The Drum Modification Thread

That's a natural with lacquer. That means no stain. The shells you order should be "finish grade" so a light sanding with a very very fine sand paper and finish. At this point you can finish it yourself or have it done by a pro. Spray on poly some ultra fine metal sand paper and steel wool are all you'll need. It sounds like this is your first DIY, I recommend finding a how to video on youtube and if you have a cheap old drum, practice on that. I've done this once, a strip and re-stain on a Keller shell to match my DW. It came out perfect. Your project is a little more ambitious, but definitely something you can do.
 
Ok thanks... I have gotten a lot of input on other sites too... some have said it is impossible and some have said it is easy... I will have to practice on a cheap drum
 
If you wanted to stain it there are lots available at any hardware store. For color stains RIT dye works great (i mixed purple and black to match my kit). There videos on YouTube that show how to do fades and bursts. And of course you could still have the finish done at an auto body shop. That would be the best.lacquer finish. Good luck.
 
I don't know. ]'m refinishing my DWs this year. The strip and color i'll do myself (purple to natural burst) but I'm having the finish done for me. I was going to price it before I start stripping. I can't imagine it being more than $200 to clear coat four or five drums.
 
I am also looking at having work done. I have a 20*18 kick and a possible 12*9 mapex saturn rack tom in different finishes. Want to have the kick cut to 14depth and the rack to 8depth. Then I need a 14 floor tom and I will wrap it. Will be cheaper than to buy a kit in those sizes.
 
Anyone have any experience applying a wood veneer to drums? I bought a Percussion Plus kit at a yardsale a while back for $40, and I was gonna stain them, but I don't feel like putting in that much work. I've already taken the wraps off and sanded them smooth. I figured spending $150 for a nice looking veneer wrap, and then clear coating over it would look a lot better than trying to stain the not so good looking outer ply.
 
Hey dudes. I currently own the world's ugliest snare, and it sounds amazing, so I'd like to refinish it. If I want to keep all the black hardware and just refinish the actual shell (it's steel), what's the easiest way to go about that? A wrap? Paint?
 
Or you could use a paint-strip gel and remove the black paint. I did much the same to heavily scratched up ultra cast and it now looks great. Strip the hardware off, and take your time also make sure you strip the paint in a well ventilated (garage or outside shed) area.
 
So I've decided for my next kit I'm gonna build the set I want. So the setup I want to run is a 26x16 kick, 16x14 rack tom, and 18x16 floor tom with accompanying 14x8 snare. Since I don't have alot of funds to do this I'm thinking of going with Gretsch Club Mod / Rock shells as they have come in all the sizes I want plus they are usually rather cost effective. The up side is I like mahogany shells as they usually have more low end than maple or birch, and the rounded bearing edges give me a nice thud which I like as I play very slow very heavy music. I'd really like to get ones with the wraps instead of the laquers since I want to stain the shells a dark walnut, use the black gretsch hardware (of which I all ready have enough for a kick and floor tom), and top them off with Maple wood hoops. Maybe skin them with Pinstripe batters and Emperor reso's. So.....

Am I nuts?? hahaha

I'm looking for a really deep and thunderous kit with a good aesthetic, am I way off base?
 
So I've decided for my next kit I'm gonna build the set I want. Am I nuts?? hahaha

I'm looking for a really deep and thunderous kit with a good aesthetic, am I way off base?


Oh boy, this sounds like fun ! No, you are not nuts.
The only tricky part is ending up with a set of toms that sound good together.

I want to do the same thing. If you do this, please post your progress on a thread.

.
 
Oh boy, this sounds like fun ! No, you are not nuts.
The only tricky part is ending up with a set of toms that sound good together.

I want to do the same thing. If you do this, please post your progress on a thread.

.

hahaha sweet that's reassuring!!!! and yeah it is fun, I had refinished an old club mod kit before and had a blast doing so I figured why not again?

Well i've done a lil research and the 16x14 I originally wanted to go with has offset lugs while the 26 and 18 do not. So I'm probably just going to try and find a club rock kit as a whole (and use its 16x16 tom instead) and another loose club mod floor tom for all the black hardware. So if I get the kit the toms and kick should sound just fine together.

I most definitely will!!! I'll post plenty of pics along the way. I'm just curious as to people's thoughts using 2 ply heads on top and bottom of a mahogany shell with maple wood hoops. I'm hoping its a recipe for tons of wet low end thud.
 
So I finally get the courage to shorten my 17 in deep bass drum to 14in only to realize after removing all the hardware (lugs, tension rods and spurs) that it didn't clear all the pre-drilled holes. It wouldn't have been a problem if I was going to re-wrap it but this is a like-new drum set and I wanted to keep the original tight-warp on it. Oh just thought I'd share this with anyone who might consider doing this.
 
I thought I already posted here the other day but, I don't see it. Anyway, as I mentioned in that lost post I didn't know this thread existed here. Just never noticed it. Great thread. Really cool ideas and kudos to those making old stuff better.

Rather than post a bunch of pics with explanations I decided to just make a vid of DIY and mod ideas and post it at YT.

I hope some prove useful.

http://youtu.be/xQkrIyQQpxM
 
How stupid would it be to reduce the depth of my Ludwig Keystone Bass drum from 17 to 12in. to make it a 22X12 BD? My original thought was to make it 14 in but it wouldn't have cleared most of the pre-drilled holes. Shortening it down to 12 would get it done but how will it sound? If it's worth anything note that this will be made by a pro. Thanks for your input.
 
How stupid would it be to reduce the depth of my Ludwig Keystone Bass drum from 17 to 12in. to make it a 22X12 BD? My original thought was to make it 14 in but it wouldn't have cleared most of the pre-drilled holes. Shortening it down to 12 would get it done but how will it sound? If it's worth anything note that this will be made by a pro. Thanks for your input.

Andy has a thread called shallow drums, low rock tuning where the bass drum is a 22 x 12. Listen with headphones.

Here ya go!

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125687
 
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