The Drum Modification Thread

this thread got me excited and inspired me to try to refinish an old tom i have!! hooray!!

its a Diamond brand tom, if any of you are familiar with the brand. its just an entry level kit and i believe the wood is poplar? (according to my grandfather who at least acts like he knows woods xD) and i just peeled the wrap off which was literally double stick taped on!!!


its good to feel inspired. thank you!!
 
Three months in the making (money related :S). My Pearl Forum circa 2004 re-wrap from Caron Fibre to Ringo Starr-esque 60's Oyster Black :) (Sorry for the picture quality).

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Hey guys I am about ready to refinish my drums and I need some help. I want to do a sparkle finish in either green or purple. I dont want a wrap, I want to paint the drums. Can anyone tell me 1) what would be the best paint for the drums and 2) how to make a sparkle finish?

Thanks

As a drum builder, I would say not to attempt a sprayed sparkle finish unless you have lots of experience finishing drums already. This type of finish is one of the most difficult to master. An auto shop would be able to do it for you, but if I were you, I would just wrap it in a sparkle wrap, or try a different finish. I did this kit with paint I bought from Lowes. It was the first kit I ever painted, and it turned out great.

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Here is a $5 mod I did on my drum kit. I used to be all chrome (like chad smiths kit - will have to try and dig up a pic of it)

So anyway... nipped down to the news agents.... bought some gift wrap.

CHECK IT OUT LMFAO!!! - Yes, I did it for a joke...

BEAT THAT!
 

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converted a 16x14 rack tom into a kick... if you look at it, you'd probably wonder why since the parts i put into the drum are probably worth more than the drum itself. but, i wanted to do it so i did. that's the best reason you'll get out of me. :)

I can go into detail about the whole process if anyone's interested. I even raised the lugs a bit so they'd fit better with the bass drum spurs. Granted, it's not 100% finished. I'm going to probably replace all the spurs with some small die-cast ones (already have two and they fit great), and I haven't finished the BD hoops. Not sure what I want to do yet... kinda depends on what I do with the rest of my Rockstar drums. I'd like to sell them, but maybe I'll keep some to have a small matching kit--12tt, 14ft, and 16bd would be cool.

I really regret porting it though... hate to buy new heads already, but I'm really considering it.
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I'm thinking about completely taking apart my blue DDrum, and wrapping it with a redish color, then putting PDP wood hoops on the snare then possibly getting black hoops and all that jazz for the toms and bass drum, good idea? bad idea?
 
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just thought I'd come to the party with a couple of the refinishes I have on some stuff.

the first is an old pearl export (Ignore the display head, it was a spare I had laying about) that I use as an old beater kit. the thing was pretty much wrecked when I got hold of it. little bit of time and a spend of less than £10 and this was the result! double wrapping the hoops was a bit of a pain, but i got there in the end!

the second is a mapex meridian maple exotic snare i just did recently. I found the material and wanted to see it on a kit so had a go.

tell me what you think people!

AJ
 

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hey everyone! heres an old tama rockstar that was a black wrap, i stripped the wrap off and decided to do some cool stuff on it :)

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That's pretty neat, especially when photographed in that out door setting!
 
A while back I bought a 16 inch floor tom to go with my Gretsch Renown set.
The tom is a Gretsch Catalina Maple and when I put my clear heads on the toms the Cat looked out of place because of the lack of Silver Sealer. So I ventured off to my local Nuts and Bolts dealer and bought a can of said silver sealer. Will post pix when the project is complete.
 

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And from the secrecy of my workshop, "garage" I have applied the secret sauce, I mean secret sealer. Waiting for a good drying time and then reassembly. Sorry Fred, the secret is out, but you are still an ACE of a guy.
 

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The drum is finished and reassembled. While I had it apart I ran some 220 grit along the bearing egdes to clean them up a bit. Now as for sound. Unless my tuning skills are vastly improved over the last four hours, this drum sounds much better. I'm sure the paint had something to do with that whether it was the Gretsch Secret sealer or not. Who knows they may also use ACE Hardware paint by the barrell. It is warmer, less harsh sounding. Now go paint all of your drums quick.
 
All that you need to do now Grunt is to replace the badge with a Renown one.
 
My latest modification. I finally got around to putting an XLR jack into the bass drum shell.
 

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OK, here is the finished and reassembled drum with cable plugged in!
 

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Nice Job IDDrummer,
What mic did you use?
Estimate of total cost?
 
Thanks Bob!

I'm using the same Audix D6 I've used for maybe 5-6 years. That was about $199. The Kelly Shu mount I have had for about two years - that cost around $40, I think. And then there was the cable that I shortened - I think that was about $35. But all that stuff I already had and would use regardless of the jack installation.

The XLR jack itself cost me $5; the correctly sized drill bit was $4.50; screws, washers, and lock washers were around $2. Foam gasket was free packing material from a shipment at work. So, the materials for this part of the project were just under $12.

The wear and tear on my nerves in deciding to drill my beloved bass drum shell was considerably higher! lol But I'm happy now - the install looks fine and the sound of the drum wasn't effected at all, as far as I can tell.
 
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The drum is finished and reassembled. While I had it apart I ran some 220 grit along the bearing egdes to clean them up a bit. Now as for sound. Unless my tuning skills are vastly improved over the last four hours, this drum sounds much better. I'm sure the paint had something to do with that whether it was the Gretsch Secret sealer or not. Who knows they may also use ACE Hardware paint by the barrell. It is warmer, less harsh sounding. Now go paint all of your drums quick.

That paint job looks great, GD! Did you have to sand down the inside of the shell to get the sealer to soak in, or was the wood unfinished? While I was working on that Ludwig Classic Maple BD I found that the clear coat they use inside the drums is quite heavy and tough! May not be silver, but I bet it influences the sound!

Nice work!
 
The install looks great. The XLR plug in the side of the drum looks a hell of a lot better than a mic sticking through a hole in the reso head.
Not a cheap modification though.

I can't see how it wold change the sound of the drum in a noticeable way.
So, The project comes in at around $250US.
 
The install looks great. The XLR plug in the side of the drum looks a hell of a lot better than a mic sticking through a hole in the reso head.
Not a cheap modification though.

I can't see how it wold change the sound of the drum in a noticeable way.
So, The project comes in at around $250US.

Yes, if you don't already own the mic and cable. If you do, and you've been micing from the front, I'd call it a $50 mod, for the Shu mount and the jack.

I undertook this entire process because I hate a ported reso head. It just sounds and feels wrong to me, lol! So, baby steps for the past couple of years, and now it is set up just how I want it!
 
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