Restoring a unidentified 60 s drumkit.

[nightgoat]

I was recently given a 60s drumkit of unknown origin. Acordin to the guy who gave me the drums, he got them for free when he bougt a second hand kickdrum pedal. I have'nt been able to properly identify what brand they are because someone has painted the whole kit black with a brush or roller and removed all the badges and the toms bottom hops. It basically looks horrible. Its even whorse, as the paint used has reacted with the wraping and made it bucle and bend. From scratching of some of the paint i have been able to see that the original finish is in red sparkle, and that in combination with the tom mounts i'd say is an early Apollo drumkit. The crome, the wood and hardware on the other hand is in pretty good condition and there is little or no rust.

My question is... Would it be whort it to by new wrapining and restore the kit, or shall i donate the thing to some punkband or something

[amosguy]

Unless you get the wrap VERY cheap, or want the experience of doing the rewrap, I vote of Donate. Sounds like more trouble than worth to me.

[nightgoat]

Unless you get the wrap VERY cheap, or want the experience of doing the rewrap, I vote of Donate. Sounds like more trouble than worth to me.

Ok. Thanks for answering my question. Since im Danish and live in Sweden, i would probably have to pay a large shipping fee for the wraps anyway, so it would be even more expensive. From what i know there is no way to buy wraping i scandinavia anyway. But i found red sparkle wraps on ebay so then again, maybe ill do it just for the experience.

[cn679]

Whoa! Hold on a second! Since the set has been painted over the wrap, I can understand not wanting to rewrap/restore the kit. However, you can remove the paint from the shells without harming the wrap. I have successfully removed paint from a sparkle wrapped shell by wet sanding with a scrubbing pad. It took time, but it was worth it. Also, I have an Apollo set myself (played it a few hours ago at band practice, actually) and the wrap has never been messed with, but it has bubbling and warping. I think that this can just happen to a 40 year old set.

I have heard that vintage drums can be very expensive in Europe, so I would recommend putting ONE of the drums together with some good heads to hear how it sounds. I'd recommend trying the rack tom. If it sounds good, then maybe the set would be worth fixing up to be a player, especially since you got it for free.

[jonnistix]

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=9346
http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=9435

I agree with cn679, or you could do what I did. I took some unknowns and if you follow the above example, you will have some very nice looking and sounding drums. It may not be the paint that has caused the "bubbling and warping". Post some photos and let's have a look. I have a Majestic set from the 60s and it has some minor wrap issues, but it is a great set, so I am leaving it alone. The issues are at the lugs, and it is due to age, not paint or something else causing the wrap to "bubble". Those older kits had this issue, especially around your lugs, where all the tension over the years pulled on the wrap and bunched it up. This kit may be worth saving. If you cannot get the paint off, carefully remove the wrap and do what I did, you will love the look. The pictures I took do no justice to what they really look like. The look is high end glitter and killer!

[Ralf]

Please, DO the restoring.
Below you'll see the result with my old STAR bass drum.
Left: status when I received it (the red rack tom had to go, it
was a Pearl ...). Sprayed all over - and inside - in red colour and in a savage way.
Right: I took the paint off with an eccentric grinder (wet done) carefully.
It lasts some time, but the fun doing it and the result are worth the trouble
(with time and dust). The rack tom is another one than the red Pearl before.
I didn't take off all the red paint inside of the shell, as you can see.

Ralf

[nightgoat]

Yeah, i have had some time to think and im definetly gonna restore the kit. I will post some picts when i have some taken. The thing is, maybe i can restore the rack toms and the bassdrum, but the snare and flortoms have to be rewraped since the wraps broken in several places. BTW. Japanese vintage kits are very easy to come by in sweden. i have restored two Star kits in the past and i own a 1975 Pearl Jazzrock pro. Bought it in a music store for about 250 Euro. Ludwigs and Rodgers are a completly different thing. they are EXPENSIVE!!!

If you want to se my pearl kit, go to my bands myspace www.myspace.com/osynckalmar

The songs are recorded with that kit, but its a portastudio recording so don't judge anything by the sound quality.

[Jaye]

Hi.

Please post pics of the kit NOW, before you restore....we are curious to see how "bad" it is. Sounds like if the wrap is buckled, the wrap is toast...but it may still be worth the labor.

I mean, seriously...the kit was FREE...unless it's really a goner....it may well be worth some effort.

