"OLD BLUE" GETS A MAKE-OVER

This is "Old Blue," a vintage Slingerland Blue Sparkle Marching Snare Drum, 14" across and 10" deep, that I am cleaning up for a drummer-buddy of mine.  This drum has seen a lot of use and abuse and needs a little love and attention.

The primary goal is getting the chrome polished up, as years of dust and grime have built up, especially on the top lugs behind the tension rods.  [Click on the photo to the right here to get a close-up view of a typical dirty lug.]  This can lead to rusting and pitting if not taken care of soon enough, afterwhich the only solution is to replace the deteriorating parts instead of simply cleaning them.  This is the natural aging process for chrome that over time causes surfaces to become gray and dull.  It's time for these lugs to glimmer and relect like mirrors again.

The blue sparkle wrap is in good condition but could stand some shining up.  This won't erase all the scuffs and scratches that a drum this old typically has, but it will improve the dullness of the wrap and allow the glitter to.....well, glitter like it used to.

Some other obvious problems that must be addressed are the bent up rims and the mismatched tension rods.  Someone really pounded the heck out of this snare and inflicted a very noticable bend in the top rim, and the bottom rim is also damaged around the slot where the snare wires pass through.  These I will have to replace.  All of the tension rods are extremely dirty, some are downright rusty, and several have been replaced with incorrect substitutes in varying lengths and threadings.  I think I will replace them all and give them new washers.

Other obstacles I encountered upon disassembling the drum involved broken lugs.  One of the sixteen lugs had already broken completely and been replaced with a cheap Japanese Slingerland look-alike with the wrong style mounting screws.  Soon thereafter I discovered a second lug that had one of the "screw seats" broken off.  [I'm not sure if this is the correct term for this particular part of a drum lug, but I have provided a photo to demonstrate to what exactly I am referring, just in case.]  Because a proper mounting screw would no longer hold, this lug was haphazardly fastened back to the shell by, heaven forbid, a common Phillips-head screw.  EGAD!  I have now ordered authentic matching Slingerland lugs to take the place of these two.


This photo on the right provides a good up-close view of the filthy throw assembly and Slingerland badge.  This assembly should shine up nicely, and the copper lettering on the Slingerland badge should appear brighter and more clear after a thorough cleaning.  The dull gray grommet holding the badge can be polished up to a shiny silver once again, and of course I'm going to replace that old shoestring tying up the snare wires.

Now here is a photo of the drum in the midst of my restoration.  Here the shell and chrome hardware has been polished but I am still waiting on other parts to finish the project.

Here is a close-up of the throw assembly and Slingerland badge to show the great improvement.  The Slingerland badge really lights up now and you can see your reflection in the mirrored chrome of the throw.  It's hard to tell from these mediocre, amateur photos, but the blue sparkle wrap looks noticably better now too.  I can't wait for my friend to see his drum.  He's going to fall in love with it all over again!

Well, that's my progress so far.  This project will be at a standstill until all the replacement parts arrive in the mail, hopefully sometime before next weekend.