The Drum Modification Thread

Pearl export floor tom conversion
IMG_20221206_112840177.jpg
I bought an old 13" tom from a junk shop mostly for the tom mount. Being a big fan of the artist Yinka Shonibare, I recovered it in Dutch wax resist fabric. I had some leg mounts lying around so I fitted them

I use this instead of my main floor tom when using my pedestrian carry kit as it's super light. Also it's got a hydraulic head on top which gives it a great modern thuddy sound
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20221206_112918773_HDR.jpg
    IMG_20221206_112918773_HDR.jpg
    317.3 KB · Views: 1
KenDoken said:
It's a nice drum but cannot seem to shake the over excitable snares that fizz along to the bass floor and rack
Click to expand...
I just had this same issue with a Pearl Sensitone brass shell snare, cleaned it up by making a zero ring and put it inside the drum on the reso head. It took some experimenting to find the right diameter and width (ended up being 13.5" od X 3/4) Changed tone to be a little warmer but not boxy and the sympathetic buzz is barely noticable. Snares are Puresound EQ.
 
K Chez said:
I just had this same issue with a Pearl Sensitone brass shell snare, cleaned it up by making a zero ring and put it inside the drum on the reso head. It took some experimenting to find the right diameter and width (ended up being 13.5" od X 3/4) Changed tone to be a little warmer but not boxy and the sympathetic buzz is barely noticable. Snares are Puresound EQ.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you can just loosen the lugs immediately surrounding the strainer ends just a little bit, seems to work for me.
 
K Chez said:
I just had this same issue with a Pearl Sensitone brass shell snare, cleaned it up by making a zero ring and put it inside the drum on the reso head. It took some experimenting to find the right diameter and width (ended up being 13.5" od X 3/4) Changed tone to be a little warmer but not boxy and the sympathetic buzz is barely noticable. Snares are Puresound EQ.
Click to expand...
I'll try this. Thanks for the tip
 
GeorgiaPhil said:
Sometimes you can just loosen the lugs immediately surrounding the strainer ends just a little bit, seems to work for me.
Click to expand...
I had tried that at first, but it didn't help as much as I would have liked. Another suggestion was to adjust the tom tunings, which I did a little, but I was really happy with their sound and didn't want to stray too far from that. I wasn't 100% in love with the snare tone to start with and the inside ring experiment got the sound closer to where I wanted it to be, but that's really dependent on what you're looking for & might not be for everybody, soundwise.
KenDoken said:
I'll try this. Thanks for the tip
Click to expand...
One thing that I found out while experimenting with this was the closer the outside diameter of the ring was to the bearing edge was a WAY better starting point when trying different widths
 
Another floor tom conversion using a 20" bass drum...
What I'm starting with - an old 20" Ludwig Rocker

Ludwig BD-2.jpg

Bearing edge on one side had a lot of dents and dings and a little delamination of the shell
Ludwig BD-3.jpg
Now to get to work...
(to be continued)
 
A friend bought a beater kit from a charity shop and ask for some help doing it up

The bass drum is a 70's Premier Olympic 20x12 in black pearl. It had an old school double 7/8" mount fitted that was missing the catches. The original legs were missing and had been replaced with m10 threaded bar. The rest of the drum was in good condition and spruced up nicely with a clean, wax, lube and internal laquer

After replacing the tom mount with a newer pearl mount I found the flex in the shell around the mount a bit concerning. I installed a wooden plate made from a pre-international shell on the inside. This made the mounting point much sturdier

The threaded bar works fantastically for spurs so I sharped the ends and added retractable rubber feet using hot glue and a couple of nuts

Having used it at a rehearsal it was really really nice to play. Comfortable, very light, nice tone. I will be sad to return itIMG_20230110_085222362.jpg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20230110_085302560.jpg
    IMG_20230110_085302560.jpg
    291.8 KB · Views: 8
  • IMG_20230110_085236663.jpg
    IMG_20230110_085236663.jpg
    233 KB · Views: 7
  • IMG_20230110_085343521.jpg
    IMG_20230110_085343521.jpg
    125.2 KB · Views: 8
KenDoken said:
Did you repair the bearing edges?
Click to expand...
Yes, I did, but forgot to take a photo in my zeal of putting it together. I used a mixture of the wood glue & some fine sawdust (scooped some out of my table saw and worked it through a screen to filter out the chunky stuff & get a baby powder consistency) Block sanded with 240 to even it out and then checked it on a big piece of glass.
 
