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White paint but no reinforcement rings says to me that someone was going for the look of '60s 3-ply drums with later drums. I would guess that they're probably 6-ply '80s drums, though you'd expect to see some godawful tom sizes if that was the case. I guess they probably made some standard-sized drums during that time.With that ugly seam on the outside of the floor tom, you're probably going to be stuck rewrapping. There are some great auto paints out there now that stick just as well and don't muffle the drums at all, but the seams might show up under that pretty badly.That duco paint job doesn't look factory to me, either. Those drums have had quite a journey.

It has become obvious during the stripping process that the floor tom is much older than the other two shells. It has a mahogany interior and the seams are much more crude. I'm guessing it replaced the original floor tom from this kit and whoever put the duco finish on it threw the 80's B/O badge on just to have it match the other two. Still not sure if it's actually a Ludwig shell though. I thought all Ludwig 3-ply shells had re-rings on them. I don't see any evidence of drilling or filling on it.

We just moved into a house with a garage, so I finally decided to tackle the drum restoration project I've been meaning to do for a while. My kit is (what I was led to believe) an early 80s Ludwig 3-piece. 13x9, 16x16, 22x14. Somebody had wrapped it in Champagne Sparkle before I bought it, but it was one of the worst wraps I've ever seen. Crooked seams in terribly obvious places (not under the lugs), loose to the point of almost falling off. The interiors had been painted white at some point as well.All the rounded-corner B/O badges had serials from the same time period (3006990, 3006891, 3006682). I thought they were all 6-ply shells, but when I took the floor tom apart today, it looks like a 3-ply with no reinforcing rings and two really ugly seams on the outside. I'm not even sure if it's a Ludwig shell at this point. Also, they all have a 40's style paint scheme under the wrap that doesn't look factory original. I guess once I get all the paint stripped off I'll be able to tell if the floor tom is some other make. The hardware is in pretty good shape. Some of the kick lugs have minor rust or pitting. A previous owner was nice enough to pack all the lugs with felt.I'm off to the store to get some paint stripper.

3-ply, no re-rings... mahogany interior?Hmmmm.... Could be an old Gretsch, which would be really, really great.I love '60s Black Oyster Pearl and I support this decision.Not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you'll want to wait and cut bearing edges after the shells have been wrapped. Then you can get a nice, smooth edge on your wrap, too.I think those drums are going to sound awesome.

Nate Dort wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:Hmmmm.... Could be an old Gretsch, which would be really, really great.Forgive my ignorance, but would the hardware holes line up exactly between Gretsch and Ludwig hardware?Good point. That's not likely, but Ludwig hardware has not changed since the 1930s, so there's a strong possibility that it's just an old Ludwig drum.

dontfeartheringo wrote:Hmmmm.... Could be an old Gretsch, which would be really, really great.Forgive my ignorance, but would the hardware holes line up exactly between Gretsch and Ludwig hardware?

Got everything stripped. You can see the double seam on the outside of the floor tom. It's covering a butt-joint in the middle ply. I got it sanded enough that you can barely feel it anymore. Did a pass with 60, 150, then 220 grit.I'm thinking of staining the insides an opaque white and then spraying with a couple coats of satin nitro. I would just leave them clear, but the inside of the floor tom and the kick are pretty ugly, in terms of grain. It looks like the floor tom had something like granitone applied inside previously. It's got maple/poplar?/mahogany for the three plys, but I see no evidence of re-rings ever being installed in there.For the wrap, I'm leaning toward 60's black oyster pearl.

dontfeartheringo wrote:Not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you'll want to wait and cut bearing edges after the shells have been wrapped. Then you can get a nice, smooth edge on your wrap, too.I have to recut some bearing edges on my mid-70s Ludwigs. I was wondering how you do the outer bevel if the bearing on the router bit is riding along the wrap and then it hits the seam. Smooth it out by hand?

twelvepoint wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:Not sure if anyone has said this yet, but you'll want to wait and cut bearing edges after the shells have been wrapped. Then you can get a nice, smooth edge on your wrap, too.I have to recut some bearing edges on my mid-70s Ludwigs. I was wondering how you do the outer bevel if the bearing on the router bit is riding along the wrap and then it hits the seam. Smooth it out by hand?Having usually left the cutting of bearing edges to actual pros, I don't know how you'd address that. I am assuming you'd smooth it out by hand....?

I took a week off from this before ordering the wrap. In the meantime, I put 2 coats of white solid acrylic stain on the interior of the shells.The wrap showed up on Wednesday. It only took about an hour to apply it. I got them with hi-bond tape pre-applied, so all I had to do was line it up and stick it at the seams. I lined up the seams under some lugs that would only be visible from the drummer's perspective, or not at all in the case of the kick. The new wrap is quite a bit thicker than the old wrap, and it feels like a much higher quality. I got threaded badge eyelets that attach with a nut inside, rather than the type that have to be permanently bent with a balpien hammer or special tool, so I can remove them later if I need to. I put the new blue/olive badges on with a little rubber cement on the back of them to keep them from peeling up.Thursday, I started cleaning all the lugs / tension rods / hoops / etc. The kick hoops aren't original. They're metal with a 7/8" wide inlay recess. Most ludwig kits have a 1/2" recess I believe. There was quite a bit of rust on them, as well as a bunch of old contact cement from the old inlay. I hit them with acetone and 220 sandpaper to clean them up, then sprayed 4 light coats of black lacquer on them.The lugs polished right up with some chrome polish. I was amazed at how much tarnish was on them. The claws and tension rods on the kick were pretty rusty. I soaked them in a vinegar / phosphoric acid solution for a few hours, which got rid of the surface rust. Then I hit them with some chrome polish. I had to go to the hardware store to get 20 new stainless washers for the kick tension rods.I put the heads back on this morning. I was debating about having the bearing edges re-cut, but they actually look pretty good, so I'm going to hold off until it's absolutely necessary. I found one stripped lug on the bottom of the floor tom, so I'll have to get a new threaded receptacle for it. Or a slightly longer tension rod. Only the first few threads are stripped.I just set everything up upstairs. The ceiling up there is only 5'6" (it's a finished attic), so I rarely go up there because I'm 6'2". It's the only place left in the house where I can set them up, so it will have to do for now. This is the first time I've had the kit set up since we moved to Butte a year ago (holy shit, it was a year ago today). It's also the first time I've had my '67 Supraphonic set up with a kit. The Supraphonic's 45th birthday is next Tuesday.Here's the finished product: