Last summer I was gifted with an old Slingerland marching snare drum that was in need of a lot of love in order to make playable again.
Because of the gouging and scartches in the wood, I decided to make it a player instead of attempting a museum-quality restoration.
Wth my eye surgeries, the High Holy Days and other details delaying the process, my brother-in-love showed me his progress on repairing the big crack in the snare-side hoop. I took pictures last night at his place. The hoop will need a few more days to dry and set up, and then he'll drill tiny holes and make dowels using bits of bicycle spoke I gave him.
Here's the plan: after the wood has
thoroughly dried, Ron will leave the clamp in place and set it very
carefully in his drill press, where he will drill 2 to 3 holes
lengthwise, top to bottom of the hoop edges. Then he'll cut down some
"dowels" made of bits of bicycle spoke (stainless steel), insert them in
the holes, and perhaps add some kind of epoxy as he inserts them.
(Since they're not wood, they won't expand so some kind of glue will be
needed to hold them in place.)
When they're dry, the
edges of the spoke bits can be carefully filed flush with the top and
bottom of the hoop; or he can choose to cut them a little short so the
ends will be counter-sunk and then he can fill with wood putty.
Either
way, the idea is that these tiny dowels, stronger than the wood, will
help keep the hoop in place and prevent further cracking. The hoops are
maple, a very dense and brittle hardwood.
The tuning of
this drum will NOT be super high-tension, so the hoop should be able to
withstand the forces of tuning and maintain its shape for a long time to
come.
Here's a couple of pictures of where things stand at present.
This weekend, I'll begin cleaning up the chrome hardware rods and hooks.
I hope to have this ready to play again before the New Year
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