Drums with swappable bearing edges?

IBitePrettyHard

Senior Member
Has this been done before?

Something like a detachable bearing edge ring, that fits like a gasket over the shell itself, possibly made out of wood or acrylic...with different profiles for different sounds.

Bass drum pedals have swappable cams. If bearing edges are so crucial to a drum's sound, why isn't this a thing?
 
Flat shell edges with a groove cut where the bearing edges go....with metal rings of different bearing edge profiles would be cool.

It would be tough on thin shells. Perhaps a brand specific overlay retrofit.

Keep in mind that link is from 2011.
 
I think craviatto makes drums with a different bearing edge on each side, so you can flip them over and have a different sound. And all of the mounting hardware for the floor and rack toms are designed to work for either side of the drum to be able to face upward

But the resonant side and batter side would always have to be a different edge profile
 
I think it's possible in say 20 years, this feature could catch on.

There have been innovations throughout history that took a while to catch on. "Why would I need a [insert product here]?" Then years later everyone's got one and it makes no sense why you wouldn't.

Maybe technology just isn't ready yet, or the major drum makers are afraid of hurting their sales if they sell a kit that does "everything."
 
Interesting idea. We have made cars, guns, computers, guitars, and just about everything else swappable/modular, why not drums?

Say a shell is 1/2" thick. Cut it in half. Route 1/4" from the inside on one half and 1/4" from the outside on the other half. The two halves should now slip back together as one piece. If the edges of the shell have to be worked anyhow, what's one more step?
 
Interesting idea. We have made cars, guns, computers, guitars, and just about everything else swappable/modular, why not drums?

Say a shell is 1/2" thick. Cut it in half. Route 1/4" from the inside on one half and 1/4" from the outside on the other half. The two halves should now slip back together as one piece. If the edges of the shell have to be worked anyhow, what's one more step?

I'm curious what a gasket-like bearing edge would sound like, made out of acrylic, plastic, metal, polycarbonate. It would only have to be a few millimeters thick and sit on top like a gasket or insert.
 
I'm curious what a gasket-like bearing edge would sound like, made out of acrylic, plastic, metal, polycarbonate. It would only have to be a few millimeters thick and sit on top like a gasket or insert.

That's a cool idea. It could sit right on top of the existing bearing edges. Just profile the underside to match. Then you could have the actual bearing edges, or the different one.

I imagine it would sound alright if it seated properly and acted as part of the shell.
 
Flat shell edges with a groove cut where the bearing edges go....with metal rings of different bearing edge profiles would be cool.

It would be tough on thin shells. Perhaps a brand specific overlay retrofit.

Keep in mind that link is from 2011.

so they have been around for a while. Or were around . Website and ebay listings gone
 
I remember seeing them in a mail order catalog years ago, possibly in woodwind & brasswind? IIRC they were listed in the marching section, this was possibly in the late 90's/early 2000's.
They could have been just Protection for the edges on marching snares.
 
Interesting idea. We have made cars, guns, computers, guitars, and just about everything else swappable/modular, why not drums?
It seems to me that although things can be made in a modular fashion, often times one of two things seems to come to the fore:

1.) You wind up with something that's kind of decent at everything, but not truly excellent at anything.

2.) You wind up configuring whatever it is to be a specific thing, and then leaving it that way.

Take the Pearl Free Floater snare drum. It's a modular drum in concept - all you'd need to change it around would be longer/shorter lugs and different shells, but even with the people I know who have one and have more than one shell, most of the time they stick to a single shell and leave it at that.
 
It seems to me that although things can be made in a modular fashion, often times one of two things seems to come to the fore:

1.) You wind up with something that's kind of decent at everything, but not truly excellent at anything.

2.) You wind up configuring whatever it is to be a specific thing, and then leaving it that way.

Take the Pearl Free Floater snare drum. It's a modular drum in concept - all you'd need to change it around would be longer/shorter lugs and different shells, but even with the people I know who have one and have more than one shell, most of the time they stick to a single shell and leave it at that.

Totally agree, especially point #2. I do like the idea though. I'm a swap/modify kinda guy.
 
Just found a snare with swappable bearing edges! You can switch between Double 45° and Roundover edges on the same drum. Really cool idea.


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That Grover snare a couple of posts above is pretty much the same concept as the DW Top Edge snare.. except DW concentrates on the metal-wood synergy. Couple that with their SSC offering and you pretty much could have a swappable bearing edge... to date I don't know if any of DW's artists have tried that though.

John Good, if you see this, I'll gladly take a $10 per drum royalty on the newly patented offering. :D
 
Then we could all obsess over the method of contact between the edge and the shell. You know that each manufacturer would tout theirs as the best ever.
 
That Grover snare a couple of posts above is pretty much the same concept as the DW Top Edge snare.. except DW concentrates on the metal-wood synergy. Couple that with their SSC offering and you pretty much could have a swappable bearing edge... to date I don't know if any of DW's artists have tried that though.

John Good, if you see this, I'll gladly take a $10 per drum royalty on the newly patented offering. :D
I have a DW Edge snare and I've taken it apart...the wood and the brass joint have very tight tolerances. I suppose cutting another bearing edge on the other side of the brass hoop is possible, but that would mean a loose joint, which probably isn't a big deal since it's under pressure anyway.

So basically, modding a current DW Edge would be difficult. But that's not to say John Good couldn't invent a new system.
 
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