Again, thanks to everyone for the nice words. Those of you that followed this thread, saw the pics of how bad the bottom edges looked on these toms. Well, I want to report that today I went to the drum cave and spent some time tuning these babies and man do they sing! Cool Dude When I put these back together 2 weeks ago, I used coated ambassadors on the toms, top and bottoms. They sounded good but not great, I had to tune them kind of high to get the best sound out of them. So I figured my work on the edges was sub par ( because I am not a edge master) Today , I tune them again and OMG!!! I could not be any happier with the tuning now. So what gives with that? I have never had this happen to me before. These drums sound awesome to these ears now. I don`t understand what happened ? Any ideas? Thanks, Tommy.

By tensioning the heads high, you 'broke them in' so now when you go low, all that new head stiffness is gone and they hold their tune better. I don't do it anymore, but back in the day, over tensioning new heads in order to break them in/season them a bit, was common.

Enjoy the tubs Tommy! Great set of drums. Great job bringing them back.

John

Will do! Thanks John. Tommy Jump For Joy

Wow, what a great job.

I am about to start this process with the '70 DownBeat I found on Craigslist. Never done it before, should be interesting.... I wish my chrome was in as good shape as yours.

A couple questions if you don't mind (sorry if I get a couple terms wrong, I am new to drums):

1) Are all of the lugs identical on my kit? In other words, can I take everything apart at once as you did, then put the lugs back anyway I please? I know the lug screws are different lengths, so I can make note of that as the kit comes apart.

2) What brand paint did you use on the hoops? I like the idea of black primer as any scratches over time through the outer paint will be less obvious. Did you do single coats of paint and primer? Satin/gloss/semi-gloss? Thanks!

Again, congrats, they look great.

Exacatactly... (hmmm wonder if I spelled that non word right).

MW, Welcome to the forum Welcome When you tear the drums down, just do one at a time and put all the parts to each drum in a separate container. You don`t have to do it that way, that is just a good way to do it the first time. In my opinion, I don`t think the lugs have to go back in the same position on the drum from which it came. Again, that's my opinion. When I soak the parts overnight, I do not soak the lug springs unless they are real, real bad! (never seen that). I do 2 light coats of primer and 2 light coats of paint. Take your time, if you get in a hurry you will likely be disappointed. Good luck, Tommy

Thanks again Tommy.

The insides of my lugs were showroom perfect. Not even dusty, no rust. Lucky!

Great job! That's a classy-looking kit you have there.