Pitchpine, teak, mahogany.

 Maple staves have been ripped on the tablesaw.

 Next, they go thru the jointer, to be brought down to the exact width.

Router jig for turning the outside.

Finally got the stave shell router fixture working. It cuts the outside of the faceted glued up shell quite well. Cutting the inside is still problematic, but with the right router bit, I'm still optimistic. I built a pitch pine shell that smells great but may prove to be a dud sonically. I sprayed some clear laq. on it and I'm ready to drill for lugs but I discovered it's really too small in diameter. I'll go ahead and finish it but I'll have to use thick pads under the lugs and it'll be tricky seating the heads, oh well. I've got a beautiful quilted maple stave 5 1/2x14 in the works now. Not sure how I'll deal with the inside yet.

I've yet to come up with a way of measuring the O.D. of the shell while it's in the jig as I'm routing. Maybe a large caliper, I could make one. Hmmm. The ultimate in size has the head fitting exactly, not too tight, not too loose


My unfinished shell inventory: 6x14 mahogany, 6x14 teak, 6x14 pitch pine.

In the top picture, the order is reversed.

Some random drum stuff

Building projects have slowed down some. Finished the Kent with the blue/green stain and took it to New Orleans as a house gift for Nancy and Ben. Nancy has this cool front room with all kinds of Art and lots of percussion instruments. I always felt a snare drum would look good in there. Snares are central to the Nola sound. I'm honored to have one in that town, although it should get played. I resisted putting re-rings on this shell as it was very round to begin with and I thought it should sound open and brash with lots of overtones. I kept the bearing edges rounded like the original, but turned it into an 8 lug drum. I had some newer generic lugs kicking around and added my usual leather gaskets. Included with the drum was a pair or hickory sticks I'd made awhile back. Like an idiot, I didn't take a picture of the finished product!
Some other projects are French polishing the teak stave shell(ongoing). Complete clean up of an 90's Yamaha sd 296 which is like a Supraphonic with a parallel type snare arrangement, very heavy steel shell, ten lugs and heavy triple flange hoops. Haven't driven it yet, we'll see. Out in the barn I'm working on a 13 inch Kent tom shell that was poorly glued up to begin with. I've worked some glue into the gaps and trued up the shell on the table saw and then the sanding board. I stripped off the wrap and who knows how I'll finish the nice maple.
My friend Mike Labelle posted a picture of his new "old" set of tubs with a 26 inch bass drum and toms made from old marching snare drums. Very cool and inspiring. My old 26 inch maple George Stone bass drum needs a good sanding, some finish, hardware, heads and some spurs. Things to look forward to.
As I improve as a player, I find I can play a more relaxed style that begs for a big, resonant set of drums in a reverby room. Recently I've seen some You Tube clips of Jay Bellerose who epitomises this style, also Dylan's drummer, George Recelli comes to mind. Old fashion sound with todays sensibilities.

Some thoughts on tuning snare drums

I've been tuning snares a little differently lately. Dunnett says to find the fundamental note of the shell and tune the bottom head to that note. My Vaughncraft steam bent birdseye maple with nickle over brass hardware,(die-cast hoops), positively sings now. Great for New Orleans stylee. I tuned the top head medium high to get a nice bounce to the stick and a timbale like ring with rim shots. I leave the snares as loose as possible so as to not choke the resonant head. My latest Kent shelled drums benefit from this tuning as well. If resonance is the quest for a drum then Dunnett's idea makes sense, get the shell and heads all working together. Finding the note of my shells is a little tricky, so many overtones, but by hanging them up and using my knuckle to rap lightly and using a tuner, I've been able to find the note. I'm writing it in the shell.
   Drum tuning is endlessly fascinating, the slightest changes in tension can make all the difference.
   The biggest surprise lately was a 5x14 Kent orange sparkle six lug shell, given to me by my buddy Anthony from The Village Drum and Music. I was going to peel off the wrap but decided not to because I do love orange sparkle and it cleaned up really well. So I recut the very messed up bearing edges and finished them, all by hand (My shop was too cold). I had to remove alot of meat, 3/16, from each edge. It looked like someone had at them with a jackknife! I ended up using a double 45 edge instead of the usual roundover. After putting on some lugs, hoops, throw and butt with some old heads, I tuned it and wow, it sounded great, strong and tight, not too tinny and weak like my other Kents without re-rings. Why I'm not sure, maybe the different edges, maybe it's just the maple in this drum. Every piece of wood is slightly different.
   Another old Kent shell is in the pipeline, this one another 5x14 six lug that I removed the wrap from and bunged all the holes. Jack Moore gave me this one. I'd fixed it up and never really liked it very much. So now I'll try it with eight lugs and maybe fool with the bearing edges, but no re-rings for now. Alot of scraping and sanding finally got rid of the wrap glue residue and I stained the shell with a blue green analine die with some red oil color rubbed in to funk it up a bit. I've discovered the joys of french polish this winter. Just shellac, alcohol and a little olive oil, gives a rich deep glossy to semi-gloss finish which brings out the wood grain like nothing else. You rub it in over a couple of coats of shellac, slowly building up the finish, in sessions, with a days drying in between sessions. The smells are pleasent unlike most finishes. After awhile I've got this beautiful finish that only needs protecting with some wax.
   Snare drum sound can be so allusive, very subjective and constantly changing, with room accoustics, weather and my mood! Small changes in the relationship of the heads, can greatly affect the sound. Mid range tuning is usually the best but some styles dictate a higher or lower tuning. For funk, I like to tune up, for blues, down.

