Major props to Mike at MCD Percussion!

You may remember that Larry's bass drum was damaged through grossly excessive forces being applied during shipping. Anyone who's ever received a drum from us will know how well we package the drums. The international shipping standard is that the goods should be packaged to withstand a drop from 1 Metre (3ft). Well, we drop test our packaging methods to 3 Metres (10ft).

Anyhow, blame aside, here's two pictures showing the damage to the bass drum shell from a floor tom that was nested inside it. Although it looks really bad, being segmented construction, it's not structural. Additionally, the feathering around the cracks was intact, & that makes a visually near invisible repair possible.

Rather than enduring the return shipping hassle, delay, & inconvenience (to Larry), we decided to reach out & see if we could find someone local to Larry with the skills to tackle the repair under specific instructions. Lucky for us, Mike from MCD Percussion in Philly responded and agreed to do the repair. More than that, he refused payment for his work in the spirit of specialist drum builders helping each other.

Larry reports that the repair is almost imperceivable, & I know the methods used were the same methods we would employ ourselves, so I'm both relieved & confident that the drum is now as good as new. Segmented shells, even thin ones (if correctly constructed), are much more durable constructionally than you'd imagine.

I just want to put it out there that I'm super grateful to Mike of MCD Percussion for his generosity, skilled work, & all round great guy attitude. I have no hesitation in recommending Mike's services, & it would be nice if we could show some drum love by return.

MCD Percussion website: http://www.mcdpercussion.com

man, those before pictures are painful. i checked out his site, great lloking drums! sounds like a stand up guy to do that for you guys and im sure you hope to help him out some day as well.

man.. if i opened that box and saw that i would just cry... glad it was able to get fixed up. Can't imagine how much work goes into making that single drum.

Looks like he makes quality drums, but he only advertises solid, acrylic, and ply drums. I see no evidence of stave or segmented work. Does he have experience in segmented work??

Icetech said:

man.. if i opened that box and saw that i would just cry... glad it was able to get fixed up. Can't imagine how much work goes into making that single drum.

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Yes, it caused me some gut wrenching pain I can tell you. There's a ton of hours & a lot of love that goes into crafting these, & to see your work abused like that is just horrible. My biggest upset was for Larry though. After all the anticipation of receiving his special drums, to have that happen is beyond upsetting. Props to Larry for going with the flow.

no talent said:

man, those before pictures are painful. i checked out his site, great lloking drums! sounds like a stand up guy to do that for you guys and im sure you hope to help him out some day as well.

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Good builders tend to cooperate with each other on many aspects of business, but especially if someone is in a hole & needs some help. We've helped in such circumstances in the past, & it would be nice to think that came back to help us when we found Mike.

GRUNTERSDAD said:

Looks like he makes quality drums, but he only advertises solid, acrylic, and ply drums. I see no evidence of stave or segmented work. Does he have experience in segmented work??

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Mike does have segmented experience, but not on shells like these. We discussed the precise repair method in detail before proceeding. Additionally, Mike was familiar with our finishing methods.

Wow Andy dropping a 45 kg object 3 meters generates huge forces so it is really packed well. I can't believe how extensive the damage is so that had to be some fall or crushing forces??-the video didn't really show it as well-and gosh dang those are some thin shells-just lovely. Kudos to you for acknowledging Mike's fine repair. Larry is a dang fine drummer with a dang fine drum kit to get his Guru-ve thing on.

Are there photos of the final fix? I would be curious to see how well he got that wood to lay back in position.

The damage appears to have been an inside out force and I think Larry mentioned something being packed inside the bass

On a positive note:

At least all of the wood appears to be there. Did you have to fish any splinters out of the packing material?

Tommy_D said:

Are there photos of the final fix? I would be curious to see how well he got that wood to lay back in position.

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I'll have to leave it to Larry to supply the after shots, but if Larry's telling me it's close to invisible, I'm assuming it looks pretty much just like the rest of the shell. Quite fortuitous that it's the underside of the bass drum too.

As a bit of further info on your "lay back in position" interest, the beauty of a segmented construction is the complete lack of stress in the shell. If that was a single ply or multiple ply shell, it would be much more difficult to repair due to relief of stresses. I'm informed that the section literally fell out when the hardware was removed - exactly as I would expect in this construction. The damaged section is then re-glued, aligned carefully, then clamped between matching concave / convex formers to ensure a completely even result.

GetAgrippa said:

Wow Andy dropping a 45 kg object 3 meters generates huge forces so it is really packed well.

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It does indeed. We never usually nest shells, but the floor tom that did the damage was massively isolated from the inside of the bass drum. We estimate a drop well in excess of 3 Metres caused this, or some other form of high impact.

Gotta get that first ding outta the way early...



I'm really glad the repair went well. The vids Larry posted were great!

keep it simple said:

As a bit of further info on your "lay back in position" interest, the beauty of a segmented construction is the complete lack of stress in the shell. If that was a single ply or multiple ply shell, it would be much more difficult to repair due to relief of stresses. I'm informed that the section literally fell out when the hardware was removed - exactly as I would expect in this construction. The damaged section is then re-glued, aligned carefully, then clamped between matching concave / convex formers to ensure a completely even result.

