They say free advice is worth what it cost you! With that in mind, here's my advice: Do to it exactly what you did when you first bought it! If it was great then it should work great now. Put the same kind of heads back on it as were on it when first purchased, throw in a wool blanket, and you're good to go! I've made several observations over the years as regards the older 3-ply shells. Usually the kits and drums that were sold with skin heads when brand new were designed and manufactured with the thought that skin heads would continue to be used on them. I've struggled many times with the older WFL and Slingerland drums with mahogany interiors after putting new mylar heads on them - particularly so when fitting them with pinstripes, sound center, muffle rings, etc... . Then all it took to make them "sing" again would be to reinstall calf heads top and bottom. Same goes when fitting calf heads on the newer production microwaved shells with 6 - 9 plys and precision cut bearing edges - they sing with plastic tensioned up, but not so much with old Radio King calf heads tensioned on them. Of course the exceptions always prove the rule here, but this has been my experience. So in closing, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Put that drum back just like the day you brought it home and enjoy that thumping boom! DOH
*afterthought - I remember when I got my first Clubdate kit in 63, got it home and taped a thick handkerchief folded into a square over the center of the BD head with masking tape or duct tape holding it on and across the handkerchief itself! One real felt strip laid across the shell behind the batter and resonator heads. The old red Speedmaster pedal with Ludwig hard felt beater ball - An old rickety metal counter stool to serve as the "throne" - Add one 18" Ludwig "Standard" all purpose cymbal and go! It's been such a long time from those days that we tend to forget just how many modern "drum accessories" have been made and marketed which we take for granted now and think we need to "get a good sound" - things like kevlar BD beater patches, Remo rings, "power heads", etc... few if any of which ever can capture or recall that "sound" that thrilled us when we set up and played our drums way back when long before they became "vintage".
