This has been a fun thread to watch. Its nice how you can post a pic of a drum set and have these trained eyes spot the good stuff. Congrats on the purchase. I will be watching to see how this ends up.

Jeff C

You said it about the trained eyes. The guys here have so much knowledge and a willingness to share it. No better resource anywhere regarding vintage drums and drummers!

Anybody got time for another question? How much of the felt strip of the Pratt muffler is supposed to contact the head. When I dis-assembled this one the only part making contact was the part of the adjustment bracket where the strip wraps around it. In other words a section about 1/2"w x 2 1/2" long would touch the head about one inch inside of the rim. Is that correct?

I googleyd pratt muffler adjustment but couldn't find much.

Mick - The Pratt muffler is intended to be adjustable! You can adjust the Pratt muffler to put different amounts of pressure on the felt/head, or have the head un-muffled. Play around with it, you'll figure it out.

Ain't rocket science...

John

Damn John! I guess that degree in rocket science is going to remain un-used! Maybe next time.

Was it Calfskin that had all the good info on Pratt mufflers? Apparently (though I have no experience with them) you can adjust them as much as you would like including just off the head. At that point the head will only contact the felt when struck hard allowing you some control of muffling on the fly as it were. A very cool idea but never really caught on past the folks at Gretsch.

I can't wait to see what you do with them. If you sell them the sale should be predicated on the buyer posting his or her progress here!