My 1961 Ludwig Joe Morello Kit Restoration - Bill Ray

This story goes way beyond the mere restoration of a drum set but rather this is a sense of full-circledness that I've arrived at in my life at this very moment.

I've always been a drummer, I just kinda knew what my calling in life was from the moment I understood what that funny thing called a "musical pulse" was; the yin/yang of kick and snare drum spoke to me like a voice from on high. I think this was probably before my second birthday.

My upbringing was fortunate in that I was grafted into a musical life by way of my lineage and also in a nepotistic manner by the family photography business. My parents did a lot of work with Malaco Records, a label that was instrumental in helping to lend a megaphone to many of the "mainstay" Blues musicians that one will hear on the radio at any given time. Both my grandparents on my mom's side were musicians, and my uncle Albert Francis "Pud" Brown was a world-renowned clarinetist / sax player who worked with such luminaries as Danny Barker, Pete Fountain and many others in the New Orleans jazz scene.

But the real genetic and physical connection I was given to the drums was through my father, who at one time enjoyed a life as a working professional musician. I have very little information on my dad's playing except for a couple of recordings from the early 1960's that, having heard them in my 40's for the first time would have thought it was myself playing on these tracks! Scary stuff indeed…

At the age of 12 my parents suffered the inevitable for that time / geography / mindset and they ended up on opposite sides of the divorce table. This was rather unfortunate because my father took his drums for personal reasons and I was without a kit for a little while. I can still hear my 12 year old self saying "I'll never play drums again". That worked out well...

So for the next couple of decades this kit sat in a closet in Mississippi and one day I got a letter from my dad. Attached to that letter were a couple of UPS boxes containing the remnants of my childhood, namely my old drum set.

I took delivery of the kit sometime in 2001, and through that interim I too ended up in the same seat in regards to my nuptial arrangements and the drums once again went into the dark place for another 12 years.

It was with the spirit of a "Father/Son Project" involving myself and my own son, 12 years old now, that I decided to "turn karma around" and rather than remove this drum set from a 12 year old, I would BESTOW it to him!

A BIG JOB AHEAD...

I pulled all the shells out of the cases and did a cursory inspection; they appeared to be in sound condition but man, were they fugly! The date stamp inside the shells read "Feb. 8, 1961" and are clear-sealed, not white painted. So I knew I was onto something rather special. The drums are 14x22, 9x13 and 16x16 with a 5x14 Super-Phonic Ludwig snare.

As it would turn out, this kit is the "Silver Sparkle Joe Morello Model" with a couple of modifications obviously done by my father. The original spurs had been replaced by a couple of the "disappearing" type spurs. Apparently back in those days that design was considered "enough" to prevent the drum from walking across the stage. My, how technology has changed for the better! Also, the cymbal mounts that were once attached to the bass drum were removed and the drill holes filled in and patched with a nearly perfect-fitting piece of sparkle covering.

I began by pulling all the hardware off the drum and taking inventory of what I would need to bring this old beauty back into service. As it worked out all I needed was ONE lug casing! Everything lee was there with the exception of that lug casing and a couple of tension rods. No big deal, a trip to a collector friend of mine David Jansen solved that debacle.

Once I had everything prepared I set about to clean the shells. 51 years of funk, closet grit, cigarette smoke from gigs past, the Coke I spilled on the drum when I was 4, the time I took a magic marker to the bass drum when I was 3, I even found a drip of what appeared to be chocolate ice cream, probably from when I was jamming in my room to KISS records and stopped for a snack. Memories flooded back to me in droves throughout this process and I often found myself in deep introspect of where I was in life and how congruent my picture "then" of how I am "now" played out. So far, so good.

It took a ton of elbow grease and some 220 grit sandpaper to rasp these down to something that looked decent. I really was not too concerned about being overly careful because it was my intention should the finish be beyond repair that I would just recover them in a similar color. That was not necessary, as the shells revealed a beautiful Ginger-Ale like tint once the grime was removed. They seemed to be almost smiling at me! I opted to dry-sand them because I did not want to risk damaging the shells with any sort of liquid.

After the sandpaper treatment I hit them with a bit of rubbing compound. This brought up a little deeper luster and finally I finished them with a coat of Turtle Wax from the auto parts store. Why did I use Turtle Wax? I have no idea, I had heard over the years that a hard shell Carnauba wax was actually beneficial to the finish of an older drum so I decided to just jump headfirst into that. Good thing it didn't turn them green!

Once the shells were completed and looking more incredible than I'd even imagined them, it was time to clean up the hardware. So I began using a product called Cymbal Shield by Solo Percussion Products. It's a great cymbal cleaner that is new on the market and it cleaned everything up to a brilliant shine. At some point I got wise and threw all the casings into the sink with some dishwashing detergent to loosen all the grime and dirt; I had been cleaning them with the Cymbal Shield cleaner on a rag and that was somewhat counterproductive.

When it was all shined up it was assembly time! Yay, the very moment I'd been waiting for. I opted for Satin Finish Aquarians on the toms, Classic Clears on the bottoms, and a Superkick II on the bass drum with a pre-cut front head with the offset hole. These choices proved to be the correct ones! During the quest for heads I had talked to David Jansen and he told me that standard sized heads were fine. It was the older Gretsch and Slingerland that required the "oversized" hoops that Aquarian American Classics provided.

THAT SOUND...

On the day the heads arrived I put them on and got everything tuned up and held them up for a couple of strikes- Every time I hit these drums flashbacks of my childhood kept appearing behind my eyes so much to the point of invoking tears as I reflected back onto that very tumultuous time in my 12 year old mind. These drums had given me a sanctuary to hide within; something that was louder and more powerful than the raised voices in the house! These drums saved my life, I'm certain of it.

With as much as I sought to keep it all original, that was not really possible for the sonic quality I was shooting for. Prior to the 2012 Nashville Drum Show I ordered a 16" RIMS floor tom cradle. In the process of doing that I had exchanged emails with Gary Gauger himself and he told me "wait until the show, I've got the perfect thing for that 13" tom if you're going to mount it in a snare basket". Wow, he pretty much read my mind! I was fully intending on putting the drum on a snare stand rather than adding the old console mount with the tongue-style tom mount. Plus the thought of choking down the wonderful resonance of that shell with a big clunky plate…notsomuch an idea I'd like to engage.

Upon my return from 2012NDS, the RIMS floor tom mount had arrived and was waiting to be installed. For the record, as simple as the concept of a RIMS mount is, the newer ones with the moveable eyelets are a real trick to mastering the assembly of. Took the better part of an hour to get that set up. Next time I'll read the directions.

The 13" tom has a very unique mounting bracket; it's the Gauger "Flex Frame" and it fastens to the drum via these small plastic clips that attach to the lugs. Those in turn clasp onto a thin metal ring that sits in the snare stand and everything rides on this very precarious yet solid arrangement of hard durometer plastic and steel. The results under microphones are outstanding!

IT'S TIME TO PLAY THESE OLD TUBS!

Upon getting everything assembled I was thinking that I would christen their reawakening by playing some grandiose stage somewhere at some killer gig with a rockin' band. Instead, my kid and I took them over to a friend of his' place and I let him have a go at my old stomping' grounds. He seemed to enjoy them, being the Bonham/Moon/Nick Mason fanatic that he is at such an early age.

The first gig was actually at a small beach bar in South Mission beach, Ca called the Beachcomber. I played with some friends of mine, some "vintage dudes" and they were in full appreciation of the older drums to compliment the tunes we were doing. Yeah, this kit was made to ROCK & ROLL!

A recent project that I involved this kit in is the recording of an album with the blues vocalist Earl Thomas of old Ike & Tina tunes; The Kings of Rhythm (Ike's band, we still continue to play) backed him up on the recording and we are set to tour Europe in the spring of 2013. These drums won't be traveling with me but rather they will be staying at home, doing what they seem to do best- develop young drummers into competent players!

NEW MEETS OLD

Speaking of my son, he's recently found a band of sorts and they are jamming on some old classic blues and rock tunes. These drums are now pretty much under his control and it's my wish that they help him find his voice as a drummer, as they did for me all those years ago. I think he's going to be just fine.

This story goes way beyond the mere restoration of a drum set but rather this is a sense of full-circledness that I've arrived at in my life at this very moment.

