I have a mid-70's olive and blue badged 6 1/2" Ludwig Super Sensitive that had the almost usual pitting/flaking/aluminum and chrome incapatibility sydrome so I had been searching for a way to improve it's appearance. I have seen guys paint them in some pretty interesting hammered paint finishes, but wanted to steer away from something else on the drum so I asked a neighbor friend of mine if he thought lathing it would work. He thought it could so he did and it did. I now have a brushed aluminum finish Super Sensitive and the contrast between the aluminum and chrome is striking. I decided to leave it in a "brushed" appearance rather than a super smooth polished look for the time being but if I ever get bored I guess I could polish it. I suspect I devalued the drum somewhat as even the pitted ones have decent value, but I traded that off for a unique appearance and one of a kind. Not very many of you have neighbors with lathes, but if anyone is interested I'm sure you could locate a woodworker with one. Here it is with a picture of my neighbor and his work:

http://s724.photobucket.com/user/ken960/library/Drums?sort=3&page=1

(If anyone can tell me how I can copy the pics directly from My Pictures to a thread please let me know!)

Ken