Hello to the community,

I recently bought an old teardrop bassdrum and I am trying to identify the year of making. It doesnt have a stamp in the inside, the shell is a 3ply with re-rings and has eight lugs on either side. The tom mount is not centered though.
I restored it a bit and took the paint off the bassdrum hoops plus gave it a good clean and made the bearing edges a bit smoother. Treated the wood with hartöl (dont know the english name sry:/)
Obviously vintage value went down but I just wanna play it and really like the look of wood on bassdrum hoops.
Any help is appreciated

(Restoring another teardrop set and will post pics of that soon)

Nielda

Here are some pictures

Can't help but golly! that is gorgeous. Nice work.

I will put it between 63 and 65 with that badge, boat mount and slim lugs. After 65 I don`t recall SONOR putting any tom mounts off center. SONOR went through at least 5 badges that I know of between 63 and 69. Your mallet shafts on the badge don`t extend to the edge of the badge making it closer to 65. I haven't quite nailed the badge timeline, it`s very hard with many variables. That three digit date stamp sure would help.
Without that stamp, the best I can do is 63 to 65.

It`s missing the damper key. That damper mount had a thumb key not a knob.

Forum member Henk, would nail that with his eyes closed.

That exact same badge exists twice but is stamped into the metal, or silk screened onto it. Run your finger over the badge, if you feel the logo it`s earlier like 63/62. If it`s silkscreened it`s closer to 65.

Wow! Thanks a lot for the replies
I actually did not built in the damper because i did not want to play with it. It is the long damper that goes from top to bottom.
The badge is silkscreened so seems to be from around 65.
Thank you so much for your help so far!
Nielda

Nice looking bass drum. Looks like the reissue vintage kits they came out with a couple of years ago..
Sonor actually came out with another finish on their vintage series, an old finish they used to have called Granite Slate, which is essentially like yours, but charcoal black in color.. Gorgeous..If i were you, i would put a satin lacquer on those hoops, just to protect the wood. Would still look natural and still protect the hoops a little more..

I actually put two layers of hardoil (that should be the translation) on the wood. I gotta admit it was the first time I did this and one of the hoops is slightly darker then the other:/ ups..but im still pretty happy with the result.
For the inside of the drum and the bearing edges I used antique wax.
Any suggestions for which products work best (laquer, oil, wax)?
The reissue vintage kits actually gave me the idea for the wood hoops, really dig the look of those the granite slate wrap sounds crazy! Will try to find some pics on the net