Hardware DIY/Mods/Repairs Thread

[mediocrefunkybeat]

Only a small contribution.

After going a little stir crazy from a lack of being able to play, I made a practice pad out of a piece of wood I had lying around, a 43p Mousemat and some wood glue. It works fine! A little less rebound than commercial models, but that suits me.

 

[Bram]

I think my contribution is even smaller
I made this for a drama project at school last year.

Costs: €0.00
The PVC and the tape were at school.

I should have used some more expensive tape, there is still some glue on my hihat stand

 

[Deathmetalconga]

I think my contribution is even smaller
I made this for a drama project at school last year.

Costs: €0.00
The PVC and the tape were at school.

I should have used some more expensive tape, there is still some glue on my hihat stand

I'm sorry, but that just looks awful. I would never put duct tape anywhere near my set because it looks awful.

What's up with all the white and orange tape around all the instruments.

 

[JohnnyG]

Ditto to DMC. What is all of that red about?

 

[Bram]

It was a drama project, and we played a version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, written by the director and the students. Every year there's such a project. The project contains playing, dance, music and video. All the songs were written by the director and the band.

It played in a soup factory. The band was the dangerous research deparment. That may explain the tape.

I was scared of losing sticks while playing, so the afternoon before the first show I had to make something to hold sticks, so I could grab a stick when I losed one. It was ugly, but it was out of sight for the audience, and that's all that mattered.

 

[Messerschmitt]

Hope nobody will get mad for posting this, as it isn`t really a mod...
Long story short: I`ve made myself two cymbal stands from crap i found around, and needed one final thing: FELTS. And i tought to myself, why not do my own? What i did is got a couple of pairs of.. those things you put in your boots ( don`t know how they are called in english) made from felt and cut some round discs, then made a hole, and there you go. They`re not perfectly round, they don`t look classy, but they do the job very well. I usually stack 3 "discs" on the bottom and 3 above, wich is more than enough.
Here are some pics, tell me what you guys think.

Making of...

Stacked

On the stand

And on the kit

 

[Deathmetalconga]

Hope nobody will get mad for posting this, as it isn`t really a mod...
Long story short: I`ve made myself two cymbal stands from crap i found around, and needed one final thing: FELTS. And i tought to myself, why not do my own? What i did is got a couple of pairs of.. those things you put in your boots ( don`t know how they are called in english) made from felt and cut some round discs, then made a hole, and there you go. They`re not perfectly round, they don`t look classy, but they do the job very well. I usually stack 3 "discs" on the bottom and 3 above, wich is more than enough.
Here are some pics, tell me what you guys think.

Hey, this is a great Do It Yourself (DIY) project! You can make your own size felts and I find that smaller felts work better for smaller cymbals. You can also use felts to raise the cymbal lower or higher to get the right amount of tightness on the wing nut.

 

[Messerschmitt]

OK, here`s another one, this time a real mod.
I bought (with a pack of cigarettes ! ! ) a pedal simmilar to mine to use is as a test pedal for my "dirty little ideas". I`m planning on building a double pedal, but i`m still judging wether i should do it or if it would be a waste of money. Anyway, my first wish was to make a bodyplate for the pedal. No big deal, got the dimensions and went to a iron-worker acquintance, and voila. The pedal is more studrier now on plain ground, can`t wait to test it on the drum itself. The nice part is , the change is completely reversible, as the plate is held with 3 screws, one in the front and two on the heel thingy. I didn`t need to modify the pedal at all. Looks pretty amateur-ish, but it should do the job.

 

[Deathmetalconga]

OK, here`s another one, this time a real mod.
I bought (with a pack of cigarettes ! ! ) a pedal simmilar to mine to use is as a test pedal for my "dirty little ideas". I`m planning on building a double pedal, but i`m still judging wether i should do it or if it would be a waste of money. Anyway, my first wish was to make a bodyplate for the pedal. No big deal, got the dimensions and went to a iron-worker acquintance, and voila. The pedal is more studrier now on plain ground, can`t wait to test it on the drum itself. The nice part is , the change is completely reversible, as the plate is held with 3 screws, one in the front and two on the heel thingy. I didn`t need to modify the pedal at all. Looks pretty amateur-ish, but it should do the job.

Niiiiice. Near-OEM quality work.

I actually want to get rid of my base plates on my DW5000s because I want more portability, and swap them with the wire-frame arrangement. But the trade-off is less stability. For a double pedal, like you are planning, I would think base plates would be essential for stability.

 

[Arky]

Deathmetalconga,
looking at my dw 2002 pedals - they really have gigantic base plates! Just a thought: What about trimming the base plates at the sides for less material/more convenience without sacrificing stability? In fact, the dw base plates could be trimmed pretty much and still be quite stable.

OK, back to topic: My "snare" is a 2nd (rather: 3rd hand) marching tom. The previous owner tried attaching snare wires at the bottom by drilling holes at one side and using cords and duct tape. I didn't care because I always have a practice pad on top of the "snare" anyway. At the weekend I decided to rework this and turn the tom into a snare. I do have to buy a real snare sometime but for now I'm ok with this makeshift solution.

