These drums are without a doubt the cleanest most reliable "Players grade" Bomber set of unborn together drums out there. Every screw nut bolt and bits as well as interior moisturized and protected shells has been addressed. All of the drums will have medium modern batter heads and thinner reso heads that are a combination of Aquarian vintage and remo ambassadors.. The BD has an Aquarian SKIII batter head and the Fiberskyn Reso head. The snare has been modified for maximum performance with in its original design. Calfskin could be an option for a reflected price and of course results are not guaranteed. (SOLD)
SHELLS
All of the shells exterior are cleaned polished and waxed. The 16 was very poorly stored and was quite yellow. It had several cracks along the pattern of the WMP flake finish. Each one was drilled at the ends of the cracks to stop any further travel ,filled with glue and then sanded to allow the finish plastic powder to fill in and resume as close to original as possible. It was then completely wet sanded polished and buff waxed to match the other drums better. The seam was badly lifted and cracked. There was a Ludwig leg mount over it as well. It has been glued back down and the mount was replaced with 2 carriage bolts. This drum came with 3 early 60's Ludwig floor tom leg mounts and no legs. They were all cleaned polished and comparable legs were sourced and work perfectly.
ALL OF THE interiors have been sanded and Linseed oiled 2 coats. The edges have been sanded smooth,oiled and candle waxed for head lubrication. The 13 was tung oiled many coats by the previous owner and has a gloss finish.
The Bass Drum light socket and light assembly was left intact. A makeshift double male ended cord was made to allow the lights to function again. When plugged in, both sides of the shell mounted outlet work to act as another electrical source on stage. This of course can remain or be removed by the next owner
The original hoop clip mounts for the 13 & 14 toms are included in the sale. . It is suggested to use a snare stand for the 13 and the modified conversion plate mounting system on the 14 which utilizes the late 50's Ludwig tom mount that was originally on the 16 floor tom. A large round conversion plate with 2 large rubber grommets was fabricated for the Ludwig mount to be used with a clamp "L" arm that is retro fitted to the original Slingerland mounting holes. Solid trouble free mounting with no floor stands or extra holes in the shell. Conversion mount system and the "L" arm stand clamp is included in the sale price.
LUGS
EVERY lug has been disassembled cleaned and buffed. Most were replaced with matching dark colored unbroken or cracked ones for cross kit uniformity and reliability. Each one is cotton stuffed. Any of the original fine threaded machine head screws that stripped the wooden lugs upon reassembly were replaced with stainless steel 10x3/4 slotted wood screws for a tight grip and a vintage appearance.
RODS AND CLIPS
EVERY rod and clip was chosen for each drum. . . . They all spent time in a vibratory unit for any rust removal, cleaned, buffed on a bench wheel and matched to a similar clip and lug insert
HOOPS
ALL of the wooden hoops were sanded and re-lacquered. Some were reglued at the scarf joints for a tight fit and closed gaps. They were mounted to the shells in an offset position to create the best uniformed seating of the heads. Some were slightly bent downward from years of the clips tension in one spot. Some are slightly bulged which is common for 79 year old wood poorly stored for decades.
SNARE DRUM
Some areas of the bearing edges were glued and clamped back to zero separation. The original throw arm was snapped at the adjustment bolt and long gone. This one is a modern replica that was sanded,steel wooled and dremeled to resemble an original one of the same time period. The wooden throw bodies were drilled for modern wood screws to ensure a fail proof tight fit of the ORIGINAL snare wires. The tension spring on the butt side spring was shortened by clipping 5 of the coils to allow increased travel and tension of the wires.which in turn, increases the amount of tension from very loose to crispy in and pitch range and creates maximum performance of the snare system. The snare side hoop was replaced with one from another donor Bomber snare drum. The original was completely separated and broken. The plastic mounting brackets have one modern brass mounting screw as the original was missing. One of them was modified to allow a straight adjustment of the wooden bodies to line up the snare wires to the snare beds.
Please note that these are nothing like your past drum experiences.. There is an odd number of 5 lugs per side on the 13. The snare has only 6 lugs per side. This means that there is offset tension points on the snare side of the head in relation to the snare beds and wires.
However, the absence of any metal on the shells allows the sound vibration to pass through the lugs instead of being interrupted by them.