You are speaking of the granitone coating. As far as sonic differences ... who knows. Some swear it has a muting effect. Some claim it reflects the sound better than natural wood. Then there are those that simply cannot hear a difference. Whereever you fall into that category, you can't deny the quality of the build or the beauty of the sound. Personally, I wouldn't attempt to remove the coating. Personally.

JWR.... I love your signature..... !!

Granitone, thats it. thanks. I really wanted a clear inner shell 3 ply to go with a restoration. But what the heck.

The story I read in Rob Cooks Ludwig book said that Ludwig in the early 70's was using shells with some int being Maple some being Mahogany,more so on the Floor toms and Basses,the granitone finish of course made the int match,I bought a kit new off the floor in 77/78 and it had mixed shells,maple int with granitone int.I have never seen an non granitone mahogany int from that era,it would be interesting to see what you would find underneath,if it was mahogany,you can buy spray can stuff that looks a lot like granitone if you wanted to change back.

I suppose that grey finish was choosen simply for the fact that they didn't have to apply a cosmentic grade veneer and a spray of clear to the interiors of the drum. The finsih was probably also considered more attractive than the "singular" paint color of the past.

I would say that it doesn't really affect the tone of the shell dramatically or else every drum would have a stain/laquer finish rather than a wrap finsh?

If I'm not mistaken wasn't the "granitone" from Zolatone... but then again that was a lot of G&T's ago....

I've owned both and there is no difference in tone as far as I can tell. From what I understand granitone interiored drums have maple interiors. Ludwig sometimes used a mahogony outer ply on bigger drums but rarely on the interior. I also had a mixed set from the 70's that had granitone on the toms and the bass drum (14x26) had a maple interior.

Personally, I prefer granitone interiors since they are considered less desirable, can be bought at a discount and they sound fantastic. I've got a hodge podge kit right now with a granitone interior 18" floor tom which I will probably refinish clear to match the rest of my kit when the time comes to do the re-wrap on the toms...

It sounds as if you have done the procedure before. Could you elaborate on the process to remove the coating? I'm not certain I will do it yet, but would like to understand the steps to help evaluate.

Regular old fashioned paint stripper would work, but why bother? They sound EXACTLY the same as the white painted and clear interiors. Anybody that tells you they can hear a difference is so full of it it isn't funny! The other reason for not removing the granitone is that if it came that way, you are now de-valueing the drum even more! Its not original anymore so the value just went in the dumper. You might as well start drilling extra holes in it, start spray painting over the original wrap and any other myriads of horror shows I've seen done to Ludwigs over the years.

Do your self a favor and just leave them be. If you are using coated heads, you're not going to see the interiors of the drums anyway.

I haven't attempted it myself but if I decide to do it, I'll just sand it by hand and refinish with varnish or tung oil. My tom is a keeper so I'm not to worried about originality since I am going to re-warp it as well. I can tell you this, it would be a lot less work to just leave them as is and I especially wouldn't use paint stripper if I was going to do it. Too messy and you can end up f&%ing up the exterior. And it certainly could have an impact on resale value so if you're not planning on keeping them...