I tried unsuccessfully to strip a champagne sparkle Rogers drum when it was only 17 years old. That thing is now 40 years old...

DOH

My dad was guilty of a few things like that during his drumming career.....he used to have an old 26" Slingerland radio king bass drum shell......somewhere along the line the hardware went missing. By then he was a "ludwig guy" using a Jazzette kit, but he started playing loud blues/r&b/rock again...so he needed something with more "oomph". Dragged out the radio king from the attic, proceeded to cover it in vinyl to somewhat match the black panther finish of the jazzette, fitted ludwig lugs, spurs, cymbal holder bracket and dare I say it? A double tom holder bracket! Yep the hole saw came out! This was in the mid-1970's btw.....it looked good when done, but....IT WAS A FREAKIN' RADIO KING!!!! DOH

One other little faux-pas of his.....the jazzette he had, he ordered new in '68. Ordered it with a shell-mount cymbal holder. Later he added a second one up near the badge......yup....the drill came out again! Never really got it offset enough from the badge...if I remember correctly, it partially covered the keystone badge! So if anyone finds a Jazzette set in black panther with extra holes up by the badge for a shell mount cymbal holder.....CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY! I've been looking to get them back for years!!! :D

Gawd NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!:rolleyes:

BUT, I did add a 2nd tom holder to a Premier 1960s Mahogany Duraplastic bass for a customer, all authentic and symmetrical, looked factory when completed

During my gigging years, I owned many new or slightly used drum sets. I usually got a new set every 12--18 months. The closest I ever came to altering a drum was when I acquired my last gigging set. It was a 12--15 year old Green Glass Glitter three piece Slingerland set that was in never-been-opened shipping boxes up in the attic of one of the oldest music stores in Chicago. I had a chrome Krupa snare to use with the new drums. The nearby Niles factory was able to sell me a matching mounted tom so that I had a five piece set. The one mounted tom original to the set was on a set-o-matic holder mating to a center mount on the bass drum. I simply swapped out the single tom holder for a double tom holder that fit in the same mounting bracket. Other than that, the sanctity for keeping my drums factory original (maybe some laziness, too) kept me from altering the structure and/or the wrap. To me, wrap was always of paramount importance because my first drum set had a Duco finish, and painted or unwrapped drums seemed less than professional to me. Of course, in retrospect, that was absurd thinking on my part.

I would not be surprised to find out that some drummer in Austin, Texas is still gigging with that Slingerland set. I traded it off for a very collectible guitar a few years after I had played my last gig.

I altered my first kit in '73 by playing it into the ground.

It didn't stand a chance, a stencil Telestar......!!!!

I had a 1977 set of 13-14-15-16 Slingerland concert toms mounted on floor stands on either side of a virgin 24" bass drum. In 1982, I stopped using the 13 and 16. I had Columbus Percussion add Slingerland bottom lugs and rims to the 14 and 15 and mount them on a Tama center post.

No regrets at all. That superb rock kit served me well for another 20 years until I gave it to someone who needed it more than I did.

Well, one regret: I should have used a Yamaha mount.

When I was about 15 years old, a buddy of mine bought a used Vox electric guitar from a pawn shop. It was missing the whammy bar. Of course that was the funnest part of the guitarMister T, so we looked around for something that we could screw into the thing in place of the whammy bar. Oh! Guess what? The antique Ludwig juvenile snare drum that had 6 t-rods that my grandma gave me....yes...that t-rod looks like it could....YES!....perfect whammy bar. All I needed to do was bend it into the right shape with a vice and a hammer and....PRESTO!

It still hurts my stomach to think of that drum. I know that my Mom ended up throwing away in a box of junk that went to the dump.

Guilty as charged. In the 70s, I added a 60s Ludwig rail mount to a 60s Ludwig bass drum, to add a 12" tom. Oops, I didn't know. Ignorance is no excuse. What is the punishment your Honor?

If properly done,and it appears to be a factory job, does it really matter? Many drums were sent as virgins to music stores or drum shops that would customize the drums to the store's or the consumer's preferences. Ringo's Ludwigs with a Rogers Swivomatic tom holder???