Hello,
Here's the latest restoration. This restoration also completed another "set" for me as the photos will show. This drum came to me from a private party a while back and man, this drum was hurting badly, as you can tell by the "before" photos. You purists out there have got to admit that this drum could, in no way, been left in the condition that it was received in. DeLuxe/Black Beauty restorations are way more extensive than the other drums that you have seen so I have to be in a certain mindset to tackle these special restorations. I got myself psyched-up so here we go...
1925-26 5x15 LUDWIG & LUDWIG 12 pt. FLORAL DeLUXE SUPER-LUDWIG
The Shell:
There were a few dings and dents in the shell but nothing that would constitute being a deal killer. Minor dings and dents are within my "ding and dent fixing expertise" so I was able to fix these myself. The original clear coat lacquer was beyond restoring via my polishing methods so I stripped the old lacquer off down to the black nickel/engraving. Other than a bit of green tarnish here and there that was relatively easy to clean, the black nickel and 12 pt. floral engraving were in pretty good shape. Thanks goes to Brian Hadnagy of Avenue Plating for the expertly applied lacquer clear coat. The shell came out great. So much for the easy part of this restoration...
The Hardware:
The hardware was a mess, 75% of it was green as the before photo shows...so another trip to Avenue Plating. Les Hadnagy took the hardware and began to get the tarnish cleaned up via his cleaning tank. We were able to salvage the original copper plating on the top and bottom rims, most of the Super mechanism, 8 collar hooks, both snare guards, 4 snare guard clips and all of the attachment screws. So for those of you who are keeping score; the parts that needed to be copper plated were: the thumb screw, extension lever, 12 collar hooks, 20 tension rods and 20 washers. Les knows, per my instructions, to keep all of the "age" on these original parts, meaning that he doesn't buff out the imperfections/wear marks before he copper plates the parts. This technique allows the parts to retain their age and look authentic. Once I got everything polished all that was left was the application of the gold lacquer spray (Nikolas Special Gold Colored #2105 Lacquer). The lacquer went on well, the hardware ended up looking clean and as I like to say: "classically-aged and era-correct". Thanks also goes to Bill Wanser for rebuilding the Super wires. Top and bottom of-the-era calf heads rounded out this endeavor.
As I said earlier, another "set" is completed; this 5x15 DeLuxe 12 pt. floral Super-Ludwig fits right in middle of my 4x15 and 6.5x15 DeLuxe 12 pt. floral Super-Ludwigs.
Enjoy!
Mike Curotto
