Looking at that and thinking about it and the weight issues, I would think aluminum polished up would ultimately be less expensive and hella lighter....

And here is the proper link for the clip mount bracket I'm talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ludwig-50s-60s-Mount-Tom-Drum-back-plate-felt-/190475947593?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Drums_Percussions_MJ&hash=item2c59404e49#ht_500wt_922

I have a couple oif those, if you don't mind "Made In Japan".....Excited

Agreed... The guy I'd probably get to do the work mainly makes heavy-duty 4x4 truck parts...custom stuff for the serious off-road crowd. He's got tools that could knock these things out in under an hour.

I was thinking Aluminum as well. Although, a second link to the same part on eBay shows one where the clip is clearly riveted in place to the bracket. It'd probably be easy to drill out the rivets to remove the bracket, re-contour the factory plate to match the curve of the shell and correct the orientation, then re-rivet the clip receiver back onto the bracket.

Was that stuff Nickel or Chrome plated? I know I could get either done locally. This would just be a new version of a very old concept.

Heh... as long as the orientation is correct, I don't care where they come from! Mine may end up being "Made in Some Guy's shop"! Laughing H

In that era, and the "whitish look", I would say almost certainly nickel. Nickel has a certain cast that chrome rarely gets. Chrome would likely have a 5.00 to 15.00 option, and those are 194x dollars, long before there was word like "inflation"...that wonderful tool of the wealthy to manipulate our daily bread...Coffee Break2

Well, I assume that my Imperial lugs on the 32" drum are nickel plated. If so, I'd like to keep the plating all matching, possibly even distressing the finish on the newly-fabricated parts to keep a vintage look.

I'm still deciding how far to take the restoration of the finish. I may refinish and then age it a bit, just to keep some character.

Actually, a light polishing of the nickel brings the shine right back. Try a VERY small amount of rubbing compound on one of the lugs and see how it gleams. Kleening

Will do... I got two sets of those Imperial bass drum lugs to clean up. Now, if only I can get the t-rods to clean up as well!

Look, all of us do it. I, however, make videos. Follow the the "yellow brick road" in my signature....I suck as a drummer, so skip those, unless you need a REALLY good laugh. But, I can repair, restore and tune with the best of them. My baby bro was a badass drummer. Left this world far to soon for my liking.