Vaughan Craft maple shell with old Ludwig hardwareAdd

60's Kent shellAdd

Ludwigs up and running

   Couldn't wait any longer, so Saturday, I put all the hardware on and set them up in the living room. They look a little strange, what with the single heads and the toms not quite matching in color, not to mention the mahogany bass drum. But they're my orphans and each piece has it's own personality and character, kinda like my kids.

   Sunday morning I took off the heads and re-did the bearing edges. I'm trying two-ply clear Remos I had, but they need to be tuned pretty tight to get the wrinkles out. Maybe some single ply with rings at the edges would work. So I tuned them up and fooled around for awhile. Phoebe liked the bass drum right away, nice doo sound with just some funky old heads I had with a felt strip on the batter head. Very cool drum, heavier than the 20 inch slingy, more weight and punch in the sound. I wanted to play funk and jazz. The mounted tom is choked by it's attachment to the B.D. It should be on a snare stand. Too bad because it looks good up there. Maybe I can pad out the holder some how. The 16 floor tom has a big sound, kind of tinny, but ok. I'll probably get used to the single head sound after awhile. Here's some photos.

   

La Familia

From a Kent floor tom

Slingy 12 tom sans wrap with Japanese lugs

reddish stain on mahogany, watch out ,those lugs are sharp!

same as the first pic, leather gaskets, Kent lugs.

Vaughncraft birdseye maple shell. Crazy overtones, vintage ludwig nob hoops.

Funk it up in every way, cheapo CB 13 tom shell, generic throw, Kent lugs.

Kent ft shell with re-rings, Pearl hardware.

Dude, get a tripod. Painted in acrylics.

First, " successful" stave build, maple with 60's Slingerland lugs. 3/4" thick!

1920's Ludwig and Ludwig NOB hardware, re-finished.

Fake it Monkey Part 2, Acrolite with diecast batter hoop.

Ah, learning to fade stain on Ludwig concert tom, maple with paint removed.

16 floor tom the same, you gotta see the french polish in the flesh, love it.

Greatest Yard Sale Find award goes to 1962 Pioneer, NOB, all original in case with stand. Painted white, hiding this beautiful maple veneer. Loves brushes.

70's Pearl 14" tom shell cut down. Modern Pearl student snare hardware, ten lugs, tuned up, plays ska.

"Azurite" fantasy painted finish with spar varnish over, leather gaskets, white and blue speckled inside with fancy hex head machine screws etc.

7 x 14 Keller shell, 8 ply, nodal point lug placement, Dunnett throw.

Gold leaf fish swimming in a blue green maple sea.

13" snare from Pearl tom shell, taye style throw which I really like.

French polish on 1967 Ludwig 20" bass. I found vestiges of champagne sparkle wrap under the two layers of paint. A friend of a friend had a set of Ludwigs, with that wrap, in high school. I'm getting closer.

Wonder if Sam's drummer played one of these. 22" Slingerland in white marine pearl.

Here are some snares and the projects I'm working on.

Freaks

    I've decided that the world needs to know about my obsession with creating drum freaks (custom drums made from mixed sources). Who knows, maybe this will help with World Peace.
   Currently I've got a Ludwig set in the pipeline with a Slingerland bass drum not far behind. The Ludwigs were given to me by my buddy Max. He got them years ago for mowing someone's lawn. They were painted black at the time. He improved them by spray painting bright yellow. I took off all the hardware and stripped the shells. The toms, 12 and 16 concert style, are maple/poplar/maple from the early 70's, while the 20 inch bass drum is mahogany/poplar/mahogany from 1967. I've stained the toms a yellow to orange to green fade. Over this I'm french polishing which gives a wonderful texture with depth and warm sheen. The bass drum I left natural mahogany with french polish. Anthony at Village Drum sold me a couple of old wood hoops which got stripped and stained orange. Don't know what I'll do with the grooves in the hoops yet, maybe veneer or wrap. I could paint a design in the grooves. I like adding leather gaskets under the lugs, apologies to the purists. The hardware is a mixed bag of Ludwig lugs, Gretsch t-rods and claws and import tom leg supports.
   For ten bucks, I bought a 22 inch 70's Slingerland bass drum with WMP wrap shell. Used to belong to the Providence school system. The wrap is in good enough shape to use. I've got some Japanese copys of Slingerland lugs which fit the hole pattern and a chrome hoop with WMP inlay. Got to find some claws that will work with the old school t-rods I already have. A tom mount, some spurs and a second hoop will get it up and running. Heads are a problem because of the cost but I'll scrimp and save.

   In the band I'm in, Limbic System, I've been playing a kit finished in mahogany veneer(what was under the original wrap) comprised of 1968 Slingerland 20 inch bass drum and a 12 inch mounted tom with a 70's 15 inch converted Ludwig snare that's now a floor tom. Anthony had a 60's Japanese set with lugs that look like they were copied from vintage Sonor lugs, with sharp ends, very 50's car like style. They look fantastic on this set with chrome hoops on the toms and natural maple hoops on the bass drum. I made a mahogany dutchman patch to cover up the area on the bass drum where the tom mount was. My current favorite snare is 5 x 14 maple 2ply with ash re-rings, made from an old Kent floor tom, that I cut down for several shells. I love maple, fairly easy to work and always interesting grain and color. Kent seemed to use some funky stock for their shells which is one reason they didn't stay very round. With the addition of re-rings, I've been able to get them more round. Anyway, I stained this one with a yellow/orange analine stain with double ended Kent lugs and leather gaskets, piccolo strainer and triple flanged hoops topped with Remo Ambassadors. Great sounding snare but a can't really lean into too much, good for smaller clubs, tuned just up from a nice doo sound.