Advice on drum restoration

[ozbeat]

I'm seeking advice on restoring a drum kit. It's a Rogers set, made in California around 1975. It's made from 5 ply maple, about 4mm thick. The larger drums have reinforcing hoops near the heads. At some stage a previous owner (one of my friends said he must have been a 'true crapsman') has removed the plastic wrapping; drilled extra holes for bottom heads and Japanese fittings and stained the bare shells sort of orange. Anyway my question here is about repairing holes, some large and some small. With the screw holes, I thought of dowels cut to fit, but even though the kit may be eventually recovered, I wondered if it might be better to find some maple for this. And for the larger holes, should I shape some solid wood or try to get maple or similar ply and bend it first? Finally, In the picture, the 8" tom once had a single skin. To convert it to two, it has had new holes very badly drilled for dual snare lugs. But the job is so bad - they're not even straight. Should I fill and move the blocks slightly rather than try to salvage the holes that are there? Is there a filler strong enough to re-drill? I do appreciate your time.

[contrebasse]

I'm no drum expert, but for the holes - I'd get a tapered plug cutter and glue plugs in with epoxy with the grain lined up the right way. then trim flush. If you're going to paint the kit as opposed to leaving it woodgrain, you could just use epoxy to fill the holes. The big hole is nasty. I'd try to steam a veneer or ply patch to the same curve (use the shell as a form) then glue it in, with a backing veneer on the inside, slightly oversize.

[ozbeat]

Thanks for the reply, which has some great advice. I spoke to Jeff Mallia today - he is a fantastic luthier; his advice echoed some of yours.

1) Dowel the small holes.
2) Use Techniglue (a 2 part epoxy) for all glueing. He recommended CARBA-TEC as an excellent web site for woodworkers.
3) Given my limited expertise, he said I should buy some North American maple and basically craft a plug for the larger hole using a bench sander with 60 to 80 paper first and then fill proud and sand it down by hand.
4) Recover the drums but use the taped on variety as opposed to the full glue wrap as glue is a sound deadener.

So - off I go . . . .

[HiString]

Oz,

Before doing too much (if any) work I think you should decide how you are going to refinish the shells as this could dictate the degree of work required to correct the bodgy work already done.

The options are.........stain, solid colour, veneer or to rewrap.

Re the shell needing the large patch...........if you can tell me the exact outside diameter and the shell thickness, I may have something amongst shell offcuts here which would match up, alternatively, I may be able to point you towards someone who has more than I do ;) .

Also, are you wanting to source original Rogers lugs, etc., to bring the kit back to it's "original" appearance including "vintage" style wrap?

Work out your goals for the kit, then you are in a position to determine approx., costs and decide whether you can justify the exercise.

Cheers :cool:

[ozbeat]

Thanks for your post HiString. The kit will never be pristine. I knew that when I bought it. But basically all the components are there for a great recording kit. All the lugs and tension rods are Rogers. The 8" has the Memriloc mount. It was moved to allow a bottom head, which was badly done using double lugs. I have just purchased 8 Rogers lugs and 8 tension rods and I now intend to restore 4 to their original positions and offset 4 for the bottome head. It's a little more 'busy' but I prefer the original top 4 lugs to remain in their original holes. I haven't decided yet if what mounting systems to use. The kit will be a wrap (probably Vintage Blue Pearl) so I plan on simply doing a good job on filling the holes securely. The hole in the 8" is an oval about 55 x 45. If you have anything that would suit for a patch, I will gladly pay you something for it. Thanks again for your advice and interest.

[HiString]

Oz,

The smallest I have is 10" which won't help, however, you could contact Sleishmans, Ph; 96009472 and ask if they have any offcuts from 8" shells.

I don't know what the availability of wrap is locally but if you need it, I can give you the names and contact details for US suppliers who carry a lot of gear. If my experiences with snare hardware are any indication, even allowing for shipping, chances are it will be cheaper to import.

:cool:

[ozbeat]

I spent a couple of days carefully removing as much of the orange wood stain from the shells as possible, polished every metal part and then put the kit together just to see how it sounded. Fantastic, luckily. But even though it looks a lot better, what finish can I put on the raw shells that will protect them, but can be easily removed? I still haven't decided what the final finish will be yet. The shells are maple/poplar ply . . . thanks for your time.

[HiString]

Hmmmm..........protection that can be easily removed (I'll ignore the first smartarsed comment that came to mind :D ).

Wrap is usually applied to shells in one of two ways......1) a contact adhesive is applied to the whole surface and it is gradually rolled around the shell and trimmed for a small overlap at the ends......2) only about 2" of either end is glued down BUT the wrap has to be pulled tight around the shell for this to work well. While wrap will give the shells the best "protection", it will probably be costly AND later removal will be a pain in the butt because of glue residue in the timber.

Your best option is probably to give the shells a light coat or two of water based clear lacquer, this will stop the bare timber from getting grubby and when the time comes, it can be sanded off with minimal effort. If you were to spray, then make sure to mask off to stop paint getting on the bearing edges or soaking through any holes in the shells.

Cheers :cool:

[Reppy]

Once you get that baby as good as new it'll have a beautiful sound.

[drozzy]

At this stage mate, seeing as there are already a number of holes etc that marr the shells visually, maybe the use of a wrap or veneer would be the easiest solution? Australian Music Suppliers (AMS) sell a series of cut to size veneers/wraps in a number of colours (as well as a faux wood grain) that you just have to epoxy on.

You will most probably need to get the bearing edges re-cut, and get them cut on the resonant side of the shell, which may prove costly. You would be able to sinply plug all the holes with dowel if you were to wrap the shells, i recently refinished an old 70's rock kit, using dowel and wood putty to fix all the holes, however i painted my finish in polyurethane.

A common fix for plugging those holes, and keeping some resonance, is using cork, i have seen quite a few refinishes using corks of various sizes to plug holes.

[codie]

Hello There
I know this is an old advice posting.
For anyone looking to like this set. I would think it is not worth repairing a drum like this 8" tom mentioned. You can buy very good condition used Rogers shells for low price with out any extra holes drilled. And in a matching covering to your other drums. There are no other pictures of the other drums so I can not determine what you do have in the way of coverings etc. if all the shells do need recovering I would look for a set of shells and you can use all your nice fittings etc. but yes if your shells are nice and round and in excellent condition and you would like the task of recovering go for it but this is a big job and may not work out all that well. They can pull away and crack later on and even pull your shells out of round.

There is a alternative. A company called Keller who makes new shells with bearings already cut and I think they will also put new raps of your choice if you wonted them too and all you would have to do is drill accurate for your fittings etc. This company used to make shells for Rogers at some time in the past.

I know this is a wood working forum and I am not trying to take you away from woodworking and wood repairs. I think if you love wood and like drums. Try making a drum. The stave stile drum shell is a good place to start and can be quite rewording.

For your Rogers 1975 drum is a very good drum and I think was made in Fullerton California. They moved from Ohio in 1969.when Fender bought them Maybe called CBS. The sixties vintages are the most wonted even though the late 60’s and 70’s are some of there best drums made too. I play a set of Rogers 60’s Cleveland’s and a good solid drum & sound.

This 1975 drum could be a Big R series and are cheep as chips. Around like ebay etc. you should not have any problems finding shells for these if Big R

Anyway hope this help anyone with this sort of problems and given plenty of thoughts.

Cheers.

:2tsup: