Holy shit man, seeing that crack in the bass drum just brought me to the floor. I’m restoring my own 4pc vistalite at the moment and I feel so fortunate after watching this. It’s an uncommon black smoke 70s Ludwig vistalite and the dude who had it before me left it out in the rain a couple of times so there was plenty of rust on all the hoops, lugs and hardware before me and my friend buffed and polished them all. No cracks, somehow the shells were in perfect condition and the only things that were missing was the bottom hoop on the floor tom and all the mounts had to be replaced with modern hardware. I had to resize the holes with a dremel sander where the spurs went on the bass drum shell, that was pretty sketchy but it worked out well. In hindsight, I should’ve made a before and after video but the restoration was so spontaneous I didn’t even think about it. They look brand new it makes me so happy lol
Yeah these are surprisingly simple to fix up! And yes the condition of the bass drum is too bad on this one, but it really does still sound great. I get compliments on it all the time, regularly use it for recording, and it never rattles. At this point I almost think of the crack as a "crumple zone" that prevents it from cracking in other places if it gets set down too hard. Congrats on your kit, black smoke is an awesome color!
@@GoAndPractice Congrats on your vistas. A buddy has an original clear clear set from the 70s. They're fun to work on till you find a crack or a seem split. Then it's crying time. Lol
@@frankspikes7858 Thanks! Yeah they're a time bomb all right. I'm glad though that this one was already wrecked... ive gotten way more gigging out of it because of the damage. I think otherwise I would have just babied it and it would have never left my house.
@@GoAndPractice His kit was fun. It was strip, clean, and rehead project. 8 drums total. It took about a month. He aslo wanted me to repair a seem split on a concert tom, but said no. It didn't want to make it worse,and I did know it could be done.
@@frankspikes7858 Yeah I'm not confident I could fix a completely split drum and make it work. That 13" tom doesn't get a lot of use so I don't have a good read on how durable my fix was.
Anyway, I love that you restored them and tuned them up for a solid demonstration. Now if only I can one day sit behind a kit this tuned up as you’ve done here! Proper job man
The pointy BD spurs are what you'll find under the rubber feet. Spikes for carpet, rubber for wood floors. The originals probably dry rotted or were lost. You can buy replacement rubber feet.
Yeah they're good at both the wide open bonham thing, but also super good for dry punchy depending on how you tune them. I did once bring them to jazz gig out of laziness, that's a mistake I'll only make once... they sound awful for that!
Ah, it looked like there might have been enough play to slide the crack around. Thanks for all the great info. I'm about to go through the same process on a vistalite kit I picked up cheap. Your finished result sounds great. The playing ain't too bad either.
Thanks man! Only regret I have is trying to buff all drums at the same time like an assembly line... Novus 2 dried hard then and I had to re-apply to soften it up and then buff off. I'd recommend doing each drum 1,2,3 steps individually. I've been gigging this kit like crazy since this video and absolutely love it
A lot of it is the tuning and cymbal selection, but the key to that big room sound is to place another mic in the next room or down the hall, compress it to death, and then gently mix that in as a part of your reverb.
hey there. don’t know if you’ll see this or not but i too am restoring a 70s vistalite. i’m trying to figure out the spurs situation. i ordered the same ones you have (the heavy duty ones) and they are just not fitting. was wondering how you got them bad boys in there!?
I do remember they were not as "direct fit" as advertised and I had to twist and cram them in there a little more than I had wanted. Once that got past whatever that block was they fit in great. Sorry but that's all I remember! Is it the screw holes or is it the alignment of the leg going through the hole? I think my issue was the leg going through.
GoAndPractice the leg is not going in. it’s rubbing the corner of the hole. i tried to open the shell a bit with high grit sandpaper but i don’t wanna risk serious damage to the shell or the legs. might have to cuz i agree the original 5/16 legs with the spikes just don’t cut it lol
Okay yeah I bet that's annoying. I think I remember the same problem, the bracket worked but the leg was weird. You'd think they cut the holes with a machine but maybe there was a human element to cutting that hole and everyone's is a little different. Perhaps you might have to file it down a little. I had to file a bit of the bass drum bearing edge and it was very easy. I can't say for sure, but I would be you'd be safe to carefully file the hole to be a little bigger where you would need it.
Fantastic, but I can hear it clear as can be that one of the cracks ( high tom) didnt receive enough glue it irritated me a bit but on the whole awesome
Yeah that 12" tom is super dry. Since this video I've started mounting it differently (check out "Booty Shakers" iso mounts) and now it sounds like it should.
