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How to Wrap a Drum Shell Part 2

March 24, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 1 Comment

This is the 2nd and last post on how to wrap your drum shells! Enjoy! Check out the first post here. Another important blog post to view along with this post is “How to Keep your Wrap Seams From Coming Up“.

After you have made sure there is not sanding dust on the wrap or on the shell you can apply your contact cement. If you have already drilled your holes for hardware you may want to tape the inside up so that no contact cement can run on the inside of the shell. Use a paint brush or roller brush to apply the contact cement to the shell, the back of the wrap, and the overlap! You’ll need to apply 2 coats to achieve maximum adhesion, and you can do them one right after the other. Leave no space uncovered or else you’ll have some bubbles in your wrap. Make sure you really get the overlap good! Consult the directions on your contact cement to get the best results.

Most contact cement needs about 15-30 minutes of drying time BEFORE you try to put the wrap on the shell. When the glue dries on all surfaces you may proceed. – Attention! – The glue must be dry for you to have a permanent bond, it sounds counter intuitive, but trust me, if you try to stick things together with contact cement when the cement is not completely dry, it will become un-bonded over time.

How to Take Good Drum Photos

March 16, 2010 in Drum Building Resources, Drums, General Updates, Reader's Drum Pictures with 0 Comments

When you build your very own custom drum or drum set you'll want to take some great product photos to show off your work to everyone you know. In the past I've been lucky to work with some amazing photographers who have shot some promo pictures of drums that I've built, one of them being Chad Zellner. I recently emailed Chad and asked him to answer a few questions about taking drum product photos. Here is what he had to say:

MD (Makedrums): Can you tell me about your process when you take product photos…specifically drums.

Chad: Product photography is all about lighting and drawing attention to the product or specific area of the product. I always do multiple off camera lights to give depth to the photo and give it much better color than direct lighting. Direct lighting (or built in flash) is a huge no no.

MD: I know you’re a professional photographer and have great gear, so can I ever expect to turn out pro looking pictures with my Cannon Power Shot camera? How?

Chad: Absolutely. Many pro photographers get great looks due to their gear and post processing in Photoshop or some other program. But if you just want a good clear picture then you don't have to have a $3000 camera. One piece of advise if you plan on doing your own product shots far into the future is to learn basic camera functions. Most cameras have a manual mode that let you control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Read online or in your camera's user manual to see how to change these functions and what they do. It may take you a little while to understand it but it's camera 101 and will definitely help you out in the long run. Avoid auto settings if you can.

MD: What if I wanted to take a picture and have everything white except the drum set? Like this one:

How would an amateur photographer achieve this look without spending tons on lighting and backdrops?

Chad: If you want this ''infinity" look there are a few different ways to get it. If you have the lighting equipment you can get this look very easily with a few white sheets. But if you don't have lighting but do have photo editing software you could spend the time to cut out around each piece. Other than that you might be better off hiring this one out for a good quality shot.

MD: Do you know of any free photo editing software that you could recommend?

Chad: Although I've never used anything but Adobe Photoshop, I have heard good things about GIMP. Don't hold me to it but it's the only free software I have heard of that is decent.

You can check out Chad's Photography at www.twopairphotography.com/blog
Chad will be making lots of photography 'how-to' videos in the future on their tech blog www.blogmeright.com

How To Keep Drum Wrap Seams From Coming Up

March 10, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 1 Comment

I have a confession to make. I recently discovered that the seams on the 2nd wrapped drum set I ever made are starting to come apart. This is unacceptable, but luckily you get to learn from my mistake. Wrapping your custom drums with a sparkle, glass glitter, onyx, pearl, or solid color wrap is an easy way to get a great finish on your drum without spending days, weeks, or months apply a stain and lacquer finish. Just make sure you do it right the first time or this will happen.

Ryan’s 1st Custom Snare Drum Build

February 25, 2010 in Drums, General Updates, Reader's Drum Pictures with 2 Comments

I just got these pictures in from Ryan in Lubbock, TX! Ryan cut his own bearing edges, marked his own lug layout, drilled for hardware, cut his own snare bed and put a clear satin finish on his drum – and he was able to do most of this from his apartment! Looks great Ryan!

Check out what Ryan had to say:

"Philip’s ebook “How to Make Custom Drums” is definitely one of the most specific and comprehensive drum-building guides anywhere today. Philip was able to take from his own experiences as well as the many vague and spotty resources available online and produce something that can truly guide anybody with a little time and desire to build their own custom drum/drums for a fraction of the cost of a “custom-ordered” kit. From the many pictures to the very detailed step-by-step instructions, Phillip not only makes building custom drums possible for the rest of us, but makes it incredibly fun and fulfilling. It’s exciting enough to get a new drum for yourself, but knowing that you not only designed it, but crafted it and put it together with your own two hands is monumentally more valuable than the $25 you’ll spend on this book. After buying Philip’s book, I was able to build and finish my first custom snare drum in a week mostly from the comfort of my own apartment. The whole process was so enjoyable that I can’t wait to order the parts necessary for me to build my first full drum kit! Philip has done an incredible job with this entire project and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed."