...also, there is a place in the UK which sells drum wrap...I am sure that'd be cheaper than shipping from US....

[nightgoat]

I will do that. Thanks for the tip. Can you give me a link?

[Ralf]

I know one good source here in Germany:

http://www.stdrums.de

For spare parts, too!
Absolutely trustworthy and uncomplicated in carrying out.

Ralf

[nightgoat]

Thanks! The only problem is that the wraps they sell cost more to begin with than those i fond in the states. But on the the other hand, there will be less shipping fees.

[Jaye]

http://www.drumbitzeurope.com/

Not terrible prices...about 10% higher than US prices....but also about 10% cheaper than the prices of Ralf's link....now, I dunno what shipping might cost to you.

But dang, they have a white oyster ripple pearl...hecka cooool.....hell, you cannot get that HERE....hmmmmmm

[nightgoat]

Yeah! Cool!:D Pretty affordable to. Thanks for the link.

[nightgoat]

I think i have identified the kit now! Not sure but... It might be a Star "Drum Mate 5," as seen in the 1966 catalog posten on Vintage drum guide. But some questions still remains. First of all, the two star kits i have previously restored had support bracing inside the toms and kickdrum and this one does not. Second, many japanese drums from that era seems to use the same hardware so i can't be sure. Third, the guy who gave me the kit believes the rack toms are actually the same size ( i can't mesure them yet, since the second rack tom is still at his place) And im pretty sure the snare is not the original one, since it does not have the same hardware as the rest of the kit. DOH Ps. Ill show you all some pictures of the kit soon.

[Jaye]

The "whether Star or Pearl" thing is still something which the jury is out on...there's another thread here about that.

If the shells are thicker-walled, like 5-ply or 6-ply, then they didn't use reinforcing rings. A lot of the old Japanese kits used these sort of shells, both Pearl and Star/Tama.

Yes, post pics when it arrives. Not that unusual for early 5-piece kits to have matching rack tom sizes, either.

[nightgoat]

About rack tom sizes, yeah, i believe you. I think Keith Moon used to have 3 9/13 rack tom on one of his kits (maybe the "lilly"). The snaredrum seems to have been rewraped to look like its a metal one. And the person who did it may be the same guy who painted the kit black using a roller (its not done properly). Anyway, some good news is that i have found some matching hardware lying around a friends rehersal space. A cymbal stand, a highatstand (broken) and a "Top Pedal" kickdrum pedal. Im gonna ask him if he wants to trade it for a late 90s Pearl double kick pedal that he has borrowed from me. I found that pedal in a dumpster outside a studio and repaired it, but he seems to like it anyway.

[nightgoat]

Got the rest of the kit today! Have taken some pictures of it and will post them soon. Anyway, i have taken the homemade wrap of the snaredrum and examined the whole kit. The kit is originaly a four piece, the second rack tom has been added later, since there is traces of a cymbal arm once being mounted to the on the kick drum (and the secod racktom is in its way). The second racktom have different hardware. But Star sold add on toms, so maybe the cymbalholder was removedd to give room to a second rack tom later on... I believe both toms are Star toms, but the second rack tom seems to be from a later serie of drums.

[Ralf]

Pics can tell more than a thousand words ...
Please try to make photos also from the inside of the shells and close-ups from the lugs/ tom brakets, tom holder on the bass drum ... Everything helps.

Ralf

[nightgoat]

Here are some pictures i have taken. Since im a lamer when it comes to computers, and therefore could not figure out how to upload the here, i uploaded the pictures on imageshack. Click on the links to viev.

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8669/ssca0004.jpg
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2905/ssca0003.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8866/ssca0002m.jpg
http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/4176/res01001.jpg

[Jaye]

Yup...that's as straight-up an old Japanese kit as there is flower

If you work them up....may I suggest you have the batter edges recut on all drums.

If you do not know anyone who has a router or routing table, see if you can find a cabinetmaker nearby and ask him to cut a 45 degree interior bevel on those shells. Since you are going to make the outside look so much better, you might as well work the inside just a bit to get the sound to punch more.

BTW, posting pics directly to the thread: underneath the message window, where you type your words, there is a button which reads "manage attachments". Click that button, and you can upload pictures to your thread ;)

[nightgoat]

Maybe i know somebody who can do that for me... I to know a guy whos father made wooden toys, he will probably have the right piece of equipment to do that. BTW thanks for the tip.