May have bitten off more than can chew

N

nhzoso

Guest
I bought this used 60's era jap kit for $40 with the intention of rewrapping it but after getting it home late last night and looking it over this morning the project may be much more involved than I originally had planned for.

Looks like I am gonna have to find a wood lathe somewhere and see if someone will sand down the reinforcement ring right next to the bearing edge on the bass drum. thats assuming there are no hidden cracks in the shells once I get the cracked wrapping off and hopefully they are somewhat still in round.

Not sure if it can be saved or not at this time but what other idea's do you guys have in mind for used drums that cannot be salvaged? Hate to just throw em away, it was only $40 so not worried about the money but am just thinking of what else I could do with em?? Furniture maybe?

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You have some work to do there for sure.
Well, you had better get cracking.
Don't forget to post more pics as the project progresses. :)
 
Any Idea what type of wood that is? Looks like hickory but that can't be right, I am guessing poplar but I thought poplar would be more whitish.
 
i don't think is necesary to use a wood lathe, unless you want to make them cosmetically perfect. you just need to work the edges where the head touches it, if that part is ok, it will sound just fine.
 
Are you referring to those little nicks on the resonate head side? the picture looks strange because it looks like the hoop is still on there but loose? There should be nothig to do but re-wrap it I would think.
 
in my opinion, the wrap is the best part of the kit.

i wonder if Larry's de-yellowing method would work ?
 
yes I would not re-wrap. larryace on here has a post how to get it cleaned up fine (search his username). Also, the outermost ply, ( and at least one of the inner plies, along with poplar) will be mahogany/luan which does not peel well if they did a good glue job. You also lose the vintage value when you re-wrap. It looks fine to me. Just needs the good cleaning, on the metal too.

I just flipped a set of those late 60's MIJ, 6 ply. Shells sounded great, just flimsy hardware. More written on them on a website by T Bruce Wittet. Yours appear unique having a middle re-ring.
 
I don't see the need to involve a lathe. If the bearing edges need to be re-cut, they pro's usually do that with a router, or by hand. Put some coated heads on those tubs, and you'll have some nice, warm sounding drums. If you're gonna do a re-wrap, a heat gun will probably be necessary. I'd leave 'em WMP. Don't see any cracks, in the photo's, so what's there ain't that bad. I just gave away a Star 14x14, to a 60's MIJ collector. Cost me $25. I was using it as a trash can.​
 
Thanks for the tips guys, The wrap is much worse than it looks in the pics as it is cracked all over the place and barely hanging on. I will try to post more pics soon. The hoop is loose, it came with no reso head. I like the idea of just smoothing out the bearing edge and not worrying about the gouge.

I am thinking rewrap or just putting a few coats of some type of wood stain on it and letting the wood show through.
 
The wrap is much worse than it looks in the pics as it is cracked all over the place and barely hanging on.
If it's barely hanging on, that's a plus, if you want to refinish 'em. Less elbow grease needed to get the old WMP off. So that's kinda the first step. Pull all the hardware off, let the wrap fall off, and then see what you have underneath, to work with.​
 
Before re wrapping or unwrapping, I would spend about 20 dollars and try to unyellow the wrap. Google "retrobrite" and look for Merlin's original recipe and follow the instructions to a T.

If you do decide to try unyellowing, don't use a scrub brush to apply the gel, just use a paint brush or something soft. Nothing stiff. No scrubbing or scouring needs to be done.

I did it with phenomenal results on my 76 WMP Luds, my only mistake was that I scrubbed kinda hard, and lost a bit of luster. Don't do that and it just may surprise you how great they look, for cheap.
 
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