i believe these are the Tension Rod Spacers he is refering too.

found these on guitar centers website so im sure they have them in store.

i agree with the last guy , wrap the hoops in white marine pearl. looks awesome.

if your trying to save money, hack saw the Rods.

If you dont mind spending some money get the right length rods.(less work)

drum looks great

Bingo..! that them..(if for 1/4" these are find / if its 1/2" then maybe..

A very small diameter piece of CONDUIT..any hardware store..

@3/8" diameter (on the outside) & also make sure the inside hole is big enough for the rod.Then cut into the sizes you need,,..

Or another way to hide some space (only 1/4" though)

is too put a little form padding inside the claw lip that wraps around the hoop..its wrks great along with the plastic spacers..

these two ideas combined can usually help with almost 1/2"..

Thanks guys for all the feedback the spacers worked perfectly. drum is 99% done, just need to address the spurs. Can someone tell me what page # in the 1970 sling catalog is the 20 x 18 bass drum? LOL

I used those same leggs(LP claw rods) on my first conversion, but the (gretsch)mounts would always loosen. I would go with hoop mounted leggs.

Gary,

That is a great looking drum. Very cool. I bet it sound good as well. If you like the maple hoops then just do a satin finish. Otherwise, ship them to Jeff and he will stain and put on some level sealer, and some other technical pre catalyst mojo coolness and they will be the best ever. Covering them completely with WMP (if you can get a decent match) would be cool as well.

I found some stainless steel spacer pieces at a hardware store for the tension rod spacers. Different diameters, different lengths available. They almost look like original, especially from about a foot away.