What's your latest purchase?

I was going to suggest the exact two products, however, I've never used them in combination......oddly enough. I've found each one effective enough on their own, but I haven't run into hardware that was in all that rough of shape.

CAUTION: While the Pearl Export hardware is indeed chromium plated, readers should be warned that older, nickle-plated hardware could get damaged using the above products. Crumpled Aluminum foil dipped in water (?) seems to be a popular, apparently safe method for cleaning nickle, but I don't have any personal experience with hardware of that vintage.
Thanks for the additional tip! 👍
Yes they were awful, now they are still shining.

I used the 0000 steel wool idea from the drum shop repair and restoration folks. I also found that in harder spots, nylon brushes, being the softest, was the best way to go to prevent scratches on chrome. I’d go a tiny test run with brass, but stay away from stainless brushes those are most abrasive.

Believe me I was originally tossing up the tin foil idea as well, but with none of the vintage drum shops offered up that method, figured they (tin foil or scour pads with warm water/coke/vinegar/overnight moonshine bucketing/etc… method) were going to be trial and error if no empirical field work took place.


Very, VERY cool...And THIS is why I am here!
Yes the members here definitely have helped me with a slew of inquiry - it truly is a great place.
 
Ongoing deal...trying to get eight yr old Rox into drumming, and she is showing an interest.
Got her a pad and sticks...
Then got her a snare (n stand)
Gave her my stock hi hats and stand.
For a beginner set...for 120 dollars:
12,13, 16 and 22. (Bonus: The color kinda matches her snare)View attachment 107112
View attachment 107111
They need a DEEP cleaning. But physically they look and sound pretty...sound.
Emad kick head and Enforcer reso.
Remo Emperors on the toms. G1 resos (Used, but all still good)
Gonna need the BEST chrome cleaning advice.

I am all excite-y!
I just refurbed a 30 something year old chrome snare that literally has been in the stand for the past 20 years, never cleaned, nothing. I used Meguiars Hot Rims Chrome Wheel Cleaner. Gorgeous. Dissolves goo and gunk. A little elbow grease and you'll be combing your hair in those lug castings. Of course, steel wool for the surface rust, if any. And it took very little of the bottle to do the snare and lugs.
 

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Has anyone ever sand blasted and/or wire brushed the chrome off and then painted the hardware,
I have, but not with drum hardware. It's tedious and the results vary based on how the item was originally plated. Under the chrome there is nickel and zinc layers that allow the plating to adhere. Quality plating, i.e. Premier, is very hard to remove and will leave a surface that just won't look good painted. It's easier, less laborious, and cheaper to replace any hardware if you want another color.
There is one last option with chrome: take it to a powder coater and have it anodized. Also, not cheap but will yield a wicked cool finished product.
 
You folks are ALL the Coolest!
I did a cleaning and they fared better than I thought they would turn out!
I didn't take the lugs off... just the hoops.
This is going to be a starter kit for an eight year old girl who's been showing an interest, so I think I'm gonna final clean em, put em back together and tune em up.
Gotta get her a bass pedal.
Oh... and haven't quite told her mother (my niece) that I got it yet. But mom's a rocker too!
Rock fan, anyway.
 
Since I have a Tama Starclassic (W/B) on order and waiting to ship to me, I thought I should start looking around for the matching snare. If I want it in the finish of my kit, it'll be an additional 6-7 month wait. However, I noticed my local Guitar Center had this Tama Starclassic 14x6.5 snare drum in walnut/birch with a cedar finish and it was $100 cheaper than ordering the snare in my matching finish. I just said hell with it and bought the cedar finish one instead due to being readily available and saving me some cash. Since it sits behind the kit and is barely seen anyway, I figured it didn't matter.

