http://www.nodarrode.com/ Mark I bet he'd remember the drum. And might have some insight to it's condition before he worked on it. I remember that name from some cymbal repair threads I think it was. BTW solid maple shell on this one?

I suppose you can't really blame him. As far as I know he's only doing drums that people hire him to do so the alterations are really on the owners. If you want a modern sound buy a modern drum. Like buying a cat and then taking it to the vet to have it made to bark.

I'm sure he has "saved" some drums with seriously messed up edges...but maybe be a bit more discreet about it. Can you ask him not to do the sharpie thing?

Some folks probably think that sharpie inscription on their vintage drum adds value but I'd suspect when it comes time to sell it would have the opposite effect and have a negative impact on the selling price.

I'm with K.O. Here why take a sharpie and write on the bearing edge. He could easily just give the client a repair itemized receipt, With his company logo and verification the work was performed. No guitar luthier of any account would do this, Nor would AK Drums or a top motorcycle or car restorer.

I'm with you 100%, sir! All this amounts to, in my opinion, is defacing with no other intent than publicizing in order to make a few bucks down the line!!!

Brian

I think this is a more recent thing. I know for a long while he had the Manhattan Drum Shop, and I don't believe he wrote on the drums then. I know the shop has since closed. I have actually come across a few on CL that he worked on, and surprisingly some people are willing to pay more because he worked on them. I guess some actually seek his work out.

They want their drums "nodarized".

Laughing H

Except for the bathroom graffiti Sharpie tag, I see nothing wrong there; perhaps I'm missing something.

It doesn't look like he put a modern 45/45 edge on it.

When I got my set of Slingerlands, every edge on the set wobbled and was uneven in thickness and angle.

They needed enough action on the sanding table that I had to finish the edges up on the router table by cutting an inner 45 and an outer roundover, which matched as closely as possible what the original spec seemed to have been, except the original edges were too sloppy to really figure out what they had in mind.

After I did this the drums were much easier to tune and sounded better, with more body and sustain.

Musical instruments that are being played often need maintenance and adjustment as the materials they are made from (usually wood) age change over the decades. Guitars get their frets leveled, pianos get their action overhauled, wind instruments get new mouthpieces, new reeds, get dents removed, etc.

Perhaps we would like to believe that every drum that left the Slingerland or wherever factory was as good as it could possibly be, or some rare fragile gem to be appreciated no matter what its imperfections, but I know that not to be the case. I have seen plenty of factory botches inside of vintage drums.

For all anyone knows, that drum could have been dropped at some point, putting a big ding in the bottom edge.

I wouldn't alter a vintage drum in a way that ruined its original character, but I am also not afraid to (as gently as possible) correct whatever age, damage or manufacturing flaws are getting in the way of its being a good musical instrument.

(steps down from soapbox)

YMMV of course.

Well, the "outrage" is mostly due to the use of the Sharpie pen. However, I dont see the need to change bearing edges on 1920's-30's Ludwigs, as they are usually quite nice. Maybe it had a chunk out of it. It's just the bold black writing on top that is in question. I'd be less than thrilled if a drum was returned to me with that on it.

No kidding! Yes, "angry to the point of stupefaction" is "less than thrilled."

To me, it's all the more heinous that the actual edge work looks pretty top-notch.

Maybe a low-tack adhesive sticker on the inside of the shell to add to the chain of provenance, but a scrawl like that that probably sank into the wood so far that it can't even be sanded out?

The guy doesn't even have good penmanship.