If you're talking to me?, I'm saying even though my RK is out of round, it wasn't necessary to repair it (if there is such a thing for an out of round solid steambent shell) for it to sound great.

If a drum needs a repair for it to be playable, I'm all for it. We are supposed to play our drums, not wish they were playable. I really don't give a hoot if it hurts the value or not, to me it's more valuable playable than not.

IMHO....

I'm thinking we are together on that ??

Kev

:)

Mike, I think it's great you repair your own edges, I at this stage of the game just dont have the knowledge and confidence to pull it off. I am afraid I would make it worse. But if I get one that doesnt sound good I am not opposed to boxing it up and sending it off to get fixed. In the end I'm buying these things to play.

Again I'm just trying to see what normal is. All of my modern drums are close to perfectly flat, the vintage stuff not even close,but I always end up taking the vintage stuff out to play. Wether its cymbals, snares or hardware for that matter, it just feels good. I'm just starting to really favor the older stuff and want to learn all I can about them. And when I learn enough I'll be fixing edges myself to.

Hey Kev;

That post wasn't directed at you.

We are together on this. My point was that if a drum isn't playable it is a paperweight. It may be a gorgeous "original" paperweight, but a paperweight none the less.

Playing vintage stuff is great. The newest kit I play is early 80's. If they are functioning as intended, leave them alone. However, if they aren't there is nothing to be lost by having quality restoration work done. If you aren't comfortable doing edges yourself, no shame in that. Just make sure that you send it out to someone who understands resto vs. hack and slash repair.

I had a Rogers Powertone snare, the whole drum was out of round, I actually had to "ovalize" new heads to put them on. you could not tune it low but cranked mid to tight it killed! ...traded it for a guitar.Violin