I've always been a drummer, I just kinda knew what my calling in life was from the moment I understood what that funny thing called a "musical pulse" was; the yin/yang of kick and snare drum spoke to me like a voice from on high. I think this was probably before my second birthday.

The trio before sanding

Crusty the Bass Drum

And Bubba the 13 tom

His cousin Derelict the floor tom

Stamp in 16 tom

Detail of cymbal mount filled with patch

Detail of bass drum interior

Bass drum with mounts filled in

bass drum edge

bass drum date stamp

13 tom edges

Inside the 13 tom

16 tom edges

sanded shell

The first one to be finished

before-after

then-now

Xairan Ray on th Drums

My upbringing was fortunate in that I was grafted into a musical life by way of my lineage and also in a nepotistic manner by the family photography business. My parents did a lot of work with Malaco Records, a label that was instrumental in helping to lend a megaphone to many of the "mainstay" Blues musicians that one will hear on the radio at any given time. Both my grandparents on my mom's side were musicians, and my uncle Albert Francis "Pud" Brown was a world-renowned clarinetist / sax player who worked with such luminaries as Danny Barker, Pete Fountain and many others in the New Orleans jazz scene.

But the real genetic and physical connection I was given to the drums was through my father, who at one time enjoyed a life as a working professional musician. I have very little information on my dad's playing except for a couple of recordings from the early 1960's that, having heard them in my 40's for the first time would have thought it was myself playing on these tracks! Scary stuff indeed…

At the age of 12 my parents suffered the inevitable for that time / geography / mindset and they ended up on opposite sides of the divorce table. This was rather unfortunate because my father took his drums for personal reasons and I was without a kit for a little while. I can still hear my 12 year old self saying "I'll never play drums again". That worked out well...

So for the next couple of decades this kit sat in a closet in Mississippi and one day I got a letter from my dad. Attached to that letter were a couple of UPS boxes containing the remnants of my childhood, namely my old drum set.

I took delivery of the kit sometime in 2001, and through that interim I too ended up in the same seat in regards to my nuptial arrangements and the drums once again went into the dark place for another 12 years.

It was with the spirit of a "Father/Son Project" involving myself and my own son, 12 years old now, that I decided to "turn karma around" and rather than remove this drum set from a 12 year old, I would BESTOW it to him!

A BIG JOB AHEAD...

I pulled all the shells out of the cases and did a cursory inspection; they appeared to be in sound condition but man, were they fugly! The date stamp inside the shells read "Feb. 8, 1961" and are clear-sealed, not white painted. So I knew I was onto something rather special. The drums are 14x22, 9x13 and 16x16 with a 5x14 Super-Phonic Ludwig snare.

As it would turn out, this kit is the "Silver Sparkle Joe Morello Model" with a couple of modifications obviously done by my father. The original spurs had been replaced by a couple of the "disappearing" type spurs. Apparently back in those days that design was considered "enough" to prevent the drum from walking across the stage. My, how technology has changed for the better! Also, the cymbal mounts that were once attached to the bass drum were removed and the drill holes filled in and patched with a nearly perfect-fitting piece of sparkle covering.

I began by pulling all the hardware off the drum and taking inventory of what I would need to bring this old beauty back into service. As it worked out all I needed was ONE lug casing! Everything lee was there with the exception of that lug casing and a couple of tension rods. No big deal, a trip to a collector friend of mine David Jansen solved that debacle.

Once I had everything prepared I set about to clean the shells. 51 years of funk, closet grit, cigarette smoke from gigs past, the Coke I spilled on the drum when I was 4, the time I took a magic marker to the bass drum when I was 3, I even found a drip of what appeared to be chocolate ice cream, probably from when I was jamming in my room to KISS records and stopped for a snack. Memories flooded back to me in droves throughout this process and I often found myself in deep introspect of where I was in life and how congruent my picture "then" of how I am "now" played out. So far, so good.

It took a ton of elbow grease and some 220 grit sandpaper to rasp these down to something that looked decent. I really was not too concerned about being overly careful because it was my intention should the finish be beyond repair that I would just recover them in a similar color. That was not necessary, as the shells revealed a beautiful Ginger-Ale like tint once the grime was removed. They seemed to be almost smiling at me! I opted to dry-sand them because I did not want to risk damaging the shells with any sort of liquid.

