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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/11/2010
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Hey everyone! I have an old beat up swingstar i would like to remove the wrap and get custom painted :) my uncle paints cars and will do this for practically free!
a couple things
1) any pointers on dissasembling kit (esp with regards to air hole and badges?)
2) can i buy swingstar lugs anywhere? mine have rust and i dnt want a nice paintjob and then put back old rusty metal
3) will paint affect sound? any pointers on how thick paint can be applied and wat type?
thanks guys
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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1 - Do not remove air holes and badges, you will have to destroy the grommets to take them out and won't be able to put them back again, and even if you do, your badges will probably be loose. I would tape the badges instead and just leave the grommets in. Make sure you tape the bearing edges and the insides too.
2 - There's lots of Swingstar lugs on Ebay these days - either the triple-tier or older triangular Ludwig types. However, since you will have all your lugs taken off, you can also try chrome polish, CLR or any other rust-removing product, it will be cheaper. You'd be amazed what throwing them in a bucket of CLR will do (just don't leave them more than a minute or 2!!!).
3 - I am not a painting expert so it's hard to make a recommendation. I think most people use automotive paint for this. I did a small 6" tom once with Acrylic spray paint, and it had a nice finish, but you really have to ensure your wrap is clean and free of dirt or grease. I'm sure your uncle can provide better input than I can for painting a plastic wrap shell.
1984 RoyalStar Wine Red 9-piece Xtras
1983 SuperStar Super Mahogany 13-piece Standard
1982 Superstar Cherry Wine 11-piece Xtras
1983 Superstar Super Mahogany 4-piece Xtras "beater kit"
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Rank: Newbie
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thanks for the reply! yeah i figured working out the whole hole deal (no pun intended)would be tricky and it seems best to leave it in. thanks for the bearing edge taping tip i didnt even think of that! and i do believe buyin a jug of clr is worth a try if it can save me bout 160 bucks worth of lugs haha
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Rank: Newbie
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question
wont the badges come off with the wrap? wat bout the gromet?
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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Sorry, I misread your original post. I didn't realize you planned on removing the wrap. Personally, I would advise against that. You are probably going to get a nasty surprise when you do. Swingstars are made of mahogany (more precisely Phillipine Mahogany or Luan) which is very difficult to finish. It is a stringy, porous wood that does not take paint or finish very well. It is possible to paint and refinish them, but the results are usually not good and will destroy any potential resale value. That is the reason why Swingstars were all wrapped on the outside and zola-coated on the inside - the wood they were made from did not finish well. You may remember they briefly made a line of Royalstars from 82-84 which were mahogany shells with a lacquer finish, but they had an outer ply of Shina wood so that they could be finished. You would get better refinishing advice from someone used to re-finishing those old brown Mahogany/Luan doors they used to use in houses in the 60's/70's.
My advice - if you are not happy with the finish, you can re-paint the wrap, or replace it with new wrap you can buy on-line or use 1/32" plastic sheets from your local arts/hobbies/plastic store. If you do remove the wrap, use a powerful heat gun so as to not tear fibers from the wood. You will then need to sand down (with progressively finer grit) and seal the wood, and probably have to use primer and opaque paint as the grain may not be great, but most likely you will still end up with a bumpy finish. You will have to remove the grommets and badges as well, then re-install new grommets when the job is done (those may be hard to find). It's a big job with dubious end results, but it can be a fun experiment if you don't care too much about what happens to the kit...
1984 RoyalStar Wine Red 9-piece Xtras
1983 SuperStar Super Mahogany 13-piece Standard
1982 Superstar Cherry Wine 11-piece Xtras
1983 Superstar Super Mahogany 4-piece Xtras "beater kit"
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/11/2010
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thank you for the in depth explanation of the swingstar wood. i should have mentioned my swingstar is not vintage and is maybe 10 years old. would it also be mahogony?
im doing this more for fun and do not plan on reselling the kit.
do you think i should get a white wrap and have my uncle paint that? he wants to do a custom airbrush type job flames exc not a paint brush
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Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 6/14/2006
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Sorry, I can't speak for newer Swingstars, I'm old school pre-1986 only :):):). I am not sure what wood they are made from. I did see someone else do a job on their newer Swingstar on this forum and it looked pretty good: http://forum.tama.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10498
1984 RoyalStar Wine Red 9-piece Xtras 1983 SuperStar Super Mahogany 13-piece Standard 1982 Superstar Cherry Wine 11-piece Xtras 1983 Superstar Super Mahogany 4-piece Xtras "beater kit"
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any advice about white wrap? bueller bueller? anybody out there? haha
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