OUCH!crying2-07

Oh! That is a pity... Mind BlowiMind Blowi

That breaks my heart! crying2-07

I'd make a cover plate, probably black, maybe brass for the holed area. Can't get rid of it easily, and it'd clean it up a lot. If you ever need to wrap them, now that's another matter.......

CryBabyCryBaby That poor, poor drum! What a terrible sight.

I have succesfully filled holes in Gretsch shells by carefully applying plastic wood. It worked with a 12'' tom that had an aprox. 1.5'' - 2'' hole, a bass drum with a similar case as yours (but not even close to being as bad) and extra holes in a few toms. If you match the finish on the outside and touch up the inside with galvanized fence paint of the same shade of silvery gray as the interiors, it's pretty convincing, and I must say the sound isn't altered much. Although you have to be careful with shrinkage, becasue one time I took my tom off the mount and heard a little ''shhhpock!'' and out popped the plug. I nearly had a heart attack seeing a big hole in my tom!electricit An other option would be to put screws/rivets in the extra holes, but I think that a plate as crash suggested would be best, if you do not wish to use a mount on the drum.

I wish you very good luck with your restorations!

LevonPurdie

Rip some thin veneers of wood, & glue them up in a curve, using the bass shell as a mold (use plastic wrap to protect shell). then fair the jagged edges of the hole, trace the hole onto the patch piece, & carefully cut it out using a coping saw (costs about $10.). Fit it in there nice & snug, with some glue around the edges, then cover it top & bottom with polished aluminum plates, formed to the curve of the shell. Sounds harder than it is. Then mount the new tom mount through the plates. A nice project--the drum deserves it.....marko

Thanks for your input, guys. Not sure about this drum's future. I do need to do a few things before I can hear how it sounds. It doesn't have the internal tag and that franken-mess is a concern. Really still want a virgin kick, if I can have my way. Probably not too many 22", early 70's virgins out there.

For the drilled holes, you can get face grain wood plugs, http://www.constantines.com/facegrainplugs.aspx

Sand, stain to match.

The larger hole can be patched. Veneer can be found at Constatine's or another veneer supply house. Use scrap thin ply to fill the center filler plys, then layer the remaining OD, ID with veneer. Brace the ID with a larger piece of thin ply.

Stopsign badge 22" with this problem equals the end of the road for that drum. Plus you say you have an 18" with the set? Problem solved. Convert the 18 to a bass drum and you have a nice jazz bass drum, find a 12" and go the jazz route. You could even install the pratt read muffler in the 18" with a shorter piece of felt. I would do that without batting an eye. Now let's see what you did, please put up a beautiful picture of some restored Gretsch Jazz drums! You could sell the parts off the bass to fund the 12" rack tom and the 18" floor tom to bass drum conversion.