Painted Bass Head

[wolfgang]

I've got a design and I've got someone to paint it. Where do I go from here?
I've looked at a few threads but still haven't come to a definite conclusion. Smooth white or coated? Primer or no primer? Acrylic paint or other?
If I need a primer, could I not just spray paint my existing head white and then have the artist paint on that? It would sure save some money.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

PS. This is the design
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d104/steinyramone91/GetAttachmentaspx.jpg

[Ironcobra]

Do you know someone personally who will paint it? Why don't you order a custom made head with your design off of an online store?

Like these guys: http://www.vintagelogos.com/

[GRUNTERSDAD]

As intricate as that design looks I would use a smooth white head. The edges may blur when using a coated head. Acrylic should work fine.

[tbmills]

i want to do a similar thing with my reso head. our band name is come on go with us and my design idea was to have the name in western font wrapping around the edge of the head, right side up on the top, and upside down on the bottom. i just bought a remo fiberskyn 3 head, i would love to finish it this week. we have a big show in our home town on friday... i have a design done on the computer but i dont know how to transfer it. i can draw and paint; i need a way to lay out the design.

what type of paint should i use? i was thinking about using hobby paint like on model cars.
doesnt acrylic need primer?

[Jeremy Bender]

I always wondered if tightening the head after the paint dries will cause the picture to crack...there must some specific paint.

[Chazz]

Hmmm,maybe Ask 'DrumArt' for a quote...

[tbmills]

Hmmm,maybe Ask 'DrumArt' for a quote...

i did, and he was very helpful, but i just dont have a spare hundred bucks. maybe in the future.

[wolfgang]

Ironcobra: Yes I have a friend who is going to do it.

Jeremy Bender: I was wondering that myself actually, I just forgot to put it in the original post. Would it be better to break the head in first, or is it okay to just paint a new one?

[tbmills]

wolfgang, sorry i dont mean to steal the thread. i just have the same problem as you.

here's the logo we made. in reality, it will be less intricate than this...

[wolfgang]

What about, like, black sharpie?

[tbmills]

What about, like, black sharpie?

i think sharpie would work but it is hard to cover alot of space with a sharpie. it tends to pick up dried ink when you pass back over a spot.

my violinist suggested that we get it silkscreened... what do you think about that?

[Mr. Slingerland]

Coming from someone that works in the signage industry.

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

[tbmills]

Coming from someone that works in the signage industry.

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

is that the same thing as die cut stickers? ill check that out.

[Mr. Slingerland]

sort of.

Think of cut vinyl like what you see for truck and car lettering.

you take these rolls of vinyls and put them on a plotter which cuts out the shape. The excess that you don't need gets peeled away and your left with your cut image.

hope this clarifies

[canada_rokzz]

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=563691&postcount=4


mcbike did his with a sharpie as pictured in the above thread... Looks really good in the picture!

[wolfgang]

Thanks for your advice everyone, but at this point I am leaning more towards handpainting or sharpie because I have like no money.

[NewBeatsGroove]

if i wanted to paint mine myself what could i use? would spray paint work?

[wolfgang]

I dunno about spray paint. What I do know is that my head was finished the other day. It was done with sharpie. It looks not half bad; I'm pretty happy with it. It's on my kick right now. I'll get some pics asap!

[dkerwood]

I have done a couple of "custom" heads. The first was on my oldest kit and drum head- the guy I bought it from bought it originally from the local high school, so the kit had their mascot logo on the front head, painted. I didn't have the cash for a new head, and certainly didn't want the high school logo on there anymore, so I gave my mom (an artist) a design I liked and she went to work. She painted the whole thing black (it was clear before) and then did a nifty "Buddy Rich" style stripe and initials logo. Up close you could see the brush strokes, but from more than about 5 feet it looked professionally done. I used it that way for about a year until I was given an Evans EQ3 head which lived on there until I sold the kit. I still have the painted head hanging in my music room. Acrylic paint is pretty flexible, and it's not like you're going to put a lot of tension on a bass reso head anyway.

