MIRACULOUS SNARE DRUM RECOVERY!!

This is a neglected and abandoned Stewart snare drum that I purchased on Ebay for twenty-five dollars.  I sometimes undertake these seemingly hopeless restoration projects simply because I hate to see a perfectly good percussion instrument thrown away or scrapped for parts when I know it can be brought back to life and returned to its former glory without too much trouble.

As evidenced in the accompanying photo on the left, what I have here is a decent Philippine mahogany shell (otherwise known as luan) with a pretty good White Marine Pearl wrap (or WMP).  It also features a badge in great condition, a typical Japanese-style butt plate (missing the pinch plate) and a bottom snare-side rim.  All eight Slingerland-style lugs are present and accounted for, though most of the tension rods are not.

So right away the list of other major parts that are missing and will need to be tracked down and replaced is rather intimidating.  But it can be done.

PARTS NEEDED:

• Snare throw mechanism
• Replacement butt plate
• Top rim
• Snare wires
• Tone control knob
• Tension rods and washers
• New drum heads (obviously)

STEP ONE: DISASSEMBLY

The first thing I will do is completely disassemble the drum and lay out all of the existing parts in preparation for cleaning.  This includes pulling the springs and swivel nuts out of the lugs and setting them aside while I clean the housings.  As I can see here, it doesn't look as if I have that much stuff to clean, but it still takes time and patience.

STEP TWO: RE-ASSEMBLY

Okay, so after rounding up the necessary replacement parts and cleaning everything inside out and top to bottom, I put it all back together and....

STEP THREE: GLOATING ON THE INTERNET

WOW!!  OH MY GOSH!! WHAT A MIRACULOUS RECOVERY!!  It seems I had so many spare parts I was able to put together not just one but FOUR new snare drums!  How awesome is that?

Well, not really all that awesome.  We all know that's not really what happened.  I just get tired of composing all this filler text to wrap around all these pictures that I know nobody reads and nobody cares about anyway.  So I thought I would just squeeze a couple of extra restoration jobs in with this one.

But as shown here in this expertly-arranged and beautifully-lighted photograph taken in my new portable studio which allows me to take pictures indoors instead of hauling everything outside all the time, I really did manage to restore this Stewart WMP snare drum.  It is totally playable now.  Notice how the badge has been polished up and the grommet is sparkling again.  The butt plate has also been replaced with a newer one complete with pinch plate and screws so that it holds the wire strap as intended.

Here in the "Throw View" the replacement Strainer Assembly can be seen, which is a period-correct perfect substitute for what was originally installed on this drum, the typical MIJ "mailbox"-shaped mechanism with the knurled "baseball bat" throw lever, now absolutely functional. (Right now the snare is turned off, but it could definitely be turned right back on with a flick of that switch.)

The Tone Control Assembly has now been repaired with a new knob so that it also actually works properly.  The original TC knob would probably have matched the adjustment knob on the strainer in appearance, but this style was also very common and is close enough.  I mean really, who's going to notice tiny nit-picky details like that?  What are you, some kinda snare snob?!

A couple of quick minor points I will make here in the closing:

1.) The top rim I used is a "Pearl Fat Tone" rim, a sleek double-flange rim with a small "bead" of material around the top inside ring, which technically causes it pop up in the "triple-flange" classification during my searches.  This is why my dumb ass paid $35.00 for an 8-hole rim when I thought I was ordering a standard 8-hole triple flange rim (which is more like $13.00).  I hadn't ordered any in a while and just flat out ordered the wrong thing.  But what-the-heck, it's a really nice rim so it works for me.  Next time I will know better.

2.) I would also like to mention that a lot of times I do like to go the extra distance and do what some would consider an unnecessarily diligent cleaning job, which is what I did here.  This means that although it does not show up clearly in my amateur photos, I did clean this drum down to its bare bones, meaning every lug, every swivel nut, every tension rod, and even every screw and washer on the inside of the shell.  I also gave the interior muffler a good going-over so that it shines like new.

So this concludes another successful restoration project which can only mean one thing: on to the next one.  This stuff never ends.  And remember, if you have any old drums lying around that you think have the potential to be restored and made playable again.....

.....clean them yourself.  I have enough projects on my plate.