After the sandpaper treatment I hit them with a bit of rubbing compound. This brought up a little deeper luster and finally I finished them with a coat of Turtle Wax from the auto parts store. Why did I use Turtle Wax? I have no idea, I had heard over the years that a hard shell Carnauba wax was actually beneficial to the finish of an older drum so I decided to just jump headfirst into that. Good thing it didn't turn them green!

Once the shells were completed and looking more incredible than I'd even imagined them, it was time to clean up the hardware. So I began using a product called Cymbal Shield by Solo Percussion Products. It's a great cymbal cleaner that is new on the market and it cleaned everything up to a brilliant shine. At some point I got wise and threw all the casings into the sink with some dishwashing detergent to loosen all the grime and dirt; I had been cleaning them with the Cymbal Shield cleaner on a rag and that was somewhat counterproductive.

When it was all shined up it was assembly time! Yay, the very moment I'd been waiting for. I opted for Satin Finish Aquarians on the toms, Classic Clears on the bottoms, and a Superkick II on the bass drum with a pre-cut front head with the offset hole. These choices proved to be the correct ones! During the quest for heads I had talked to David Jansen and he told me that standard sized heads were fine. It was the older Gretsch and Slingerland that required the "oversized" hoops that Aquarian American Classics provided.

THAT SOUND...

On the day the heads arrived I put them on and got everything tuned up and held them up for a couple of strikes- Every time I hit these drums flashbacks of my childhood kept appearing behind my eyes so much to the point of invoking tears as I reflected back onto that very tumultuous time in my 12 year old mind. These drums had given me a sanctuary to hide within; something that was louder and more powerful than the raised voices in the house! These drums saved my life, I'm certain of it.

With as much as I sought to keep it all original, that was not really possible for the sonic quality I was shooting for. Prior to the 2012 Nashville Drum Show I ordered a 16" RIMS floor tom cradle. In the process of doing that I had exchanged emails with Gary Gauger himself and he told me "wait until the show, I've got the perfect thing for that 13" tom if you're going to mount it in a snare basket". Wow, he pretty much read my mind! I was fully intending on putting the drum on a snare stand rather than adding the old console mount with the tongue-style tom mount. Plus the thought of choking down the wonderful resonance of that shell with a big clunky plate…notsomuch an idea I'd like to engage.

Upon my return from 2012NDS, the RIMS floor tom mount had arrived and was waiting to be installed. For the record, as simple as the concept of a RIMS mount is, the newer ones with the moveable eyelets are a real trick to mastering the assembly of. Took the better part of an hour to get that set up. Next time I'll read the directions.

The 13" tom has a very unique mounting bracket; it's the Gauger "Flex Frame" and it fastens to the drum via these small plastic clips that attach to the lugs. Those in turn clasp onto a thin metal ring that sits in the snare stand and everything rides on this very precarious yet solid arrangement of hard durometer plastic and steel. The results under microphones are outstanding!

IT'S TIME TO PLAY THESE OLD TUBS!

Upon getting everything assembled I was thinking that I would christen their reawakening by playing some grandiose stage somewhere at some killer gig with a rockin' band. Instead, my kid and I took them over to a friend of his' place and I let him have a go at my old stomping' grounds. He seemed to enjoy them, being the Bonham/Moon/Nick Mason fanatic that he is at such an early age.

The first gig was actually at a small beach bar in South Mission beach, Ca called the Beachcomber. I played with some friends of mine, some "vintage dudes" and they were in full appreciation of the older drums to compliment the tunes we were doing. Yeah, this kit was made to ROCK & ROLL!

A recent project that I involved this kit in is the recording of an album with the blues vocalist Earl Thomas of old Ike & Tina tunes; The Kings of Rhythm (Ike's band, we still continue to play) backed him up on the recording and we are set to tour Europe in the spring of 2013. These drums won't be traveling with me but rather they will be staying at home, doing what they seem to do best- develop young drummers into competent players!

NEW MEETS OLD

Speaking of my son, he's recently found a band of sorts and they are jamming on some old classic blues and rock tunes. These drums are now pretty much under his control and it's my wish that they help him find his voice as a drummer, as they did for me all those years ago. I think he's going to be just fine.