removing drum wraps for staining

johnwesley

Silver Member
Am thinking of buying a small kit for practice and want to make it look good. Would like to remove the wrap but am not sure how to go about it. Any you guys done that before? How hard/time consuming is it? I've done a lot of antique restoration and refinishing so that's no problem. It's just removing the wrap. Thanks in advance.
 
Am thinking of buying a small kit for practice and want to make it look good. Would like to remove the wrap but am not sure how to go about it. Any you guys done that before? How hard/time consuming is it? I've done a lot of antique restoration and refinishing so that's no problem. It's just removing the wrap. Thanks in advance.

If the set is a very inexpensive set in black, white, wine wrap, maybe some other colors, many of those wraps are put on with tape and tend to pull off rather easily. Other wraps are put on with contact cement. Either way use a fairly thin blade putty-type knife to begin lifting the wrap. If you have a heat gun you can soften it to start and use it to soften the glue and pull the wrap up carefully as you use your knife to pry. You can also put the heat gun on the blade which also helps.

You can also put some lacquer thinner in a spray bottle or squeeze bottle of some kind and spray that instead of using heat to soften the cement. Do not use the two together, needless to say. lacquer thinner is very flammable.

Use your knife or paint scraper and heat gun (carefully on low heat) or lacquer to scrape off any residue.

Bear in mind inexpensive sets typically do not have a very nice veneer to finish. Even better sets may have defective veneer. You may be disappointed when you get the wrap off. Or, you may find a pretty decent to nice veneer to finish out.
 
I just did it for a kit, dead easy by this guys method, if your wrap comes off. Go slow with a good putty knife.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lxeWqPp3ZQ

If using a cheaper kit for this, its possible the wrap is only glued at one place, even easier. BUT beware the Luan wood on the surface of most cheap drums is ropy-textured and does not re-finish all that great.
 
Am thinking of buying a small kit for practice and want to make it look good.

If you're really wanting to remove the wraps and they have a lot of adhesive, grab one of those little 750w space heaters. Hair dryer and heat gun also work.

As someone pointed out, the result may be that the outer layer is Fugly. It may even require some fill. Use a dark stain to hide the imperfections. There are a number of hi-gloss spray poly's on the market that will finish it in a jiffy with minimal sanding.

Do a snare drum first so you learn the process.


Alternatively....

Bum wraps. No need to remove the old wrap if you don't want.

http://www.bumwrapdrumco.com
 
I took the wrap off of these four drums and they were all different. Some glued all over, a few held on by the hardware with one strip of double sided tape. It depends on the make and model of the drums. I re-wrapped all four to make this kit.
 

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I took the wrap off of these four drums and they were all different. Some glued all over, a few held on by the hardware with one strip of double sided tape. It depends on the make and model of the drums. I re-wrapped all four to make this kit.


That's excellent. Where did you get the wrap and was it glued or taped?
 
So have you ever used BumWrap? And if so, is it good?

I have examined two BW kits. The results that I saw looked good. The quality exceeded that of the super cheap eBay wrap, but was not as durable as some of the professional re-issue wraps that someone would use for expensive drum refurbishing.

The benefits of BW are:

1: Inexpensive
2: You don't have to remove the old wrap
3: Easy to install & remove.

Ultimately, when you look at a BW kit, you say "Wow, what a sharp looking kit". Then you give it a critical look and realize it's a wrap.

Take a look at their makeover page. Some of the results are good. Some are just funny. Some are in poor taste.
 
My wrap came from Bum wraps. And they are only held on by the hardware and one strip of double sided tape.
 
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