Drum Building technique Thread

styles2281 · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:59 am Post subject: Drum Building technique Thread

Due to many requests we decided to make a drum building thread. This thread will be mainly used for posting useful techniques and for people showing step by step pictures of their finishing/re-finishing work. I hope that this will be a useful thread for everyone. I will ASK that people not clutter it up with idle posts (i.e. if you want to comment "that looks awesome!" please PM the individual, unless the question has relevance to techniques used...i.e. will be a usefull question or statement). Anyways, let's get the drum building party started!
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"One day I feel I'm on top of the world
And the next it's falling in on me
I can get back on, I can get back on
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel
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- Neil Peart, Rush, Snakes and Arrows, Far Cry, 2007

nutty_bar · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:00 pm Post subject:

that looks awesome!
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tizzdizz · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:39 pm Post subject:

haha that made me laugh Nuttybar.

Not that I'm an expert, I only tried it once, but I guess I could add my experience and pictures.

I chose to remove the wrap from my exports and stain the shell. I picked a "deep ocean" blue, and coated it with 6 coats of clear gloss polyurethane. This was all done with home depot supplies, and cost me about $40, but that's because I didn't have anything necessary to start with.

A couple of important tips right off the top of my head:

-when removing wrap, make sure to at least use a powerful hair dryer, if you don't have access to a heat gun. Without being patient and slow, the tape glue might just come right off and take part of the outer ply with it. The second picture is a shot of that. Anyway, it can be fixed but the glue/putty does not take the stain like the wood does, so it shows up unless you're careful.

-when removing the wrap, also make sure to remove ALL of the glue residue while it's still hot from the hair dryer/heat gun. This is a PITA to get off otherwise, and really messes with the even-ness of the stain.

-when staining, tape up all holes, and bearing edges. Mask off entire inside of drum. I had a couple spots where the stain dripped through the holes and got on the inside of the drum, and it does not come off. Live and learn...

patience, and lots of sanding. I wet sanded in between each of the last 4 coats of clear, and it seemed to even things out quite well.

Working with wood is really fun, and I had never done anything like it before. It's really simple, if you just take your time.

this is what it started out like:

damaged outer ply

a shot of the repaired section of the outer ply, where the tape ripped off part of the wood.

my shells had a good 1/8" gap between the two ends of the outer ply, they didn't line up very well. I used some stainable putty to fill it in, and it looked fine until I stained it. I probably could have sanded it down more, but try to use as little putty as possible.

shells ready for prep...you can see on the floor tom where some of the glue didn't come off. I spent a lot of time trying to scrape it off, but i should have done it when it was still hot.

there were drum parts EVERYWHERE. I have a small apartment. My fiancee was really awesome about the whole thing. She even took pictures!

after the first coat of stain, I was afraid they'd turn out way bluer than I wanted them to, but after some sanding and lots of clear, they ended up with a nice shade.

after 2 coats of clear, the wood was pretty porous. Had an OK shine to it.

I think this is after 4 clear coats. This shows how some of the flaws came through on the kick. It was on the bottom though, and isn't too bad now that it's finished.

finished after 6 coats of clear. It would shine a lot more with 10+, but I was impatient throughout the whole project (isn't it obvious?). I'm pretty happy with it overall.

a subtle shine, but a nice shine. I didn't have new hoops or heads, so I just used what I already had.

the grain shows pretty nicely. Although going a bit lighter on the stain wouldn't have hurt, I don't think I could have gotten it so even, since it was my first time doing it.

Sorry if that was too long and drawn out. Let's see some more projects!
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The549 · Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 11:31 am Post subject:

So if I was too cheap to buy drum cases and now have a few nicks on my beautiful set, is there a way to touch up the lacquer or respray is a bit?

Could I test a small area first (underside of the bass drum) and see how it goes? Thanks for any tips.
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then....perhaps I might eat them.

bytor · Admin Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 5223 Location: Kansas

How large are the nicks in the finish? You might make things look worse if you don't really know what you're doing. If the damage isn't that bad, I would probably just leave it alone.

3rdRay · House Cat Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 157

i 2nd that
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The549 · Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject:

Hmm....what exactly do you think will happen?
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then....perhaps I might eat them.

3rdRay · House Cat Joined: 21 Apr 2006 Posts: 157

just spraying over the top.. you would have uneven finish..

if you sanded it out.. then resprayed it would be really hard to match the rest of the drum..
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tizzdizz · Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 8:59 pm Post subject:

yeah it'd be almost impossible to make it look like nothing happened. It'd be more worth it to get cases/refinish them completely, or both.
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"Ray, when someone asks you if you're a GOD you say YES!!"

bytor · Admin Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 5223 Location: Kansas

Xylus · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 4:01 am Post subject:

Ok I am redoing one of my drumsets here at skool. What I am doing is taking all the wraps off sanding it all down and I am re-making all the drums into concert toms. I am taking dowels and filling in all the lug holes for the bottom hoop and stuff like that. But my main question here is I am planning on taking a veneer and recovering the outside of my drum to make it look nice. So I have no problem with that. But I am thinking about buying a MAPLE veneer to have all the drum insides would match and thus it would cover up all the dowels to make the drums look like they were made as concert toms. I was wondering if I put a maple veneer on the inside of the drum would it make the drums sound better like a maple kit? Or would it still sound like the regular drums that they are? Because I know some companies take plies of maple and just put them in there for sound so I figured this would be just adding another ply to make it sound better. Let me know what you all think. Thanks.
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bytor · Admin Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 5223 Location: Kansas

That sounds like an extensive project you've got there, xylus, but it sounds pretty neat, nonetheless. Adding an inside and outside veneer will change the tone of the drums, but probably not to a huge degree. The shells will, of course, become thicker, which theoretically will give you a bit more volume and a slightly higher pitch. I would advise putting the veneer on slightly oversized and recutting the bearing edges to give a smooth transition from the original shell to the plies you're adding. Having maple as the inner ply probably won't make a huge difference in the sound, but it might round out the tone some.

It's going to be a big undertaking, but it sounds like it will be neat when you're done. Above all, be patient, and it should turn out nice.

Xylus · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 9:26 am Post subject:

I was planning on cutting the new inner and outer veneer a little larger to make up the difference. I started the project yesterday. I have a little 10inch tom i took the wrap off...sadly it ripped some of the old ply off with it but my teacher is going to help me replace it. I am just about finished with filling in all the lug holes for one side of the drum because I am turning these into concert toms. So far so good I am going to start taking some pictures so I can show you all how everything is coming along. I'm really excited to finally undertake this large project. I am going to get all the hardware powdercoated too so it is going to be like a brandnew drumset. I'm going to make it look like Lars Ulrich's set. One of my other teachers suggested painting the drums with automotive paint to get the real nice shine. What do any of you suggest? I wouldn't have a problem doing that because I have the guns for painting and stuff. I just don't know how well it would adhere. But it would be kind of kool to be able to maybe wax my drumset for the ultimate shine. Let me know what you guys think.
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I have myself a nice awesome Tama Starclassic 9 Piece Birch Performer that is really amazing.

random white person · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 12:27 pm Post subject:

i dont think automotive paint is the best choice... the shiny gloss on most drums comes from several layers of clear coat that have been sanded and polished, which you can in fact wax as a final touch.
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Xylus · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 3:37 am Post subject:

So when I actually paint the drum and i put my first coat of clear on. What grit of sandpaper do you suggest I use? I'm thinking something like 220 or 360. I don't know I've never done this before.
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I have myself a nice awesome Tama Starclassic 9 Piece Birch Performer that is really amazing.