(not my image)
tamasnare.jpg

I got home with this puppy, slapped a new Evans HD Dry head on it, kept the snare side head since it came with an Evans 300 anyway (which is what I would have put on it), tuned it up how I like it, and immediately noticed a huge difference in sound. Normally I struggle to tune my two Pearl snares and this thing tuned up so fast an easy that it shocked me. The snare throw off is much nicer too. I've never owned a 6.5in deep snare and I love the fatter sound of it. If this is any indication on how the rest of the Starclassic kit will sound then I'm in for a huge treat.
 
Since I have a Tama Starclassic (W/B) on order and waiting to ship to me, I thought I should start looking around for the matching snare. If I want it in the finish of my kit, it'll be an additional 6-7 month wait. However, I noticed my local Guitar Center had this Tama Starclassic 14x6.5 snare drum in walnut/birch with a cedar finish and it was $100 cheaper than ordering the snare in my matching finish. I just said hell with it and bought the cedar finish one instead due to being readily available and saving me some cash. Since it sits behind the kit and is barely seen anyway, I figured it didn't matter.

(not my image)
View attachment 107126

I got home with this puppy, slapped a new Evans HD Dry head on it, kept the snare side head since it came with an Evans 300 anyway (which is what I would have put on it), tuned it up how I like it, and immediately noticed a huge difference in sound. Normally I struggle to tune my two Pearl snares and this thing tuned up so fast an easy that it shocked me. The snare throw off is much nicer too. I've never owned a 6.5in deep snare and I love the fatter sound of it. If this is any indication on how the rest of the Starclassic kit will sound then I'm in for a huge treat.
Gorgeous!
 
Ongoing deal...trying to get eight yr old Rox into drumming, and she is showing an interest.
Got her a pad and sticks...
Then got her a snare (n stand)
Gave her my stock hi hats and stand.
For a beginner set...for 120 dollars:
12,13, 16 and 22. (Bonus: The color kinda matches her snare)View attachment 107112
View attachment 107111
They need a DEEP cleaning. But physically they look and sound pretty...sound.
Emad kick head and Enforcer reso.
Remo Emperors on the toms. G1 resos (Used, but all still good)
Gonna need the BEST chrome cleaning advice.

I am all excite-y!
I like that color. I’ve had a Similar Pearl in some sort of smoked brushed aluminum for 25 years and still use it on gigs. I can attest to these being good kits to learn on and be confident it can hold up to any task down the road if needed.

This is the Pearl Export at a July 4th gig last month.
CB4271DE-9248-4810-B4DE-4B5F7F52D101.jpeg

Happy Drumming
 
:rolleyes: I just realized I never put the Stage Custom set I got a couple weeks ago in the 'latest purchase' thread,
although I made a couple other posts about them.
Anyways - they're 10/12/14/20 w/14" snare. Finish is Natural Wood. I stained the unfinished parts of the hoops since I got them.
They sound better than any of the many previous versions of Stage Customs I've had. :cool:



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Grabbed a 20" K Sweet crash today to round out the collection.

I now have the 16-17-18-19-20 crashes in that series. I figure I can make some interesting pairings like 18"/20" or 16"/18" etc. I'm going with 19"/20" for now to see what that's like.

It's a great cymbal. Opens up really easily and has a very pleasant tone. Not as low pitched as you might think, either.

20210810_175616.jpg
 
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:rolleyes: I just realized I never put the Stage Custom set I got a couple weeks ago in the 'latest purchase' thread,
although I made a couple other posts about them.
Anyways - they're 10/12/14/20 w/14" snare. Finish is Honey Amber. I stained the unfinished parts of the hoops since I got them.
They sound better than any of the many previous versions of Stage Customs I've had. :cool:



View attachment 107146
The one above the post.
My bad I thought I did reply to it.
This one
 
The one above the post.
My bad I thought I did reply to it.
This one

I kind of thought you meant the Stage Customs, but wasn't sure.
The Stage Customs aren't that expensive, but didn't you recently post about getting some pricey Mapex stuff?
That should help take your mind off of it. ;)
 
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