 

[Zickos]

OK, here`s another one, this time a real mod.
I bought (with a pack of cigarettes ! ! ) a pedal simmilar to mine to use is as a test pedal for my "dirty little ideas". I`m planning on building a double pedal, but i`m still judging wether i should do it or if it would be a waste of money. Anyway, my first wish was to make a bodyplate for the pedal. No big deal, got the dimensions and went to a iron-worker acquintance, and voila. The pedal is more studrier now on plain ground, can`t wait to test it on the drum itself. The nice part is , the change is completely reversible, as the plate is held with 3 screws, one in the front and two on the heel thingy. I didn`t need to modify the pedal at all. Looks pretty amateur-ish, but it should do the job.

Tried something similar with my Ghost. I used some fiberboard rather than metal 'cause I didn't have any at the time.

 

[drumdevil9]

Make your fixed HH legs swivel

Your hi-hat legs are fixed but you'd like to use a double pedal. You may be able to. Here's what I did with my Yamaha hi-hat stand:

Removed the allen screw at the base of the tripod above the pedal

Replaced with an old hi-hat clutch wing screw. (you might have to experiment with the size)

Added a hose clamp above so the legs would not move up and down when loosened. Loosen, swivel the pedal over, re-tighten and you can now fit your double bass slave pedal.

 

[Pass.of.E.r.a.]

Nothing to extravagent, but I made myself a nice sizzle chain with a washer and some chain. I intend to paint the washer black, but I'm not sure if I'll ever actually get around to it.
Certainly a lot cheaper than the Pro-mark one.

-Jonathan

 

[drumdevil9]

Certainly a lot cheaper than the Pro-mark one.

-Jonathan

Seriously, I don't know why anyone would buy one of those. Ball chain costs pennies. Speaking of pennies, that's what I use for sizzle. I scotch tape one or two near the edge. Sounds great and doesn't get in the way of your playing area like a ball chain can.

 

[tabledrummer]

I've been thinking internal bass drum mic for a while, but couldn't afford any at the moment. So yesterday I came up with this solution. I have couple of spare stands and clamps. Mic is mounted on a shortened boom from Millenium stand (threads for counterweight turned out to be exact size for the mic). Other parts are from shortened Tama cymbal stand and also Millenium clamp for mounting it inside the bass drum. The boom might need to be shortened some more and I've been thinking to add a memoryclamp to hold clamp in place. I used Dremel, file and sandpaper to cut and smoothen the parts. Here are the pics:

 

[audiotech]

I've been thinking internal bass drum mic for a while, but couldn't afford any at the moment. So yesterday I came up with this solution. I have couple of spare stands and clamps. Mic is mounted on a shortened boom from Millenium stand (threads for counterweight turned out to be exact size for the mic). Other parts are from shortened Tama cymbal stand and also Millenium clamp for mounting it inside the bass drum. The boom might need to be shortened some more and I've been thinking to add a memoryclamp to hold clamp in place. I used Dremel, file and sandpaper to cut and smoothen the parts. Here are the pics:

The only problem that I can see is that the vibrations will transmit directly through the rack tom tube and into the bass drum microphone causing some sub audio frequency discoloration. I was never an advocate of placing a microphone in the enclosed environment of a bass drum, but if it works for you, all well and good.

Dennis

 

[tabledrummer]

The only problem that I can see is that the vibrations will transmit directly through the rack tom tube and into the bass drum microphone causing some sub audio frequency discoloration. I was never an advocate of placing a microphone in the enclosed environment of a bass drum, but if it works for you, all well and good.

Dennis

Good point! Actually theres no tom mounted on a tube, but theres a splash on it right now. My toms are on own stand. Maybe I need to experiment more about this mounting system. Perhaps take out that splash tube and use individual tube for mic only.

 

[Deathmetalconga]

The only problem that I can see is that the vibrations will transmit directly through the rack tom tube and into the bass drum microphone causing some sub audio frequency discoloration. I was never an advocate of placing a microphone in the enclosed environment of a bass drum, but if it works for you, all well and good.

Dennis

Neat project!

See this same thread on 02-14-07 where I did basically this same thing as you, except a added a quarter-inch plug in a vent hole. So I plugged in the bass drum much as a guitarist plugs in his guitar. I just had to carry around a 3-foot section cable with custom-added ends when I went to gigs but other than that, it was very smooth and worked terrific.

 

[tkav1980]

Hey all, I got my kit back yesterday and after 7 years in storage, the hardware needs a bit of TLC. The crome is a bit pitted and maybe a bit oxidized. Is there any product I can buy that would be good for restoring it?

 

[Deathmetalconga]

Hey all, I got my kit back yesterday and after 7 years in storage, the hardware needs a bit of TLC. The crome is a bit pitted and maybe a bit oxidized. Is there any product I can buy that would be good for restoring it?

Hmmmm ... I don't know if that can be removed, without changing the rest of the finish. Have you googled some ideas?