my recent refurb/conversion

bought an old second hand yamaha DP kit.
Traded the 22" kick for a 20" no-name kick.
stripped the wraps off
filled the gouges on the 16"
stained black
sanded back
cut the 16" down to 8" depth
sanded back more... took so freaking long, obviously don't know what I'm doing
stained the edges black, faded into the middle
stained the whole things with "honey maple" minwax stain
coat of tung oil
so much sanding on the edges to get them flat
cut bearing edges, 1/8" roundover in and out
sanded lugs
painted lugs and hoops first with barbeque black, then hammered metal effect spray paint
used dad's propane tiger torch on the chrome bass drum hoops (*edit: claws*) used on the reso side of the 20". heated them to red hot, which made them all colourful.
drill (badly)
assemble









and now I have a 16x8 rack tom and 20x16 floor tom can't tell you how they sound yet. heads are seating under tension, just finished the project, haven't tuned them up and had a go yet.

Bretton, The pictures sure look nice. You definately have a eye catcher kit. I hope they sound good after you get them all tuned up. I'm sure after working and truing up he edges that they will sound much better. Good luck and keep us updated. John

on the kit;

they're a bit heavy on the overtones, but those disappear when I put my earmuffs on. They sound like their dimensions... Massive...

You did a great job. I really like that finish.

Think you should take the other half of that floor and make a 8x16 snare to go with everything.

What the hell is that thing on the floor that looks like a giant tambourine?

to the left of the leftmost bass drum and hi hat? that would be my foot snare. I zip tied a snare stand to a small piece of plywood, A) so it wouldn't fall over with the snare tilted vertical, and B) to give the pedal something to clamp onto

the 8 inches of 16" tom was actually taken from the middle, because it was a 6 lug tom and I wanted 8 lugs, so the holes wouldn't line up. So the 16x8 snare would probably suck if I made it out of those pieces, plus I'd have to buy more hoops, lugs, strainer.... if anything, i might just put snares on the 16" tom as it is, and just keep the snares turned off most of the time.

That kit looks really cool. Nice job!

Nice job, that's pretty damn creative!