what to do with my 1970s sonor swinger set

[scottsguitar]

I have a 3 piece 1970s sonor swinger set. I got for 65.00. I had some offers to sell it for 125. I have a couple of newer drum sets right now. Dont need a 3rd one. Well I may keep it. After having for about 2 weeks. I decided to do something with it. I will post pics. The wood is beechwood 3ply bevealed edges. It looked as if some one tried to refinish it some time ago. Was wondering. Should I wrap it with a sparkle wrap. Or should I sand It down to the bare wood and refinish it. If I do that will the value go down


scott

[big daddy]

Hi Scott - Sounds like a cool project kit. Doing anything to the finish will take away from the value, from a collectors point of view. That said, we have another thread currently active where a member is considering a refin on a Ludwig kit. Check it out.

The least intrusive thing you can do for these is to wrap with a sparkle or some other plastic based wrap, using hi-bond tape (not glue). It can be removed later if you decide to sell and want the original finish back.

How about some pics??

[scottsguitar]

What If I Sanded The Shells Down And Re Staided Them. Im Sure That Would Take Away From The Value. Whats The Best Way To Remove Rust From All The Hardware


Thanks For Your Help

Scott

[the_drum_dad]

Swingers only originally came with wrap, so someone already removed it and finished the shells. I think we talked about this before on another thread. So re-finishing would not kill the value further and may up it some depending on how bad it was to start. Swingers also came with a rounded bearing edge so these shells have been recut. Check to make sure it was a good job....I'm sure you know the drill - put on flat surface and take a look, also look for squareness to the shell. You may want to retouch the edges if it was a bad job.

If you do a nice job on the refinish you should up the value.

Personally, I think rewrapping with one of the original Swinger colors would raise the value more but, then again, it will cost more also.

I'm curious if you played the drums yet and how they sound with the beveled edges. What do you think?

[big daddy]

Thanks for that info Drum Dad. Wasn't aware that they came wrapped. Pretty much agree with what you said. If it's been tampered with already, then no harm in tampering again I think. You also want to be 100% sure that you have a Swinger set, and not another model. Would be a bummer to refinish something that WAS original. Pics are really needed here.

[the_drum_dad]

Here's some Swinger info....
A couple of catalog pages from 1971 and the color chart.

The Swinger lugs were unique to that line of drums and can't be mistaken for anything else. They are plastic lugs with steel inserts and they flare out at the base where they meet the drum. The later Champion and Phonic lugs do not have that flare and are steel.

The multi-brilliant wraps were only available on the teardrop drums.

[big daddy]

Whoa! Plastic lugs? How well do they hold up over time?

[the_drum_dad]

Whoa! Plastic lugs? How well do they hold up over time?

I have a set from 1972 and it has two cracked lugs which I will transfer to the kick drum when I reassemble. They still hold a minimum tension so they should work ok here. The rest are fine. They will hold a surprising amount of tension. The key is to seat the heads and tension up slowly and evenly across the lugs (just like any other drum really). My personal feeling is that they likely get damaged when re-heading...and since they were entry level drums for the time, you probably had some first time drummers who really didn't know what they were doing. The lug mount spacing is fairly common....I can't remember exactly what the distance is but there are replacement lugs out there which will fit. The rest of the hardware is minimilistic but still good strong stuff.

The strength of these drums is really the European beech shells. You just don't get wood like this any more. If the shells are in good condition,they can make the basis for a nice custom set. And if you can get a set for $65 what the heck.

[Jaye]

Plastic lugs...what a wonderfully stupid '70's invention.

Right up there with the Osmond Bros.

Rogers tried 'em, Ludwig tried 'em.

I have actually gotten some old Sonor plastics now and again...usually when I buy a "grab bag" of hardware. I might even still have a few here....

An idea which, gladly , met it's deservedly fast and merciful end.

[john429]

Hi,

I got this drum set in marine turquoise for my 12th birthday ( twenty years ago) and have never seen another like it, so I am very happy that i have stumbled accross this forum. Unfortunatley I also have 2 broken plastic lugs and 1 missing tensioner. Does anybody know where I can get hold of these items? Also what is the best way of safely removing some light rust from the hardware?

