This is an excellent one. I appreciate you walking us through all the cool stuff. Thanks. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

No problem! That is certainly part of the fun. Still wresting with getting all the glue off the shells. With this heat in the desert right now I may wait a couple weeks to get back outside and wrestle with it.

Nice score! I would have pooched that wrap too

That's a matter of opinion. Stripped shells that are sanded, stained, and clear coated will always look like stripped shells that are sanded, stained, and clear coated. That's my opinion. Those drums would look wonderful if rewrapped in any wrap that suits your fancy.

If you want to unload that double tom mount, I'd like to get it from you.

That is often the case. It has been my experience that I do not possess near the patience to completely strip and clean a previously wrapped shell to the point that it would look good stained. I have seen some drums on the forum that have been done that way and they came out fine, but it would be extremely time consuming and difficult (and would require not a small amount of good fortune to end up with completely undamaged finish plies) to get an entire kit to that point. If it were me I would be re-wrapping.

Those particular drums are not made with finish plies on their exteriors. You could have them professionally painted to look good. You could also apply a finish grade veneer if you want the natural wood look.

I have actually done a couple strip down and re-coats and the hardest part is the prep work. Which most of it you have to do for a re-wrap anyway. Re-wrapping is cool but also way more expensive also. Plus I know when people check out my snare collection the first drum they freak out about every time is my old 40's Leedy that I re-stained. It went from this:

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/skapunk_edge/LeedyUtilitySnarePic001.jpg[/IMG]

to

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i292/skapunk_edge/1940LeedyUtilitySnareBadgeShot.jpg[/IMG]

That Leedy drum's outer ply is a much more presentable (finish grade) than the outer ply found on a late 70's Slingerland drum that was destined to be wrapped from the time it was made.

Good point. I am honestly not sure how the Slingy's are gonna come out and I doubt the grain will look as good as this.... but I think I can still end up with something nice. Maybe I can do the 13 and then decide. I am not against re-wrapping and may end up going that route but I do not believe a nice re-finish is any better or worse than a re-wrap or less obvious for that matter.

Ska,

Obviously you let your own heart blaze the trail ... and all the best for your journey. Just another fun thing to add ... have you thought about a thin natural wood outer wrap added? They are easy to apply and finish and the results are oh so sweet. You could do oak, maple, tiger, or just about any other wood your mind could grasp.