lankyman
Junior Member
Thought I would share with you all a project I have been undertaking for the last few weeks. I brought my V-series from a friend about 4 years ago for $500 which was a steal at New Zealand prices (drum gear is ridiculously expensive here, for example a Meridian Maple will cost you over NZ$2000). The kit was not even a year old at the time and I had read good things about the V-series and liked what I heard. Since then I have added Gibralter hardware, a DW 7000 double-kick, a set a Sabian AAX's, Evan's all round, and a Danny Carey Sig Sonor snare. Basically what I am trying to achieve is a kick-ass live sound for the least $ possible, and believe I have done a pretty good job. However the wrap on the kit has always annoyed me. Basically it's sin ugly, and It's time to do something about it.
I've always been a Mapex man, and my dream kit is a Saturn. Nothing like that deep gloss walnut in my opinion. So with that in mind. I set about stripping of the plastic wrap. This was not an easy task at all, and the method I used was to carefully slice the wrap into strips and pull it off. If you use a heat gun, the glue stays on the wood and is incredibly hard to remove. I then sanded the kit with 120 grit to remove excess glue and finished with 240 grit. Many hours were involved here and I blew up one mouse sander in the process. A Walnut stain was then applied to the basswood and actually brought out some pretty sweet wood grains (see photos). Then I coated it all with about 9 coats of laquer and wet sanded/cut and polished to bring out a reasonably high gloss. Now I'm just waiting on a set of neoprene gaskets I've had made to isolate all the hardware from the shells, then I'll throw it all back together with a new set of skins. All up this job has cost me about $230. Can't wait to see If it sounds any different.
I've always been a Mapex man, and my dream kit is a Saturn. Nothing like that deep gloss walnut in my opinion. So with that in mind. I set about stripping of the plastic wrap. This was not an easy task at all, and the method I used was to carefully slice the wrap into strips and pull it off. If you use a heat gun, the glue stays on the wood and is incredibly hard to remove. I then sanded the kit with 120 grit to remove excess glue and finished with 240 grit. Many hours were involved here and I blew up one mouse sander in the process. A Walnut stain was then applied to the basswood and actually brought out some pretty sweet wood grains (see photos). Then I coated it all with about 9 coats of laquer and wet sanded/cut and polished to bring out a reasonably high gloss. Now I'm just waiting on a set of neoprene gaskets I've had made to isolate all the hardware from the shells, then I'll throw it all back together with a new set of skins. All up this job has cost me about $230. Can't wait to see If it sounds any different.
