It runs the full course from the policing story, that leedybdp writes about above, all the way to idiots like me who say, "If they look lousy fix them so they'll look nice." I might acknowledge an exception for some piece of vintage gear that is highly unusual and/or very historical. Example: You own Joe Morello's silver sparkle Ludwig kit from 1964. In that case, I'd leave it as is. Fact is, doing or not doing it on a mid-sixties Slingerland 20,13,16 kit should not affect the final value one way or the other. Doing a good job on them is the main thing and then acknowledge that when you sell them.
I'm in your group of "idiots". I want my vintage drums to look original at a glance. I don't obsess about tension rods--except for the handles on bass drum T's. I learned that most black bass drum hoops were painted with a semi gloss paint rather than high gloss. So, that's what I spray them with. I'm not fond of metal bass drum hoops as replacements for original wood hoops.