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Oh, well if the pieces fell out that probably made the fix a bit easier, I assume. This way Mike had access to all 4 sizes of the pieces to insert glue where he could, clamp the individual staves and leave them overnight to dry, clean up the outside edges for good glue contact and insert the pieces back in to position. I thought he would have had to try and clamp the whole thing back together as one big drum. I don't think that would have turned out as clean of a fix.

Got to read, well in Mike at MCD!!

Here's some shots of the repair. Andy is seeing them for the first time, I think.

So glad it wasn't worse larry... And now you have a awesome story about how you got into a fight with 5 guys trying to steal your drums and thats the damage from when the last guy dropped it to run away from you

P.S. so VERY jealous.. you have no idea i have always wanted to play a hardwood floor

Icetech said:

So glad it wasn't worse larry... And now you have a awesome story about how you got into a fight with 5 guys trying to steal your drums and thats the damage from when the last guy dropped it to run away from you

P.S. so VERY jealous.. you have no idea i have always wanted to play a hardwood floor

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Yea, like I said before, it's the best of the worst case scenarios. And you're envious not jealous.

Jealousy involves 3 people (sorry a peeve of mine)

Besides the obvious piece of wood that was sticking out, there was a hairline crack that went for at least 18" and had branch cracks coming off it. Mike was able to spread the hairline cracks enough to inject some glue in there, then he clamped it. There were no splinters AFAIK, practically zero wood loss. The repair is noticeable only when you look at it closely in bright light. As you can see from the backed off shot, you can't even tell. And when the drum is being played, the repair falls between the bass drum legs on the bottom. So lucky there.

You know when you get a new car there's always something that happens? Either you hit a curb and scratch the wheel or someone hits you or somebody drops an Acme safe on it? Same kind of thing. But in the end, the tone wasn't affected, the looks are a non-issue, and Andy didn't have to lose any money on the deal. I feel so bad for making him nest the drums. It was my request to do it like this, but never again. I'm betting Andy will be refusing to do it in the future.

I'm blinded from the beauty of that grain to notice any minuscule blemish. Really like those maple hoops against the walnut. I thought the Tours were thicker shells but those look really thin from the pics and sure sounds thunderous. So in tuning that reso head with the tympanic edges does it need special care and does it have a range of effects in being in syn or up or down with the batter? Does the whole kit have the tympanic bearing edges?

Respect for both Andy and Mike, two stand-up guys.

Larry, im sure i can find 2 other people here to make my jealousy legit Sorry to have offended your sense of grammar.. Now i have participles to go dangle

GetAgrippa said:

I'm blinded from the beauty of that grain to notice any minuscule blemish. Really like those maple hoops against the walnut. I thought the Tours were thicker shells but those look really thin from the pics and sure sounds thunderous. So in tuning that reso head with the tympanic edges does it need special care and does it have a range of effects in being in syn or up or down with the batter? Does the whole kit have the tympanic bearing edges?

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They really are all that in the sunlight, right Art? This kit drastically changes looks according to the quantity as well as the quality of light that hits it, as well as the angle it hits on. Wherever the light is directly hitting gets lighter, then gets darker if the light moves . So it literally never looks exactly the same. In the vids, we have no real stage lighting, so they look dark. But in the sun, holy crap, they're pretty bright. Then you have everything in between. I was skeptical up front about the maple hoops, but Andy told me everything would be alright. They add so much. Happy face.

Andy cut the tympanic edges on just the tom resos, not on the batters. They're not the snare and they're not the bass at all. It makes a difference, because walnut is shorter noted. I get the sustain of maple drums, and the tone of walnut. Bonus! That's the hidden secret sauce of these drums. I notice the difference in the bass drum, it has no tympanic edges. It's shorter noted. But with a deep nutty fundamental. That's it's special sauce. Happy face.

As far as tuning, every new drum kit seems like the first time I ever tuned lol. I have to spend time experimenting. Plus wood hoops do not behave like metal hoops when it comes to tuning. They're Ferraris man, like nothing else.

Admittedly, I am a raving lunatic when it comes to tuning. I have a certain method I developed over the years, and a definite tone in my head that I'm going for. It's either deeply satisfying, or it sucks lol. Sometimes I'm in the mood to hear them higher, other times I crave big bottom. When I get a new drum kit, I am experimenting with heads and tuning for like the first year before I actually settle down with them and actually start playing them seriously. I am forever tinkering, and I'm always refining my tuning process. Deciding where my favorite tuning is. Which is a moving target. Drums are a friggin temperamental instrument to tune.

My problem with the electronic tuners is they don't address in any way, the parallel-ness of the head collar to the bearing edge...on all axes. Just because the lugs are singing the right note does not guarantee anything about the parallel-ness of the head collar in relation to the bearing edge. If you can get that head collar (and by default the hoop) perfectly parallel with the bearing edge....that means all 360 degrees of parallel....AND singing the same freqs at the lugs....that's as good as it gets for a drum. Which is no easy task. An electromagnet around the entire drum....on both edges, assuming steel head collars (which aren't made) or steel rims...would be ideal in theory. (assumes perfect bearing edges) A perfectly even force around the entire drum at once. And it should be self correcting as long as there's a rock steady flow of current to the magnets.

Icetech, lol no sweat. I'm a part time grammar cop. Dangle away, correctly lol.

Vintage dude, you got that right.