John Q. Drummer
Active Member
Looking for stories or experiences about hiring/paying someone to manufacture from the ground up, a completely custom kit. And I mean custom, wherein you pick EVERYTHING, top to bottom, soup to nuts. I’m talking shell sizes, shell thickness, shell material, lugs, hoops, mounts, spurs, bass drum claws, finishes, the number of vents on each drum, I’m talking EVERYTHING.
I also want to clarify that I’m not speaking of getting a custom kit from DW or Ludwig. (Just to pick any company or two for illustrative purposes only.) Yes, you get to pick the color and sizes and possibly the shell types/materials, but everything else will be DW or Ludwig parts. (The lugs, the mounts, etc…you get the idea.)
As to why I’ve wanted to do this, there are a couple of reasons. After having way too many drum kits over the years, I think many of us that have bought a lot of kits like certain features from certain brands, but like other features from other brands as well. One way to look at it is to consider this little venture as building a “Frankenstein” kit, using what I consider the best bits from the various brands onto ONE drum kit.
To speak further about “why not get a kit from DW or Ludwig or whomever” is that for example, Ludwig doesn’t make high end birch shelled kits. Another example, if I wanted a tom mount on the bass drum and I wanted to go with DW, I’d have to use that god awful monstrosity they offer which is, well, not good. The point being, NONE of the existing big-name companies incorporate everything I’m looking for into one drum set. They all do what they do within a certain set of parameters and that’s fine. I’m not knocking either company I mentioned above or any company for that matter.
I’ve had a fluctuating desire to do this for about 10 years, but I’ve never done it. For the record, literally do not care about resell value at all. I’m not looking for any weird sizes or weird finishes for the matter. Everything is actually pretty standard comparatively speaking. I also have no means to do any of this myself.
Anyone ever do this? Anyone else ever contemplate doing something like this? I’d love to hear about your thoughts or experiences on this matter.
I also want to clarify that I’m not speaking of getting a custom kit from DW or Ludwig. (Just to pick any company or two for illustrative purposes only.) Yes, you get to pick the color and sizes and possibly the shell types/materials, but everything else will be DW or Ludwig parts. (The lugs, the mounts, etc…you get the idea.)
As to why I’ve wanted to do this, there are a couple of reasons. After having way too many drum kits over the years, I think many of us that have bought a lot of kits like certain features from certain brands, but like other features from other brands as well. One way to look at it is to consider this little venture as building a “Frankenstein” kit, using what I consider the best bits from the various brands onto ONE drum kit.
To speak further about “why not get a kit from DW or Ludwig or whomever” is that for example, Ludwig doesn’t make high end birch shelled kits. Another example, if I wanted a tom mount on the bass drum and I wanted to go with DW, I’d have to use that god awful monstrosity they offer which is, well, not good. The point being, NONE of the existing big-name companies incorporate everything I’m looking for into one drum set. They all do what they do within a certain set of parameters and that’s fine. I’m not knocking either company I mentioned above or any company for that matter.
I’ve had a fluctuating desire to do this for about 10 years, but I’ve never done it. For the record, literally do not care about resell value at all. I’m not looking for any weird sizes or weird finishes for the matter. Everything is actually pretty standard comparatively speaking. I also have no means to do any of this myself.
Anyone ever do this? Anyone else ever contemplate doing something like this? I’d love to hear about your thoughts or experiences on this matter.
The answer will determine who you contact for manufacturing.