much would it cost roughly to re-do the chrome finish on a drum such as this?

There are a couple of very small areas where the finish has come off.

I am in the process of giving this drum a bit of a clean up, but aside from some new black chrome hoops,new heads/wires i will probs just get on and play it as the marks are so minor.

I will probs end up cleaning the inside of the shell a little also.

I have some drum shell cleaner on order, would this be suitable for the inside of the drum also?

Its hard knowing where to stop isnt it...

Actually its a black nickel plate, not chrome....I'm sure it would be too cost prohibitive for the one drum to even consider re-plating it. I'd leave it be unless its really bad.

Ah i see. Yea i guess black chrome is kind of a contradiction!

Yes i think i will just give it a really good clean, give it some fresh heads etc and go play it.

Is drum cleaner ok to use on a brass shell?

Im not going to dare put anything on the shell until im sure.

Also i am intrigued as to the value of these drums.

I should say now i am not intending to ever sell mine, just curious as to its value.

Apologies for all the questions, its just really awesome to finally get some answers on all this.

I will guess on a replate - $100 on the drum - $60 on each hoop.

Yea i will leave it and just enjoy the drum. Although i will replace the hoops.

Any idea what these drums are worth?

I would head over to ebay and do a search and see what's going in the market these days.

The grommet held the badge in place. But the B/O badges also had some kind of adhesive backing as well. Why the grommet is missing? I don't know...It is peculiar.

Well...just for the sake of a theory, I could say that the shell was a WorldMax (Chinese-made) shell re-fitted with some authentic Ludwig hardware. The WorldMax shells are very close to the Ludwig shells, but WorldMax drums are far less valuable than Black Beauties. So, if someone was going to fake a Black Beauty, this would be one way to do it. The fact that the grommet is missing could be a red light. I'm not saying it is. I just like making people worry.Burger Kin But seriously, most of the time, grommets are pretty much permanently affixed to the badge/shell. It seems like it would take some doing to get one off. I don't think they just fall off, in other words.

Also, and I may be wrong...but I think WorldMax was/(is?) selling just the raw, un-drilled shells to some builders. I'm not sure if they are available to the general public that way or not.

DON'T USE BRASS CLEANER! It contains an abrasive that will scratch the black chroming and you'll end up with a nice, shiny brass colored drum! Just use something like Windex or a mild detergent and a SOFT cloth.