[the_drum_dad]

Hi,

I got this drum set in marine turquoise for my 12th birthday ( twenty years ago) and have never seen another like it, so I am very happy that i have stumbled accross this forum. Unfortunatley I also have 2 broken plastic lugs and 1 missing tensioner. Does anybody know where I can get hold of these items? Also what is the best way of safely removing some light rust from the hardware?

Try www.Stdrums.de

Gerd Stegner is a great guy and has lots of old Sonor hardware. I just checked the site and it says he is out of Swinger lugs but I would send him an e-mail anyways and let him know what you are looking for. He also has replacement lugs with the same mounting hole space for those looking for something different.

Other than that, keep an eye on the Bay. They turn up occasionally.

[john429]

Thanks for your help I will give him a try.

[Jaye]

John, that's a great site ! Guy has a lotta stuff !

[john429]

I have noticed earlier in this forum that the multi-brilliant finish is only available in the tear drop drums. Can someone explain to me what that is, is it a reference to the lugs? My kit has the wrap code MF but has the same lugs as the blue kit which is in the picture in the catalogue earlier in this forum. When my Dad bought it he got the guy to add an extra tom (Which i took off years ago) so i know the tom mount is not original other than that I was hoping it is the real Mccoy. It still has the original heads on the bottom of the drums and they have the sonor logo. Here are some pics Mallet Player2
4731

4732

4733

4734

[Jaye]

I can't answer your Q, but that's a cool old satin flame wrap on those !

[the_drum_dad]

You're right....you have a set with a multi brilliant finish! The information I posted was given to me by a good friend and collector who lives in Germany. I think he had never seen one and as we all know, rules in drum building are made to be broken. You definitely have a Swinger. The other interesting thing is the Swinger badge on the rack tom which I have personally never seen. I would be extremely interested to know the date code(s) which you will find stamped inside the shell(s), a 3 digit number.

You did not provide a picture of your tom mount so I can't say whether it was original or not. They were available with two rack toms as you can see in the catalog picture.

[poppy79424]

"Tear Drop" is the style of the lug. The lug looks like a teardrop.

[john429]

The tom mount is definatley not original I can see on the inside of the shell where the origanal fixings were, I can only make out a code in the tom it is very faint but I'm sure it say's 112, I can't find it inside the floor tom. I have always used this kit for practice with rubber pads on the heads, the resonant heads have the sonor logo on them, the tom has a premier batter head but the floor tom has a remo weather king batter with the sonor logo on it as well, is it possible this could have been there since the set was purchased? The sticker's have the words sonor made in germany and the logo.

[the_drum_dad]

The tom was made in December, 1971 from the date code. Definitely sounds like you have some original Sonor heads on the reso sides and on the FT batter. Cool set, thanks for posting.

[Filip!]

Greetings guys. I want to say that i also own one Sonor Swinger - at least i think so. Its in pretty bad condition so i will have to earn much into him. I've read the whole thread so i'd like to tell few of my things. First of all, i also got my 3piece set in black though you're saying it originally came in some colorful wrap. As second thing i'd like to mention that i dont have reso hoops and reso heads, I dont know why, but thats what i got. I cant seem to find any identification number inside the shell, atleast in toms, will check bass drum too soon. If you want i can take few pictures and show it, i must say again that its in pretty bad condition at the moment and im trying to invest as much as i can in him, im about to order new drum heads and new hoops to put them on resonant side of floor and tom tom.

Im in kinda situation as this user here, but in case you didnt knew, i dont want to sell this drum. Its worth more than some DW drum from 2006th for me :)

http://vintagedrumsets.com/showthread.php?p=24933

[cooldaddy]

You know it funny,i am in the same situation!! i bought a swinger kit and it sounds nice,the prior owner took off the wrap and sanded and varnished the natural beechwood,but that is starting to age now so i am going to use a matching color that was available back then,even though i love the ludwig mod orange wrap!! and a wrap with the high bond tape.I also managed to find someone by a freak of luck!! when i was going to look at a snare drum- that had like 40 of those plastic lugs in mint condition that i am going to use also!! They are impossible to find anywhere so i am taking it as a sign that these drums should get restored!!! It is an amazing sounding jazz kit regardless of price!!! and nothing can touch it for the price it will cost to restore it!!