How could someone do such a thing?

At closer look, this mount looks a lot shinier than all the other hardware. I wonder if this is the original tom mount holder?

Just an FYI for anyone who is thinking about buying from this seller.

He is still non-responsive (although, he did answer once). I have escalated the claim to eBay and they should make a decision within 48 hours.

I don't think a full refund is fair by any stretch but if he is totally non-responsive it would serve him right.

How can someone totally ignore a problem. Any problem. That is so wrong.

Anyway, I just thought I would post so everyone would know better than to buy from this seller.

Well, this is finally over. I'm still unhappy but as I have always said about eBay.....sometimes you get the elevator and sometimes you get the shaft. LOL

After I made a claim, the seller responded once and gave me a $150 refund. Then, we never heard from him again. He never responded to my messages and he never even responded to the eBay people when they contacted him about my claim that $150 was not adequate.

Ebay gave me another $75 so my final cost on the set was $600. Still more than I would have paid if I knew the condition before bidding. I would say that this time.... I got the shaft. LOL This is what can happen when you buy from an uninformed seller with low feedback.

I will start the restoration on this as soon as I finish the '61 Slingerland set I started. Almost done with that one. Hopefully, I can restore that bass drum. That's going to be a big job.

Just thought I would post to bring a finish to the thread.

I started on this restoration today. Not being one to leave the best for last, I started on the bass drum first.

I tried a number of different abrasives on the wood and the only thing that worked was the "smelly" pumice based sanding blocks.

I was very gentle on the bearing edges so as not to change them. I hope I was gentle enough.

On the inside of the ring, the paint "erased" off the wood just like on the TV commercials. LMAO

I'll smooth sand this and it should be better than new.

Now, I have to wonder what to refinish the inside with when I'm done. I'll search around but if anyone knows off hand what the best application is for the inside, feel free to leave a tip.

The others are clear maple so all I need is something clear. Should be easier than the white or gray.

Here are a couple pics of the work so far.

This one is a real labor of love Kapper... my hat's off to you.

You are really making lemonade out of lemons with that bass drum, I truly admire you for it !!

I spend the majority of my resto time cleaning and polishing the less than pristine (rusted and decrepit, more like) hardware that comes on the older drums I tend to be drawn to these days. I feel your pain, man !!

Just another tip.

Plain old turpentine took 90% of the paint off of the screws. They still have a pink haze so I need to take it to the next step but, this was a great start.

I just soaked them in a jar of turpentine for a few hours and shook the jar real good before rinsing with water in the basement sink.

I can't find any more of the pumice sanding blocks and I can tell you that the "sanding sponges" don't work for **** for removing the paint from the shell.

Hopefully, I'll find more of the pumice blocks.

I did a search for them online and they are affectionately known as "**** bricks" because of the sulfur smell they give off when you use them. LMAO I am hoping to find some tomorrow.

Here is a little preview of the first "going over" before I ran out of **** bricks. LOL

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Just keep in mind that pumice is highly abrasive, so you may end up with 'low' spots from overzealous sanding. Try alternating with sandpaper and don't just grind away at it. All that dust gathering on the floor was once part of the drum.Yes Sir

Consider using a chemical paint stripper but completely mask holes and outer wrap. Like kevins said, it is commendable that you took on this project, but remember to take some breaks along the way then come back and look at it with fresh eyes.[/FONT]

Here's a shot of phase 2. LOL

Got a little more paint off the inside.

The screws did OK after 2 soaks in turpentine but they still had a "pink haze" about them so I had to wire brush each of them. I'm still not 100% satisfied. I still see pink. Or, maybe that's just the dust covering my eyes. LMAO

On the bad news front, I found some of the inserts are split. I have never seen this before. Is this common? I think I have some extra lugs from a marching snare about the same year. Hopefully, the inserts are the same.

The lugs are pretty grungy but they look like they'll clean up nicely. I hope a lot of that fade on the wrap is dirt. There's definitely a lot of dirt and grime on this set. I'm really hoping the wrap brightens up. I think it will.

On the good news front, check out those 4 back plates for the mount. They look great and I haven't even cleaned them yet. Just took the red paint off of them.

OK, I'm almost done. Still a few red spots here and there and that same "pink haze" that I can't seem to get rid of. LOL

I figure this is pretty close to what it looked like 50 years ago just before it went to be lacquered.

I'll clean this up just a little bit more and then finish it.

Just an FYI.... a wire brush/wheel was the final weapon of choice. Took the paint off nicely without taking much wood.

Now, THIS is what I like the inside of a drum to look like when I buy it.

Quite a before and after, eh?

I hope the outside cleans up as well.

Now, to set about the task of cleaning, polishing and waxing all the pieces parts.

I remember the first time I restored a bass drum I was totally in awe to find out there are over 200 pieces in a bass drum alone. I still win bets on that one. Even with old time drummers.