Day 2 With the Amber Vistas

No pictures this time, they wouldn't be too exciting anyway.

Tonight I polished all the tom lugs and rims with Brasso. Man, I hate that stuff. Works wonders but almost knocks me out every time even working in a very well ventilated area.

The lugs are slightly pitted, as you'd expect. Still, they cleaned up better than I expected. I'm becoming more and more convinced these drums were under water at some point. The amount of rust and the scummy film on all the chrome is a giveaway.

Right now, I need five of the gaskets that go beneath the lugs and heads. The 12" tom is ready to go. I have the suspension mount I'm going to use and I think I have tension rods that will work. It's the 13" that I'm waiting on. Of course, I still need badges (yes, I do need stinking badges) to finish the job correctly.

The bass drum is still a mess. The two screws I showed earlier still aren't budging. I have some Naval Jelly I'm going to try next, but if that doesn't work, it's the Dremel tool to those screw heads. The bad thing about that is, it will bring the number of large lugs I need up to five, but if that's the way it has to be, then so be it.

I still need the correct T-rods and claws as well. I have some that I could use, but the claws are way too wide and they're going to look really funky. Still, it'll do for right now, as I'm trying to to this as cheaply as possible, so I'm going to have to be patient for the parts I need.

My goal for now is getting those rack toms ready to roll so I can use them with the red kit. I've been playing the red drums and I don't know how I like the single headed toms yet. I'll have to hear them with the band, but they're different if nothing else. If I had a whole row of them, I could do the big fill from In the Air Tonight, but alas, I don't.

So that's my status. The before and after on this set are going to be dramatic. While the Fibes kit I used to own had more structural damage, these were the worst looking acrylics I've owned and they have cleaned up far better than I hoped. If only there was a market for this...

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Now playing: Panda Bear - Bros (Album Version)
via FoxyTunes