The other "custom" heads weren't quite so involved. For my band, my sister (also an artist) laid out the band logo (a simple L overlaid with a T) with white electrical tape on the head. Looks good to me:

http://content.bandzoogle.com/users/leavethursday/images/photos/gallery/442541.jpghttp://content.bandzoogle.com/users/leavethursday/images/photos/gallery/1489711.jpg

The only head head modification I've done is the reso head I had on my very first kit. It had the logo at 12 o clock and the port at 6. Now, I like my port a little offset, but the logo was causing a visual problem with that. So... I just Sharpied over the logo and rotated the head. Only noticeable from about 3 feet away, and even then only when you know what you're looking for. Check out before and after (that's my band's drummer on the kit, not me):

http://content.bandzoogle.com/users/leavethursday/images/photos/gallery/343919.jpghttp://content.bandzoogle.com/users/leavethursday/images/photos/gallery/514638.jpg

[wolfgang]

Finally, the finished product
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d104/steinyramone91/P8270025.jpg

[genereaux]

Looks good, especially if that's Sharpie.
I don't mean this in a 'snarky' kind of way, but I think that might look REALLY cool with some colored 'glitter-paint' accents. Seriously. It would kinda lend to the child-like 'arts&crafts' element that the band name and the logo sort of allude to..........

BUT, if you weren't already done- I would second the vinyl approach. I've done a few of my guitars with it, and I love it. If your design isn't overly intricate, you can do it yourself. I used some scrap vinyl to do my kick head;
http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8277/photo23e.jpg (http://img198.imageshack.us/i/photo23e.jpg/) http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/photo23e.jpg/1/w800.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img198/photo23e.jpg/1/)

Granted, it wouldn't stand up too well under an extreme camera close up, but I've never been a sign maker, so I think it's pretty good for an amateur........

[mcbike]

Yeah, I did this with a sharpie, I got a brand new chisel point and then a few other regular sharpies. The key to making this look good is to follow these steps:

print out your design how you want it black ink on lightweight paper
tape the design on the inside of the head in place how you want it
shine a light through it and trace the design in pencil
do the outline in thin sharpie
fill in the lines using a chisel point, be careful not to go over places you already colored.
then turn the head over and fill in the back side of the head too (this is a really important step because it stops light from showing through and gives you a darker black)
this took me about 2.5 hours to complete from start to finish. It kind of sucks because basically you are drawing the design 3 times. once in pencil, once on the front, once on the back.

It helps if you have a thick book that you can put under the head for support.

the sad thing about that head is it maybe lasted two months and the fiddle player in my band knocked the mic stand into it tore the head. I was about to re-do and he just broke another head! I swear i'm going to kill him!

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=563691&postcount=4


mcbike did his with a sharpie as pictured in the above thread... Looks really good in the picture!

[wolfgang]

Genereaux: That actually sounds pretty cool. I'm having a bit of difficulty visualizing it exactly, but if I get another head done by the same artist I'll definitely consider doing that.

[Migaluch]

Hey dkerwood, what is that girl's name i swear i have seen her before?

[dkerwood]

Hey dkerwood, what is that girl's name i swear i have seen her before?

That's my kid sister. Lay off. <grin>

[thelimpingtoad]

Coming from someone that works in the signage industry.

Take your design to a sign shop and have them cut it out of black vinyl. They'll put a mask over the vinyl and it will keep all your intricate details from moving around and it keeps it all together.

It's cheaper than silk screening because for a 1 off type of design they have to burn a huge screen to be able to create it and unless your doing about 20 or more heads with that design its not cost effective.

My advice go with the cut vinyl, it will be permanent as long as you want it to be and if you want a new design you can peel it off when you please.

That's my advice too. I used to work in a sign shop and when i eventually get my band's name put on a head that's the route I am going to go. Its really good for simple single or dual color designs... i couldn't see the OP's design so I have no idea how detailed or how many colors but for simple applications vinyl is definately the way to go.

[Symyn240]

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i181/symyn240/Fronthead.jpg
The guy i got these from had some terrible stickers that i couldn't get off, so i used them in a doodle design, turned out ok till i can get a new head :) at least i think so.

Just used a sharpie, worked ok