71 Supra Restoration - Complete

I got it done a little sooner than I thought. I spent more than I had planned, but probably not more than the drum is worth. I got most of the parts from Tim at Drum City & Guitarland here in Colorado. The vintage lugs are in great shape. The P85 strainer, the P32 butt plate, and the snares are Ludwig factory stock. The heads are new (G1 and 300 Hazy by Evans). Everything else is vintage. I might get some vintage replacement parts at some point, but I'm not selling it so I am not too concerned.

The pitting overall was not as bad as most of the 70's Supra's I've looked at in the evolution of this project. I think the flash in the picture makes it appear worse than it looks to the naked eye. The hoops were from ebay and they were a lot rustier than I expected. I was worried they wouldn't do justice to the drum. I used a product from NAPA called "Nev'r Dull, along with aluminum foil, a toothbrush, and a rag and they came out OK. I still have spots to re-scrub, but not bad. The date sticker broke into three pieces not long after the shell arrived. It was dried out and I think it didn't like the dry Colorado air too much. I stuck it back on the shell with basic kindergarten sick glue and it worked perfectly!

The initial tuning is a little dry, but not as dry as my '80 Acrolite. I kind of like having the tone controls on those old drums. I learned with them on my first snare drums, and I am used to using them. I need to tweak it a bit, but I can tell it's a winner. My next project is going to have to wait awhile. I have some day job work to do before that begins, but the metal Ludwig snare trilogy is going to conclude with a 6.5 x 14 shell to strip, refinish, and add custom artwork. In the meanwhile, I am going to take this out to a gig in the next couple weeks. I am open to tuning tips. It seems to be a little different than the Acro.

Nice!

What does the Aluminum foil do? I've heard something about aluminum foil and Coke, but I don't know the process, or what it does.

If you wanted to replace the rims, Ludwig does still offer the 1.6 hoops as a part you can order. They're the same as the old hoops, just not rusty

I kinda like pitted snares. I bought a shell once that had tons of pitting, and someone along the line spray painted it with chrome paint.
It looked like a chrome version of the Tama Bill Bruford snare. It actually looked really cool.
I put tube lugs on it...went to put the heads on...it was out of round. I was so bummed! I got a refund from the seller easily, but it was a drag, because it looked cool.

Have fun with the snare!!!

Awesome, great snare, I know you will enjoy it.

Thanks guys!

Karl, I found this on a Google search:

http://snapguide.com/guides/clean-rust-off-chrome-the-easiest-way-possible/

I found that the foil served as a good abrasive when it was crinkled, if nothing else. I took a really small piece and held it under the tooth brush and scrubbed the corners. It seemed to dig the rust out.