IMG_20230207_181702766.jpgI got gifted an old premier by a friend of a friend as mentioned in other threads

Reinforcement rings - restoration

I have a loose re-ring in a snare drum that needs sticking down. It's about half stuck, half unstuck. I have had a go at injecting glue between shell and ring with a hypodermic syringe but have to water down the glue to the point where it's not strong enough Is there a safe way of removing the...
www.drummerworld.com

Snare bed on premier royal ace

Just acquired this old premier snare. The original strainer, would have been a flowbeam, is not present. I was just checking the shell (2mm out of round, 1mm out of square) and the snare bed is a bit strange It's about 3mm in depth but feathers over 8" so the "flat" part of the bottom shell is...
www.drummerworld.com

Ideas for restoring drum wrap

I have been donated a snare in a lovely red pearl wrap. The wrap is a little dull and scratched. Any ideas on polishing compounds and drill / angle grinder attachments to get it bright and shiny? Perhaps something I could use on the hardware too?
www.drummerworld.com
-Hand buffed the wrap with T-cut and applied turtle wax.
-Cleaned and rubbed down the chrome with aluminium foil
-Lubed the t rods and inserts
-Removed and re-glued the bottom re-ring and hand sanded the bearing edges before waxing
-Fitted premier 70s triple flanged hoops, coated diplomat and ambassador hazy

Gonna take it to practice today to see how it plays. I haven't fitted a snare yet. Maybe I will maybe I wont
 
Last edited:
My Sweetwater rep said it was proprietary and wouldn't work l, but I did this anyway.

If you want a good single tom/cymbal stand, and your drums don't use Tama's L rod size, the Tama HTC87W combo stand accepts standard Gibraltar L rods. I ordered one and a larger L rod for my Renown rack tom and it's solid.

I know it's not much of a mod, but figured it would be worth documenting for the future. Took me a long time to find just one documented confirmation of it working ;)
 
Liaztraht said:
My Sweetwater rep said it was proprietary and wouldn't work l, but I did this anyway.

If you want a good single tom/cymbal stand, and your drums don't use Tama's L rod size, the Tama HTC87W combo stand accepts standard Gibraltar L rods. I ordered one and a larger L rod for my Renown rack tom and it's solid.

I know it's not much of a mod, but figured it would be worth documenting for the future. Took me a long time to find just one documented confirmation of it working ;)
Click to expand...
Another pseudo mod in that same fashion:

The Tama CACLJ cymbal arm (designed for the club jam line with the clamshell style bass drum cymbal mount) fits over the standard Tama L arm so if someone has a Tama omnisphere double tom mount but only uses one tom, you can slip this mount over the unused tom arm to securely mount a crash or splash and save lugging an extra stand or using an ugly clamp.
 
roncadillac said:
Another pseudo mod in that same fashion:

The Tama CACLJ cymbal arm (designed for the club jam line with the clamshell style bass drum cymbal mount) fits over the standard Tama L arm so if someone has a Tama omnisphere double tom mount but only uses one tom, you can slip this mount over the unused tom arm to securely mount a crash or splash and save lugging an extra stand or using an ugly clamp.
Click to expand...
Good to know! I generally play with 3 cymbals, not including hats, and have settled on Road Pro stands over lighter weight stands so I can mount extras off of each stand if I need more voices.

Their combo stand is slim with no extra tubes, and independent cymbal height adjustment.

Currently thinking up ideas to reuse parts of my old stands for mounting options. Wondering if I can cut the tubes, and roll pin two boom tilters together similar to things like the DW dog bones.

Lots of dented tube and worn clamps to mess with :unsure:
 
Whilst I have photo to hand, I switched out the original strainer on my Ayotte Keplinger for a Dunnett (2nd snare from bottom). This new addition just functions better than the original, spacing not an issue. I really like being able to swivel the whole arm to loosen/tighten, very useful for between song snare sound changes with minimal fuss. BCA8250D-904B-4BDE-A1B8-29B5D3237DFE.jpegBCA8250D-904B-4BDE-A1B8-29B5D3237DFE.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top