Overhauled drums.....Complete!

[Ironcobra]

Well, after about three weeks of using ALL my spare time, I finally completed my drums. The end results came out exactly as I imagined it, very, very self satisfying. And thanks for any suggestions in my previous threads. Despite all the doubt of my finish coming out smooth, it came out VERY good. I was being very picky about the surface, it came out just fine. Although I did spend like 35 hours sanding, big waste of time.

Not only did I re-finish the drums, I also got new heads almost all the way around.

-Stained interiors(hard to see in pics)
-EC2's on all toms........12, 13, 16.
-G1's as resos.
-Bass batter, EMAD1


Before and after. Wow, I can't believe I had my drums so horrible set-up.

BEFORE





STRIPPED SHELLS



AFTER STAINING




WEIRD SMOOTHING METHODS OF MINE.....IGNORE THE DRIPS




SOME OUTSIDE PICTURES







CAN KINDA SEE THE STAIN ON THIS ONE....




HERES SOME COMPLETED PICTURES...




wow it took me like an hour to make this thread!

[frank0072]

Duuuude, how nice is that :). Hope they sound as great as they look :). Have a lot of fun playing those babies.

[tamadrummer132]

the job was neat, but gosh i hate that color more then the silver lol

[Mr. Pasquini]

Go for an Evans Genera Dry for the snare head. Nice job on the stain!!!

[GRUNTERSDAD]

After seeing your project at first, and giving a few tips on sandpaper grits, I wouldn't say that the hours of sanding was a waste of time. You have a very nice looking set of drums now and you probably learned a lot about both wood and paint. I thought that primer was going to end up about a quarter of an inch thick, but you did a great job. I hope they sound as good as they look and I hope you are proud of your efforts. Great first job.

[Ironcobra]

Originally Posted by GRUNTERSDAD

After seeing your project at first, and giving a few tips on sandpaper grits, I wouldn't say that the hours of sanding was a waste of time. You have a very nice looking set of drums now and you probably learned a lot about both wood and paint. I thought that primer was going to end up about a quarter of an inch thick, but you did a great job. I hope they sound as good as they look and I hope you are proud of your efforts. Great first job.

thanks man, ya the primer came out a lot thinner then i thought to.

[ledzepjb]

After seing your other thread, i didnt think there was much hope left in your drums....but now!they look sickk, you probably feel really pround, witch you should!
Congrats man, nice work.

[KCMcC]

Well done!
It's nice to see more and more people working on their own drums. Playing an instrument you've worked on yourself is so satisfying - especially when it actually sounds good!

[Ironcobra]

202020202020020202020200222

[maddrummr]

did you seat the heads?

by the way i totally dig what you did to the set. Its really nice but it looks a ton better outside probably cause the lighting was better and not artificial.

check out tunadrum.com, might be helpful. Great job on refinishing, silver's a nice colour but it had "cheap drum kit" written all over it. Now it looks really good!

[thecraponline]

Wow - great job. It happens that at the moment I'm in the process of refinishing my drums, and now that I've done it myself, I can really appreciate how difficult it is to make them come out that well. Congratulations, man!

[Ironcobra]

Originally Posted by maddrummr

did you seat the heads?

by the way i totally dig what you did to the set. Its really nice but it looks a ton better outside probably cause the lighting was better and not artificial.

what do you mean by seat the heads?

[toxegendrummer]

Originally Posted by ironcobra

what do you mean by seat the heads?

tighten the heads to pretty much full tension and let them sit their for overnight....this lets the head rest on the drum and will give you a better sounding head ;)

[crazyhorse]

Looks pretty good... bet you learned a ton! I hope it's not the paint choking the drums though... EC2's are pretty dead heads so that might have something to do with it as well.

[jonescrusher]

That snare head graffiti is r-e-t-a-r-d-e-d.



Couldn't resist.

[gmrakich]

nice job....get some maple kick hoops though...........

[rogers_68]

Originally Posted by jonescrusher

That snare head graffiti is r-e-t-a-r-d-e-d.



Couldn't resist.

What's the big deal?

[Mapex589]

Great job on the kit.....It looks great. That had to take patience. And the snare drum graffiti is fine too.....it's your snare drum!!

[Ironcobra]

20202020200000000000000000000000202

[Mapex589]

How do you like the EC2's? I have them on my birch kit and they sound great. As for my snare drum I like the Evans Genera G1 coated.

[tamadrummer132]

the pics without the flash has a really nice color. but with teh flash it looks a little pink. does the flash change the real color of the drums, or are they a little pink?

[Ironcobra]

They are a deep red like you see them in the outside pictures. The flash does mess them up a bit, no pink at all in the real ones.

As for the EC2's, so far I don't like them because I cant get them tuned. Right now my drums sound horrible. It's going take me a while before I can tell an honest opinion, but from what I can hear, they have a nice focused warm sound.

[Mapex589]

I've got the EC2's over G1 clear resos and love the sound. I found the EC2 easy to tune also but some heads just dont sound good on certain shells. I hope you are able to find the sound you like....those damn heads aint cheap. Good luck!!

[fijjibo]

My friend, you have made your kit look like something that would impress Mike Portnoy himself...

(assuming your still as big a fan as Ive heard)


Nice Job.

[Legacyrik]

Originally Posted by ironcobra

im having a really hard time tuning the toms with the ec2's and g1's, it sounds like im slapping concrete. but the bass drum has superb sound, any suggestions for getting deeper, softer sounds....?

First, get a drum dial if you don't own one. They are VERY helpful.

Next I find for deeper drums I like the bottom head tuned a bit higher than the top. I've noticed with my new set that has a more shallow depth hanging tom, that I need to tune bottom head about the same as the top to get the sound I like.

There are more than one way to find what works but I would suggest tuning the head the same until you find the pitch you want that has good sustain, then just tune the bottom one up a bit from there for quicker response, like I prefer.

Just a though.

[spartacus1989]

Now for some critism!

I love the kit, it is looking incredible however...

I'd now try a prodject to get a different tom mounting system (just my opinion)

apart from that awesome!

Well Done ^_^!