Nickel or chrome?

I agree with the satin finish before any plating. If you had any way of keeping the aluminum from tarnishing, I'd say go with that. Would just clear coating it work?

between chrome and nickel, I'd say nickel, every budget kit and its grandmother has chrome this, that and everything (and a black wrap). I'm so sick of chrome (and black wraps).
 
I like the nickel. It's richer looking and goes with the vibe of the drum. Everyone does chrome.
Who does nickel? Superb work of the very highest order there Andrew.

+1 Larryace. My thoughts exactly.

KIS, I don't think nickel h/w with chrome hoops would be attractive though. I'm thinking it would have to be whole hog .... nickel all the way.

My $0.02.

Best,
radman
 
Ok, here's some fresh shots. The first two shots are nickel, the last shot is chrome. The question is this; do you think the nickel complements the chrome hoop, or does it look like we haven't quite matched our hardware correctly?

I'll reveal my take. I think nickel is the classier finish. It also blends with the wood better than chrome. I regard lugs as part of the drum more than I do a metal hoop. Strangely, that opinion changes when applied to matching wood hoops???? The chrome lug offers a more coherent look to the drum, but it also takes it more into mainstream, & I'm not so sure if that's a good thing or not.

These are not custom drums, so we don't want a "custom" look. Difficult eh :(

Please guys, your honest opinions.
 

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Personally, I would go with the nickel plate becasue of a couple of reasons. First, there isn't too much of a difference in appearance and secondly, a "quality" plating process for chrome is copper/nickel/chrome, or at least it used to be. A lot of people would refer to the process as triple-plated chrome. From a cost perspective, nickel plate could be less expensive in the long run as it has one less operation to perform during the plating process. Now from a quality standpoint, nickel will hold up just as long as chrome and as I stated earlier, from a visual standpoint the difference isn't that great.

Just my two cents worth...

Ultimately, both finishes look great and it is a tough choice!
 
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Thank you so much for your input guys. A few points;

* The difference in appearance between nickel & chrome is fairly obvious "in the flesh" so to speak. It's difficult to capture on camera, as much of the difference is in how it reflects light. if we could economically source our own nickel hoops to the same quality as our hardware, there would be no choice to be made. I'm a nickel guy too, although chrome is cool too


* Cases. We've hooked up with the guys at Protection Racket to offer a full range of cases to go with the Origin range of drums. We can't sell them separately, but we can offer them at very attractive prices with our drums. PR are hesitant to work with us on branding for now, but the PR guys will be at LDS, so I'll have another crack at coming to some agreement on that :) I don't want to consider other case companies right now, as I genuinely believe Performance Racket are the very best there is. Their new hard/soft cases are just superb! Who? Must be the long days Andy!

* Offering both chrome & nickel options actually have minimal cost implications for us, outside of order planning. The chrome plated units go through exactly the same process as the nickel plated pieces, just the additional process of chrome plating over the nickel at the end.
I think that's the best bit- that way everyone is happy

The drums just look better and better every time I see them. Can't wait to hear them...
 
I just got a look at the original post and I have to go with nickel. It looks way classier in my opinion, richer tone that says" high end" to me. If it was me looking at the drums and considering purchase, and this is just me, I put alot of weight on my decision to buy drums on the aesthetic properties as well as how they sound. I'm anal about logos, lug styles, all the insignificant things that add up to be significant, if you know what I mean. With that being said, I would have a small issue with chrome and nickel on the same drum and probably request a total nickel or total chrome package if avaialble. Hope this helps in some way :)
 
A question about the lugs Andy, how is the reinforcement ring affected as far as marring goes when the tension rod is tightened to a higher torque? In other words, if a tension rod is tightened to a very tight tension, would the lug casing under the ring "dig in" to the ring and leave a little indent, possibly causing a problem with the lug casing lying flat on the ring... or, over time, have enough of an indentation that would either force you to use the exact same position or move to a different position? Know what I mean? Kind of like a bass drum claw marring the hoop and having to have the claw in the exact same position every time. I just wondered if you thought a small piece of rubber on the surface that lies against the ring would possibly be needed to address that issue, if indeed there even is an issue?
 
Ok, here's some fresh shots. The first two shots are nickel, the last shot is chrome. The question is this; do you think the nickel complements the chrome hoop, or does it look like we haven't quite matched our hardware correctly?

In most cases, two colours or finishes that are close but do not match looks bad. It's a little hard to tell from the pictures because they are at different angles with slightly different light/shadow.

I can't say one way or the other because I know you have things to consider like product and labour cost but I encourage you to look up a few principles based around contrasting/complimentary colours and textures. At least it will be more knowledge for you to work with in the future if nothing else.
 
KIS, I don't think nickel h/w with chrome hoops would be attractive though. I'm thinking it would have to be whole hog .... nickel all the way.


Ok, I stand corrected. In the pics below, I can't see a noticeable difference ... so maybe nickel h/w with chrome hoops will be fine. Indeed, this may well be something to be appreciated "in the flesh" as KIS indicated.

Cheers,
radman
 
Firstly, I like the chrome a little better. It really pops against the shell.

Secondly, I love the drums and thanks for sharing your progress.

Thirdly, I was curious about the plating. Was that done with a plasma coating? One of my guitar player buddies is big into plasma coatings in his day job. He would love this.
 
I would make chrome the standard and PN the option.

The PN wont match the cymbal stands etc in which case I think many might not want it and might really look poor against a rack or whatever else some drummer might have around.

Would you set it up on display at LDS with PN cymbal stands?
 
If I order nickel will I be able to get nickel hoops? If the hoops are chrome then I want the rest to be chrome.
 
Why is nickel/nickel not an option? I love nickel, and black nickel too. Black nickel hoops and bright nickel lugs might look interesting. I'd want both nickel, either matched or not.
 
Sorry chaps, been away setting up for a rally we're playing tonight :)

A question about the lugs Andy, how is the reinforcement ring affected as far as marring goes when the tension rod is tightened to a higher torque?
No marring issues. The lugs sit on two stainless steel support pins. There's almost zero pressure directly on the rering. In testing, we've taken these up to marching snare tensions without issues, although I wouldn't recommend it.

Nickle vs. chrome:

Thanks for your thoughts guys. We will be offering all chrome on the performance range, & all nickel on the Classic range. Eventually, we'll be offering all nickel on the Performance range too, but we won't have the hoop options available by the launch show. We hope to have that sorted by the time drums go on sale :)

I agree with those who stated a chrome/nickel mix is just too much of a risk.
 
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