Plugging holes on shells?

[justJon]

So.....
I basically fell into this older, 6 ply ludwig maple kit. The white wrap finish on it when I got it was cracked, dented dinged, ugly. I figured I'd strip it and re-wrap it, but when I got the old wrap off, it was so pretty, I now have a natural maple kit.

To my question. The kick has one large hole drilled on top for the tom mount post, and 4 smaller holes for the bolts./screws. I'd like to "plug" those holes, for a " virgin" or maybe
"re-virginized" effect kick. Is this something I can reasonably tackle on my own? Is it as simple as finding an appropriately sized hardwood dowel, cutting, gluing, sanding and finishing?

Any advice? I'm not aware of any drum techs in New Mexico, so I'm assuming I'm on my own here.

Thanks in advance.

[bojangleman]

i dont know how easy it would be, or if you have access to the tools...but make some sort of plate. like a metal plate and make a design or something on it to make it look professional...

Pearl makes a hole cover for that, but it only fits pearls...and select few others..

it would be really hard to do a wood insert fill..
there are lots of options, but these are just a few...


Alex

[Mendozart]

I would take a look over at ghostnote.net. There's alot of good builders and advice over there.

[harryconway]

Doweling the 4 small bolt holes and the larger tom mount hole is a good idea for any re-wrap project, if you want a virgin kick. Keeping it a clear maple finish, you'll really need to find a place that sells wood veneer. A buddy drummer of mine has done this with great success. Get a sheet of maple veneer and re-wrap the drum. Making your own cover plate might certainly look better than leaving an un-used flange up on top, I've seen people do that too. And then again, I've seen thousands of un-used flanges in my 40 some years of looking at drums. You can check out my Rogers project here http://harryconway.typepad.com/

[katman]

I'd also go for some kind of cover plate. Perhaps you can make it your own personal drum badge, with initials or a logo design. Might look cool if you raise it a mm or two off the shell with spacers - specially if it's slightly curved to match the profile of the drum. This could help it look like it's meant to be there. Cutting and sanding dowels will never blend in completely. And veneer can be quite tricky.

[latzanimal]

All of it can be done, it just depends on how confident you feel in your skills..

You can plug the holes and with the proper technique, you can hide them very well...

You can also add another ply in veneering, as Harry mentioned. With veneering there is no seem to hide.

It is all up to you..

If you don't feel confident enough, PM me, I can recommend some highly skilled guys in your area of the country

[The popes love child]

I have restored many drums with extra holes, and have found a few ways to plug them. Wood fill does work pretty well for cracks, scratches, and smaller holes. An old carpenter's trick is to mix sawdust with glue, and use that as a kind of putty to put in the hole. I recently restored a drum that had rather large holes drilled out for bass drum spurs. I didn't want to use a weak filler, so I used Duraglass to fill in the hole and bondo to make it look smooth. That's the same technique used by car restorers, and it works just as well on wood.

[justJon]

I used to restore furniture with veneers, so that might be something I could tackle. Never tried it on anything quit this big and round, usually like flat desk/tabletops, and small edge pieces. I had pretty much resigned myself to not having it perfect on close inspection, but hard to spot from say, 6- 10 feet away (i.e. the front of the stage). Hmmm.....

Lots of ideas I hadn't considered here. Keep 'em coming!

[bojangleman]

aight...i got a few more...

i saw this over at ghost note...so, you should head over there...lol....but ill tell ya.

*this sounds wierd...but just let it sink in..lol*

you know how guys stud their ears?

http://www.shopzilla.com/rd?t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.steelnavel.com%2Fproduct.asp %3FID%3D111%26MID%3D39%26gad%3DCIOc8uUDEgh7nRfGP4m SqBjv1bv_AyDfmdsv%26gkw%3D111&mid=60636&cat_id=30010108&prod_id=32179868&pos=0&b_id=17&token_id=8B&lg=0&bamt=5598b4416837384b&ppr=100dd0bd92f87212&oid=32179868&atom=10720&sc=&bid_type=2
(this is just an example)

well, find some the size of the hole in your bass...and thread that sucker through it!

it'd be like a huge vent...lol

Alex