Customizing kits

StaggerLee

Silver Member
I was having a talk with my drum tutor today and got on to the topic of upgrading kits and the such. He revealed he had never actually brought a high end drums and instead made his more intermediate kit his own. He said after searching a lot of the time you can find some intermediate drums with very good shells, but the mix of poor hardware and stock heads bring the prices down to rock bottom. So in the end he brought a mapex meridian maple and set about customizing. First he fully rounded over the bearing edges to get that nice open sound. Then he lacquered the interior of his shells. Next he replaced the hoops with 2.3mm power hoops, added new gibraltar spurs to the bass drum and floor toms. And finally added nwe tube lugs to the kit. Then wollah, all the features you get from a professional drum set, only difference is its cheaper by far and its made in taiwan (not that that really counts nowadays, arent saturns the same?)
So has anyone else tried this? Its a more personal way of making your own sound :p
 
Im part way through doing this myself but curious to see if anyone else has, I am making kit kit in increments (all drums apart from snare go up by 4". 8", 12", 16" and 20" kick. Seems a lot better way,as it is not costing me much. Getting it cut down, bearing edges, internal lacquering and powder coating hardware done this week (whole thing should be back by tomorrow). Cant wait :D
 
Sounds fun, if you do it piece by piece. But It does seem weird to buy a kit ad then replace everything but the shells, when you could buy shells and build your own from the ground up. Maybe finishing them would be a it of a job, but it would be 100% custom.
 
Well I am not switching out everything. The lugs are same as on keystone kits so I have kept those. But new hoops, got some plys stripped so its 7mm thick. Rounded bearing edges, gibraltar spurs for floor tom and bass drum. Internal thin matte laquer and bass drum sizes cut down. Professional quality for a whole lot less. I used to remember highwoods did this, and I know there is another company out there that takes your kit and upgrades it in the same way so long as the shells are of good quality, so its not something new.
 
I've got a set of Sonor Force Series drums I bought several years ago. I'd always wanted a set of Sonor drums, so when I found this shell pack for five-hundred bucks, I had to have it. It originally came with snow white wrap, and flanged hoops.

The first change I made was a loss of the 13" tom. I never used it. Sold it on Craigslist. Then I upgraded the clamp on the remaining 12" tom that mounts the toms to other items, and started mounting it on a cymbal stand. I purchased die cast hoops for the remaining drums, and then the last modification I made to the drums was re-cutting the bearing edges.

About a year ago I got sick of the white wrap, so I stripped it and got a good drummer friend of mine to help me do a full refinish. The color now closely resembles DW's stained candy apple red finish, except a pinch or two brighter.

Once the bearing edges were cut, those basswood shells really popped. I was so suprised at how good they sounded after the modifications, I gave up on shopping for a better set for a while. I've recorded on demos with these drums several times, and most people don't even ask about them - they sound great. And I don't mean they sound good for what they are - for drums in general, these are pleasing to the ear.

Cheap drums just means they're made cheap - it doesn't neccesarily mean bad quality. The bearing edges weren't cut to their full potential, the hardware was cheap, you get the idea. Basswood is the least desirable, but I still love the sound I get from the Sonor kit. If you can buy a cheap kit with birch, or maple shells, recut the edges, buy new hoops, and you'll have something to write home about, for sure.


EDIT: I just thought of this after I posted; I've been considering placing re-inforcement hoops into these drums. I was wondering if that would do anything for the sound, and if so, what sort of wood would be best? Thanks in advance!
 
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I am not a set drummer, but I an in the process of building my own snare fro parts.I am having a riot! by the time I get it all done, I will have a 6 ply natural maple finish 14x5 for under $250 US. If I wanted a set, I would build my own, and cherry pick through all the hardware that I wanted, take my time, and have a state of the art set for half the price of a new. I have no special shop to work in, but a little Yankee ingenuity has helped me get it done, most all work done by hand.
 
Well I am not switching out everything. The lugs are same as on keystone kits so I have kept those. But new hoops, got some plys stripped so its 7mm thick. Rounded bearing edges, gibraltar spurs for floor tom and bass drum. Internal thin matte laquer and bass drum sizes cut down. Professional quality for a whole lot less. I used to remember highwoods did this, and I know there is another company out there that takes your kit and upgrades it in the same way so long as the shells are of good quality, so its not something new.

Stripping plies? Really? By the time you replace hoops, spurs, legs, have the edges rounded, cut the kick down, and lacquer the interior of the shell...you could just buy a pro quality kit with a warranty. Your instructor could have probably bought a Saturn and still had money left to upgrade considering he changed hoops and lugs; not to mention all the other changes he made.

It's your kit though. Have fun. I would like to know how the ply stripping turns out. Pic of the hilarity please.
 
The main reason for the ply stripping was a crack in the inner ply. I got it back today at the same time i got my first ever endorsement (yay!!!) and it really did not cost that much, I mean yeah I could have gotten a second hand pro kit for the price, but hey, its my kit, its personal to me and my tastes, its professional quality and I love it. The only downside is due to the cutting process and everything that I had done to it (heated up to remove ply safely) my matte black coat has blistered and such so I will have to splash out on a new finish, but I am VERY happy with it :) I thoroughly reccomend the idea!!!
 
I'm working on some stuff right now, picked up a used old kit, traded the 22" kick for a 20" from another guy, now I'm turning the 16" floor tom into a 16x8 rack, and the 20" into a floor. Also peeled the wraps off and am working on a stain burst finish.
 
I recently installed 2.3 mm Stick Saver hoops on the toms of my 2012 Ludwig Club Date.
I liked the kit before with the 1.6 mm hoops and I like it even more now.
I have also put wooden and cast hoops on inexpensive drums in the past and I was very pleased with the upgrades.
It is inexpensive and fun to change things around on a kit.
Quality heads are the most noticeable thing that you can do to bring a kit up a notch or two.
You don't have to spend a lot of cash to have a great kit.
I own several inexpensive kits and I am very happy with them.
I get personal inner satisfaction from making less expensive kits sound and look great.
It is fun to be resourceful.
 
At the moment Im working more on rescuing a kit but its never the less leading to customization. I found a mix of vintage ludwigs in a junk car all of which were different colors and pretty abused by whoever had them meaning the wraps are all terribly painted(spray paint etc.) and beat and the chrome etc. is not so great on most of them. What I am doing is basiclly strpping the wraps if they have one and if not lightly sanding the spay paint the previous owner put on them. Then once sanded Im fine sanding them and staining and then lacquer coating them. As far as cost I cant afford new lugs so Il probably end up using brasso or some agent like that to clean the lugs and hoops up until I can afford them at some point. After this project I could defiantly seeing building a kit from the ground up if I had the money. The biggest thing with customizatuin is resale value but thats what it takes I guess.
 
Some good stories here :D
412 sounds good :D Be sure to upload pics when done? Im really interested!
boba, I am in love with your club date, its a kit I really want one day! Love the idea of stick saver hoops, though I would have gone single flange but I find them hard to come across a lot of the time. And where did you get hold of wood hoops?
Bretton, REALLY intrigued at a 16x8 tom, any pics when its done?
 
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