Holy shit man, seeing that crack in the bass drum just brought me to the floor. I’m restoring my own 4pc vistalite at the moment and I feel so fortunate after watching this. It’s an uncommon black smoke 70s Ludwig vistalite and the dude who had it before me left it out in the rain a couple of times so there was plenty of rust on all the hoops, lugs and hardware before me and my friend buffed and polished them all. No cracks, somehow the shells were in perfect condition and the only things that were missing was the bottom hoop on the floor tom and all the mounts had to be replaced with modern hardware. I had to resize the holes with a dremel sander where the spurs went on the bass drum shell, that was pretty sketchy but it worked out well. In hindsight, I should’ve made a before and after video but the restoration was so spontaneous I didn’t even think about it. They look brand new it makes me so happy lol
Yeah these are surprisingly simple to fix up! And yes the condition of the bass drum is too bad on this one, but it really does still sound great. I get compliments on it all the time, regularly use it for recording, and it never rattles. At this point I almost think of the crack as a "crumple zone" that prevents it from cracking in other places if it gets set down too hard. Congrats on your kit, black smoke is an awesome color!
@@GoAndPractice Congrats on your vistas. A buddy has an original clear clear set from the 70s. They're fun to work on till you find a crack or a seem split. Then it's crying time. Lol
@@frankspikes7858 Thanks! Yeah they're a time bomb all right. I'm glad though that this one was already wrecked... ive gotten way more gigging out of it because of the damage. I think otherwise I would have just babied it and it would have never left my house.
@@GoAndPractice His kit was fun. It was strip, clean, and rehead project. 8 drums total. It took about a month. He aslo wanted me to repair a seem split on a concert tom, but said no. It didn't want to make it worse,and I did know it could be done.
@@frankspikes7858 Yeah I'm not confident I could fix a completely split drum and make it work. That 13" tom doesn't get a lot of use so I don't have a good read on how durable my fix was.
Anyway, I love that you restored them and tuned them up for a solid demonstration. Now if only I can one day sit behind a kit this tuned up as you’ve done here! Proper job man
Thank you!
The pointy BD spurs are what you'll find under the rubber feet. Spikes for carpet, rubber for wood floors. The originals probably dry rotted or were lost. You can buy replacement rubber feet.
I believe a vistalite was used on the recordings for Joyce Manor’s “Million Dollars To Kill Me” album and I love the dry/punchy sound they produced.
Yeah they're good at both the wide open bonham thing, but also super good for dry punchy depending on how you tune them. I did once bring them to jazz gig out of laziness, that's a mistake I'll only make once... they sound awful for that!
Great stuff as always. They look and sound awesome.
Thank you for sharing i learned so many
You're welcome!
Restores drumset that kinda looks like Bonham.
Sits down and immediately plays Bonham grooves
Mandatory!
Why oh why did you not make the crack flush on both sides before gluing the kick?
Unfortunately a previous owner riveted it back together not being flush. The glue I put on there was just to prevent it from rattling.
Ah, it looked like there might have been enough play to slide the crack around. Thanks for all the great info. I'm about to go through the same process on a vistalite kit I picked up cheap. Your finished result sounds great. The playing ain't too bad either.
Thanks man! Only regret I have is trying to buff all drums at the same time like an assembly line... Novus 2 dried hard then and I had to re-apply to soften it up and then buff off. I'd recommend doing each drum 1,2,3 steps individually. I've been gigging this kit like crazy since this video and absolutely love it
Man how did you get that spread room sound? How you mixed the audio?
A lot of it is the tuning and cymbal selection, but the key to that big room sound is to place another mic in the next room or down the hall, compress it to death, and then gently mix that in as a part of your reverb.
What did you use for the solvent for the buffer?
Novus Plasic Polish. I believe I used the medium bottle first and then used the liquid to finish.
hey there. don’t know if you’ll see this or not but i too am restoring a 70s vistalite. i’m trying to figure out the spurs situation. i ordered the same ones you have (the heavy duty ones) and they are just not fitting. was wondering how you got them bad boys in there!?
I do remember they were not as "direct fit" as advertised and I had to twist and cram them in there a little more than I had wanted. Once that got past whatever that block was they fit in great. Sorry but that's all I remember!
Is it the screw holes or is it the alignment of the leg going through the hole? I think my issue was the leg going through.
GoAndPractice the leg is not going in. it’s rubbing the corner of the hole. i tried to open the shell a bit with high grit sandpaper but i don’t wanna risk serious damage to the shell or the legs. might have to cuz i agree the original 5/16 legs with the spikes just don’t cut it lol
Okay yeah I bet that's annoying. I think I remember the same problem, the bracket worked but the leg was weird. You'd think they cut the holes with a machine but maybe there was a human element to cutting that hole and everyone's is a little different. Perhaps you might have to file it down a little.
I had to file a bit of the bass drum bearing edge and it was very easy. I can't say for sure, but I would be you'd be safe to carefully file the hole to be a little bigger where you would need it.
Fantastic, but I can hear it clear as can be that one of the cracks ( high tom) didnt receive enough glue it irritated me a bit but on the whole awesome
Yeah that 12" tom is super dry. Since this video I've started mounting it differently (check out "Booty Shakers" iso mounts) and now it sounds like it should.
I used acrylic cement and wiped excess but ended up with glue all over it. Dam.