Progress with a couple of Jaguar necks… Toning a PauFerro fingerboard, and prepping a re-lacquered headstock, including hardware installation
Continuing the saga of the repair, re-fit and preparation of two Jaguar necks, for a couple of my project builds. Lacquer repairs, finishing, hardware installation, and fingerboard toning
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1980’s, Premier “1026” Snare Drum. Some notes on adjusting the replacement gut snares, tensioning the heads, and on using a digital DrumDial
Notes on early attempts to “properly tune” or tension a drum. Setting up this renovated, 1980’s Premier “1026” snare drum for practice play, using a combination of “manual” procedures, with the additional help of a digital DrumDial
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New Project – Late 1970’s Premier “Elite” Drum Kit (#2). Rebuild from parts – Assessing and prepping a set of spare shells
What to do with an apparently disparate collection of various, “orphan” premier drums shells. A second “Elite” kit built entirely from salvaged parts, perhaps?…
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Late 1970’s vintage, Premier “Elite” Drum Kit (#1) – “Natural” Finish. Bass Drum – hardware, and head fitting
Vintage, 1970’s Premier vibe alert… Taking one of my “natural” Premier “Elite” 22″ bass drum shells, re-uniting it with some original, vintage chrome hardware, and turning it back into a fine-looking, playable piece of kit.
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Late 1970’s vintage, Premier “Elite” Drum Kits. Salvaging some original Premier “Everplay” heads, and applying a reproduction, vinyl logo
Getting the right “look” for the bass drum reso on a restored, “vintage” kit, depends either on getting hold of decent reproductions, (if they’re even available), or on finding ways to sympathetically “spruce up” surviving, original period heads
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“Mary Kaye” Blonde Fender Jaguar. Catching up with some lacquer repairs to the headstock
After a prolonged lay-off – the weather’s finally right for nitro spraying again. Time to catch up on some long-running repairs to the lacquered headstock, for my natural blonde Jaguar build
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1970’s, Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#3). Rebuild from parts – Rescuing and re-finishing a badly corroded shell
Vintage Premier drums were once renowned for their “diamond” chrome finishes – but this “2000” snare drum shell is in a terrible state. Can I rescue it with a coat of paint, and use it to build a restored drum?
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1980’s, Premier “1026” Snare Drum. An experiment in making and fitting “traditional” gut snares
The sound of Gene Krupa’s handbuilt “Billy Gladstone” snare got me thinking… Does a modern steel snare drum have to use a modern, wired, snare system – or could I experiment with a more individual tone, and learn something from the “vintage” days of gut snare wires?…
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Restored 1974, Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#1). Installing the Flobeam mechanism, (and dampener)
Re-installing the Flobeam assembly, (and dampener mechanism), on a 1974, Premier “2000” snare drum
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Restored 1974, Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#1). Cleaning, and first stages of re-build
After careful cleaning, this 1974 Premier 2000 snare begins its’ re-build
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1970’s Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#2). Re-assembly of internal components – Including Flobeam
Even though this is, in some ways, a “practice” run to install a Flobeam assembly – the thing still has to work properly at the end of it all. From a study of the components involved, a single exploded diagram, and with a bit of applied logic along the way – I think I’ve managed to work out the best way to do it…
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1970’s Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#2). Complete re-build from parts – Wrapping a damaged shell
Can you physically “wrap” a metal snare drum if the original plating corrodes?… Would you want to?… Here’s how it goes with a “written-off” Premier 2000 shell
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1974, Premier “2000” Snare Drum (#1). Strip down for restoration, and dismantling a Flobeam assembly for the first time…
Dismantling a vintage Premier 2000 snare and its’ Flobeam assembly, is a bit like launching a ship from a bottle…
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Premier “1026” Chrome on Steel Snare Drum. Fitting the drum heads
Fitting batter and snare-side heads to a late 1980’s Premier “1026” snare drum. Basic stuff perhaps – but it’s all new to me
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“Wilko Johnson” (Custom build) Fender Telecaster. Final Specification
My own custom build tribute to the great man. All Fender, all Telecaster, all Wilko
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Wilko Johnson Fender Telecaster. Fixing a pickup “out of phase” problem
There seems to be a problem when pairing a Fender American Vintage Telecaster bridge pickup, with a Fender “Nocaster” ’51 re-issue neck pickup. Looks like they’re out of phase. Here’s how I fix it…
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Late 1970’s vintage, Premier “Elite” Drum Kits. Sourcing and cleaning some fixtures and fittings
It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. The chromed hardware for my “Elite” drum kit restorations, come from many different sources, and much of it requires cleaning…
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Customised Fender USA “Original ’60’s” Jaguar – Final specification.
Combining the classic lines of a Fender Vintage re-issue Jaguar, with Creamery “Alt-88” pickups, and “Johnny Marr” style, 4-way switching
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New Project(s) – 1970’s Premier “2000” Chrome on Aluminium Snare Drum. Restoring a vintage classic from spare parts
In taking on the restoration of a classic 1970’s Premier “2000” snare, I discover, once again, that where you think you’re heading to, isn’t necessarily an indication of where you’ll actually end up…
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Late 1970’s vintage, Premier “Elite” Drums – Kit One, “Natural” Finish. Shell cleaning and preparation
Cleaning up a 22,16,14 set of 1970’s vintage, Premier “Elite” drum shells – ready for the rebuild of a “natural” finish kit
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Premier “1026” Chrome on Steel Snare Drum. Cleaning and re-assembly
Cleaning and re-assembling the shell and hardware of a 1980’s Premier “1026” snare drum. Some TLC, and plenty of chrome polish.
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Customised Fender USA “Original ’60’s” Jaguar – Setup tweaks after new neck installation
Having changed the neck on my Candy Apple Red Jaguar – I now need to dial in the neck action, and check all of the previous setup perameters
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Customised Fender USA “Original ’60’s” Jaguar – Reverting to the original plan, and a Fender, American ’65 re-issue neck…
“You put the hardware on – you take it off… On… off… on… off…”
…reverting to my original plan
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New Project – Late 1970’s Premier “Elite” Drum Shells, “Natural” Finish. Assessment for restoration and rebuild
A set of vintage Premier shells with two kick drums allows for a certain amount of flexibility when it comes to restoring and re-fitting a custom kit, (or two).
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Custom Fender Jazzmaster. A couple of small tasks to progress the build
A couple of minor “catch-up” tasks to progress my Custom “Extra Width” Jazzmaster build. Mounting the pickups, and toning the Pau Ferro fingerboard
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New Project – Premier “1026” Snare Drum. Disassembly and strip-down. “What do we have here?…”
Having recently decided to “have a go” at drumming – I’ve acquired a second-hand vintage steel snare drum, and will break it down so I can recondition it, and learn how it’s put together.
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Pearl Heavy Duty “Black Label” Snare Stand. Fixing an age-related wobble
Sometimes, there’s a lot to be said for “fettling” old pieces of equipment, and in getting some extra life out of “broken” kit. If I can save £50 on every piece of hardware – perhaps I can eventually afford that Ludwig Supraphonic!
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“Mary Kaye” Blonde Fender Jaguar. Change of plan. Repairing the finish on a different neck
After deciding to swap around the necks on my Jaguar projects again – I need to swap the hardware out on this lacquered AllParts JGRO neck. There are also a few areas of damage I need to clear up…
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“Mary Kaye” Blonde Fender Jaguar. Polishing the body in six *(or seven) simple steps
I want a polished finish for this ash Jaguar body – but I also want a super-thin nitro coat. Here’s how I achieve a high gloss in just six, *(or seven) steps.
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