That's an awesome kit you have. I think it's worth fixing up. I have a duco Luxor snare with B&B lugs and I think it's really cool. Congratulations.

As promised, here are some more detailed pictures of the snare. Any thoughts on what to do with this drum? I'm thinking strip and re-apply a blue/silver duco finish. Also remember this is the Mercury model with 6 lugs, single tension rods and single flange hoops, so there isn't much collector value as a single drum.

-Tim

Here are the detailed pictures of the tom tom. A lot of snare rash, which has chewed into the first ply. I was thinking of filling the gouges and blending in a blue/silver duco finish. It really depends on how close of a match I can get for the blue and silver. I might ask a friend that does auto body/paint to assist. This is a Mayfair labeled drum, which is the same as the bass drum. Notice the early Rogers flat bearing edges.

-Tim

Tim - It's starting to look like a 'do your best' and live with it situation. The snare and the tom both need to be stripped, sanded and re-painted. The second you alter them, there goes the vintage value of the kit. Tough call. At some point it is all about time and expense. Replacing lugs, stripping and repainting the kit will cost money while lowering its vintage market resale value.

If they are going to be 'keepers' and you really love the kit, go for it, put it right again with fresh paint and hardware. If it's for resale at some point, then you'll lose the money you invested in refurbishing them. The third option is to do the repairs on the hardware and play them as they are with future resale in mind. Then it'll be the next guys problem whether to re-do them or not. Lots to think about for you....

John

Here are some detailed pictures from the floor tom. It's in better shape than the tom tom and snare.

I'll probably touch this up and give it a good coat of wax.

It's a 15x12 with the Tower label and still has the original Rogers "Flare" floor tom legs.

-Tim

Here are more detailed pictures of the bass drum. It has the least amount of paint chipping out of all of the drums, but it still has some crazing. I'll do the touch-ups and wax for this drum.

This is a 22x14 with a Mayfair label. It also came with the "Knobby Heavy Duty" tom to hoop mount and the Rogers "reversible" spurs.

-Tim

I cleaned up a lug to see how much work it's going to take to clean all 30 and it wasn't that difficult. Actually, it only took a couple of minutes. The most surprising thing was the condition when cleaned. Wow! They look great. The lug on the left in the first picture is before and the lug on the right is after. The third picture the typical cracking.

I see the design flaw with the rolled brass. When the tab was bent over, it weakened the brass and there was a small notch on both sides. Over time the tension of the lug to the shell cause the fatigued brass to crack at the notch. Head tension and vibrations also played a big part, but it wasn't the main reason. The snare that came with this kit was a Mercury single tension drum with 1st generation B and B lugs. The lugs do not have the inserts or springs, since the tension rods only pass through the lug and act as guides. So head tension is really not a factor for this drum, but all 6 of the B and B lugs still have hairline cracks. I wonder how long it took for the B and B lugs to start cracking?

I think I'm going to go for it and complete the kit. Yes, the collector value will be lower, but it's going to be a sweet looking kit when done. I just have to make sure I watch my hard costs. Since all of the parts are present and/or repairable, the majority of the costs will be paint/labor, repairing the cracked lugs and replacing the 3 failed B and B lugs. Since I'm only in $100 so far, I've got a good start in managing my total costs. I'm probably going to convert the snare from single tension to separate tension, since it's going to be repainted. It will be the least original and will help make it more tunable.

- Tim

Tim - Glenn (Fer128) repaired a bunch of B&B lugs not long ago and he did a great job on them. You might want to track down the thread and giving it a read before you tackle those.

Break a leg! Looking forward...

John

I would touch it up the best I could. Put a couple coats of furniture wax on it. Play it out on a few gigs. I'll bet noone will will notice anything from 10 feet away. It's a neat old kit!

Tim,i say go for it and make it look the best it can be.Like you said-you`ve only got $100. into it so a good starting point on costs.Plus this will help idle away those winter blues and turn them into a duco blues which will look temendous and the sound...well i can hear them from here.Best of luck on the project and keep us posted on the progress.

Wayne