patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
Here’s my ‘63 kit that matches the ‘58 perfectly. 13/16 with a 12x22 New Yorker bass drum.
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WFL Kit
- Thread starter patrickwitherow
- Start date
Bijan
DFO Veteran
Yes there are two versions of the WFL Classic throw. I have both. The earlier one is definitely a more expensive part to make back then. I should do a comparison post at some point to show the differences.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
Thanks for the information. I’ve definitely got both as well now. Do yours look very different or just slight differences?
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
Finished up the 9x13 lugs and attached back to shell. Definitely have more shine now while still having that nickel vibe.
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I see you used Novus , I like it ..
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
Yup! Novus2, PlastX and Turtle Wax Hardshell paste. It’s still got the yellow, just a little less and now it has some shine to go with it.
wflkurt
Deafus Maximus
Beautiful Oyster Blues Patrick! Are they date stamped? I ask because the placement of the badge on the floor tom coupled with the mounts (floor legs, tom mounts, cymbal arm) all suggest a 1965 or later build. The Super Classic snare looks unbelievable.
Great job on the WFL set too. It's coming along nicely.
Great job on the WFL set too. It's coming along nicely.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
Thanks. Yes, the Oyster Blue 9x13 and 16x16 are date stamped '67. The bass drum is '63. I call it my '63 kit at times. The snare is '58. All the drums match perfectly in wrap vibrance which surprised me and are all in very. very good condition. Someone took really good care of these for a long time before I got them two years ago. I purchased the 12x22, 9x13 and 16x16 together as a set. The snare I got about a year later.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
The floor tom is cleaned and polished now. The lugs are also cleaned up, polished and reattached. I'm doing the hoops last on all these drums.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
A few updates from today. The floor tom lugs have been polished and re-attached as well as the legs and brackets. Soaking the brackets, springs and push-lever in evapo-rust really cleaned them up nicely. They can now slide up/down at ease. Before, when I first got them, they would barely move at all. The bass drum is also now polished and lugs put back on it. I decided to keep the sticker that's near the WFL badge on the bass drum (or what's left of the sticker). An interesting thing to note - when cleaning up the rail, I noticed the words 'Revere Brass' stamped into the rail. I'm guessing WFL used this company to make the rail?
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
A few more updates. I got the 9x13, 16x16 and 5.5x14 done! Hard to tell from the photos, but they are looking much better. I'll do some before/afters in another post of the rusty stuff that cleaned up well.
New heads on the toms. The snare batter is a coated Diplomat and looks very dated, but unused - so I'm keeping that on for now. The snare-side head is a Remo Ambassador snare-side that is pretty stretched out with some dents. I'll keep it for now but will be replacing it first.
The floor tom has very flat bearing edges and when it was brought home it sounded quite dead with the heads that it came with. If I tuned it up, it became more dead sounding but at a higher pitch. I've been pretty nervous about the FT and its sound as I knew the bearing edges were probably causing this. Nope! It was the heads!
The heads were an old Evans G2 coated for the batter, and the reso was a very old smooth white and very thick head (maybe 2 ply) - but very thick. I put on a coated Ambassador on the reso and a coated Ambassador on top - the drum woke up big time! Barely tapping it and it sounds like thunder rolling and resonates for a long time. The rack tom is the same way - new heads (same as the FT) and it's ready to go! Now I need to do some major clean up on the bass drum hoops. The inlay is coming off in places and the paint looks pretty bad. I may wait until I get new bass drum heads to mess with that - I'm ready to play this kit
New heads on the toms. The snare batter is a coated Diplomat and looks very dated, but unused - so I'm keeping that on for now. The snare-side head is a Remo Ambassador snare-side that is pretty stretched out with some dents. I'll keep it for now but will be replacing it first.
The floor tom has very flat bearing edges and when it was brought home it sounded quite dead with the heads that it came with. If I tuned it up, it became more dead sounding but at a higher pitch. I've been pretty nervous about the FT and its sound as I knew the bearing edges were probably causing this. Nope! It was the heads!
The heads were an old Evans G2 coated for the batter, and the reso was a very old smooth white and very thick head (maybe 2 ply) - but very thick. I put on a coated Ambassador on the reso and a coated Ambassador on top - the drum woke up big time! Barely tapping it and it sounds like thunder rolling and resonates for a long time. The rack tom is the same way - new heads (same as the FT) and it's ready to go! Now I need to do some major clean up on the bass drum hoops. The inlay is coming off in places and the paint looks pretty bad. I may wait until I get new bass drum heads to mess with that - I'm ready to play this kit
D. B. Cooper
DFO Master
A few more updates. I got the 9x13, 16x16 and 5.5x14 done! Hard to tell from the photos, but they are looking much better. I'll do some before/afters in another post of the rusty stuff that cleaned up well.
New heads on the toms. The snare batter is a coated Diplomat and looks very dated, but unused - so I'm keeping that on for now. The snare-side head is a Remo Ambassador snare-side that is pretty stretched out with some dents. I'll keep it for now but will be replacing it first.
The floor tom has very flat bearing edges and when it was brought home it sounded quite dead with the heads that it came with. If I tuned it up, it became more dead sounding but at a higher pitch. I've been pretty nervous about the FT and its sound as I knew the bearing edges were probably causing this. Nope! It was the heads!
The heads were an old Evans G2 coated for the batter, and the reso was a very old smooth white and very thick head (maybe 2 ply) - but very thick. I put on a coated Ambassador on the reso and a coated Ambassador on top - the drum woke up big time! Barely tapping it and it sounds like thunder rolling and resonates for a long time. The rack tom is the same way - new heads (same as the FT) and it's ready to go! Now I need to do some major clean up on the bass drum hoops. The inlay is coming off in places and the paint looks pretty bad. I may wait until I get new bass drum heads to mess with that - I'm ready to play this kit
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Good call on polishing everything up. They look amazing.
Really beautiful drums that will look so nice on stage!
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
D. B. Cooper
DFO Master
So cool. I love restoring drums.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
It's the best way to really know them. Now they feel like mine.
patrickwitherow
Very well Known Member
For the rusty parts, I placed in a small container with Evaporust for about 12-hours. Then rinsed the pieces in water and dried really well. For some of the pieces I then polished with Simichrome such as the bass drum claws, the 'clipper' rail mount and tom holder, and the shell mounted cymbal holders just to clean them up a little more if possible. Not sure how much of a difference it made, but I'm glad I took the extra step.
Some things I just used Evaporust, rinsed, and call it a day - such as a lot of the tension rods. I wasn't about to polish that many rods; and they weren't bad at all after the Evaporust treatment.
For all of the lugs, springs, inserts, hoops, strainer, butt plate, t-rods (I think that's all) - I soaked in Dawn/water for 24-hours. Then rinsed. I used Simichrome on the lugs, strainer, butt plate and hoops to bring the dull nickel back to life.
After the Evaporust soak, I did brush all of the tension rods with a toothbrush and dawn/water to get any leftover black gunk out of the the threads. That really made a big difference.
I also added 3-in-1 oil to all inserts and tension rods (and any other screws or wingnuts) when I reassembled everything. Tuning the drums felt as if sand was in the inserts before I cleaned them. Now everything glides much better.
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