Allan Speers Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Greetings, fellow bashers of things. I once again need your help. I am contemplating refinishing a perfectly good snare, becasue I'm basically insane. It's a maple snare with a laquer finish over the natural wood, with brass hardware. I'm in love with cherry stain on maple, and want to make this happen, but I have no idea which method is best. First, is it best to use sandpaper, or steel wool, to get the old laquer off? I also want the stain to bring out the grain. the original laquer will likely be embedded into the grain, and will not come out with sanding, so should I use some kind of laquer thinner or turps after sanding? Once I have the shell clean, and then stained, which is preferrable sonically: Laquer, or tung oil? Last, while it's apart, I might as well polish the brass lugs. Is Zildjian cymbal cleaner good for this, or something else? All opinions welcome. Being as this is an N&C ss maple snare, I really don't want to screw it up. I know I should just send it to N&C, but I'm too cheap. Plus, doing it myself is sort of like "Zen and the art of snare drum maintanence." I want to become one with my drum kit. I know I'm insane for considering this, but please help anyway. Ever so grateful, Allan Speers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siberian Posted February 4, 2004 Share Posted February 4, 2004 Allan, There's a guy who posts on Drumset.com that is pretty knowledgeable in drum and wood/furniture refinishing. If you post this question on that board you might get some useful info. His screen name is "PJW". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djarrett Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 Allan: The first thing that you want to do is determine what finish is on the drum itself. Some companies (albeit rare) use nitrocelulose based laquer. Some use Poly. Some use a water based laquer. You should call N&C and tell them what you would like to do. Ask them what product they use. They should tell you and as a bonus, ... if you get the right person on the right day, ... they may even give you the steps you are looking for. One thing for sure ... they are into making new drums. They would rather tell you how to refinish ... than to do it themselves! The key is to make sure you are using a compatible product. Hope this helps. DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Gervais Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 Allan, Buddy, check out this link: http://www.acousticdrums.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true This BBS has a section specifically devoted to drum refinishing. You might find some good info there - i read through a few of the threads and some of these people have taken this pretty far. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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