These 1960s Aristocrats were originally either Walnut or Black Walnut/Ebony but somewhere along the line was spray painted black and even over the badges. Some of our forum members thought matching the original Walnut Stain was close to impossible so RyanVonR poured a ton of love and labor into a wrap restoration. Since there were no extra holes ever drilled and they had never been wrapped before, the interiors were kept natural maple finish. I would assume the value of them dropped as soon as they were sanded and wrapped. But to me they are practically priceless. The snare drum I am using with it mostly is a 1982 dw Brass that was polished and then lacquered. I guess the value of that has dropped also since it no longer has the original tarnished finish and has been re-lacquered.? I don't even know where one would begin to get an appraisal.

But, the value was already destroyed by the spray paint job. At this point, a good rewrap would increase the value over the spray painted value. Using an original color wrap, they'll be as good as they're gonna get......

That is a sweet looking kit! My opinion, you have increased the value over what it was previously.

Here's a good case in point:

I picked these up off a forumite cheaply. Bad need of a rewrap. I'm planning on stripping and varnishing. Unoriginal Pearl mount, key rods on the bass, hoops, and spurs. Missing badges and mufflers. But, it's a great sounding set. Do I go thru the whole resto thing, plug the holes, track down original parts, etc? It's going to be a gigging set. I'm not going to. The holes, even if they're plugged are there. With a RIMS mount, the Pearl system won't hurt the sound, they're solid, and it allows me to fly a ride cymbal off the second hole. One less stand in the bag! The spurs are more solid then the original telescoping ones. I'm ok with key rods, they don't catch on bags when loading them up. I could go thru a lot of work and money to end up with a modified SSB kit that I've invested way more then current value in. Or, I can clean it up, and have a good looking, low priced gigging kit. BTW, the evil deeds were done by a big name drum shop, whose owner's well thought of in the vintage world. Maybe he didn't know what's going on in the back room.[IMG]http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad173/wdonley/DSC03412.jpg[/IMG]

One thing I absolutely can't abide is problems in the bearing edges. I've worked on two 60's Slingerland kits and several 60's and 70's Ludwig kits for a local friend and none of these kits had perfect edges and most had some degree of re-ring separation. I always true up the edges and re-contour the profile. I'm sure it harms the value but I don't care. I want my drums to tune up properly.

Steve

Thank you, I think so too. Ryan did an another outstanding restoration job on this one which included truing the bearing edges and plugging the rack tom tone control holes and tom mount holes with maple dowels. It's like owning a brand new drum kit that was made 45 to 50 years ago. Wrapping them in a factory finish would have been the route if I planned on selling them.. I am really happy with and don't regret going with Broken Glass or Silver Glass. Also the BD hoops were given multi coats of automotive grade hi-gloss piano black paint and clear lacquer for a deep wet look instead of the flat black factory style. On this particular set no expense was spared or detail overlooked and with the re-chroming of some of the pitted FT legs and BD claws, the overall total cost was more than a new Craviotto kit. After seeing the posts on the Slingerland WMP restored for a forum members Dad and presented on Fathers day, I decided to go all out on this one. Was it worth it? For me, totally!

point made ,but a big but if u had access to original factory glass wrap it would of been factory correct restoration ....

I think a vintage neglected drum that is left completely in it's original state is an old neglected drum. I much prefer a drum to have been restored, preferably with original parts. How the impacts value is totally up to the buyer.

If the drum is to be used as a player kit, then I would prefer to have it restored to a useful playing condition. As far as I am concerned, that typically means I am not at all bothered with the original mounting hardware as I will probably utilize suspension mounts. Bearing edges may have to be cleaned up or re-cut, Cracked wrap replaced, that sort of thing.

Definitely... What about 20 years from now when the American made vintage drumsets from the hey days from the 20s through the 70s become harder to find in pristine condition? Or the ones restored to original specs? I personally think the prices are going to climb to astronomical heights like we've seen with the guitars. This abundance of cheap, easy access vintage drums won't last forever and I for one think we will all be shocked at how much they will eventually bring...

that pretty much says it all right there!