-Ryan, Lubbock, TX

How to Prevent Your Drums From Slipping Out of Tune

February 19, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drum Building Tutorials, Drummer resources, Drums, General Updates with 4 Comments

Do you have problems with your tension rods detuning themselves as you play a gig? I know that I dealt with this for a very long time myself. I would sometimes find myself trying to tune my snare drum back up after a couple of songs because usually the lug nearest to where I hit my rim shots ends up detuning and dropping the drum’s overall pitch.

This just made me frustrated…until I found out about Loctite Thread Locker Blue.

Loctite has been great for me for the last couple of years that I’ve used it on my kits. I apply just a small amount to each tension rod on all of my drums. You have to be careful because this stuff can get messy.

I have also started to put it on all of my hardware screws and lugs screws that attach the hardware and lugs to the shell. One mistake you definitely don’t want to make though is getting the permanent Loctite thread locker. There are multiple ratings of adhesive-ness (is that even a word?) and you have to make sure you get THREAD LOCKER BLUE REMOVABLE. Continue Reading....

Greg’s first attempt at drum building

February 11, 2010 in Drums, General Updates, Reader's Drum Pictures with 0 Comments

This was sent in from Greg Doucette from Canada! That is a great looking drum Greg! This is a Stave snare drum 4.25" x 14" 10 lug. Maple with Padauk accent.

Check out what Greg had to say:

"Philip's Ebook on how to make custom drums was instrumental in encouraging me to proceed with my idea of building my own custom drum. I am a hobby woodworker so building the stave shell was less daunting than it might be to some with little experience or lack of tools. As far as all the other process such as marking and drilling for lugs and other hardware, creating a bearing edge etc., the information on the various processes and recommended tools gave me confidence in my ability to proceed.

The many references to suppliers of various component parts necessary to construct the drum made it easy for me to get a sense of what the project would cost and what I needed to do to get started. This book presents good solid information on innovative ways to construct your own drum building equipment for example sanding and truing the drum edges in preparation for cutting the bearing edge.

I will probably work with a purchased shell next time but the book will continue to be my Bible when it comes to the orderly process of building your own drum."

-Greg Doucette

Just in case anyone was wondering, building stave drum shells is not covered in the book, however just like Greg said, I point you towards many builders who specialize in making beautiful exotic looking stave shells for you! Who knows, maybe you'll be ordering your next stave shell from Greg!

What Will My Custom Drums Sound Like?

January 20, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drums, General Updates with 10 Comments

I have received a couple of emails from people that are skeptical about the sound quality of a drum set that they build. I know that this is only my opinion, but I believe that if you follow my steps laid out in the book, (especially when it comes to outsourcing woodwork) you can build the best sounding kit you have ever played on! The moment I played on Kevin’s custom drum set (see orange drum set pictured below) I knew I had to have that sound. Having your drums sound good also has much to do with the drum head selection and how you tune your drums. What I almost always have on my drums are these heads:

Kick Drum – Evans Emad on batter side, with an Evans Emad for the Resonant side
Toms – Clear Remo Emperor on batters, clear Remo Ambassador on resonant
Snare – Remo Coated Ambassador on batter, Remo Hazy Ambassador on the snare side.

As for tuning your drums I’ll be posting more about that later, but make sure you check out this blog post.

Now for the part you really care about. Below are some recordings of the 2nd drum set I ever built. When I built this set, I still knew very little about drum building, but I still had some amazing results:

I recorded this drum set on the Home Hiccolm & the Rocketboy’s (now they are just called the Rocketboys) “Sing, Bird, Sing” EP. For the record we cut a port hole in the front bass drum head. This kit is (length X diameter) 8×10, 14×14, and 18×20 and sounds incredible. Don’t just take my word, listen to it yourself. Here are some selections from the album recorded at The Glass Jar Studio:

Do I wake or Sleep? By the Rocketboys

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Drum Building 101 – How much time and money will I need to invest?

January 12, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 1 Comment

How Much Money Will I Spend Building My Custom Drum Set?

I recently received an email asking how long it would take and how much it would cost to build a 5 piece drum set. Thanks for the question George, hopefully this answers it! The very first drum set I ever built was this: A 3 piece drum set (10” tom, 14” tom, and a 20” kick drum) that was stained blue and had gold “bling bling” hardware. I later built a snare drum to match the set but it came out a slightly lighter shade of blue than the other drums (more about that learning experience later). This drum set was my first ever experience with drum building. Before building this I had never worked with wood, I did not consider myself a crafty handyman, and I had never stained anything, unless you count grass and coffee stains! A couple of years before building my first drum set I became friends with a guy named Kevin. Kevin owned (and still owns) a recording studio in town. Kevin was the first person to introduce me to the idea of building my own drum set. He had a custom drum set in his recording studio that sounded amazing. When he told me that he made it with his bare hands I flipped out. When he told me how little he spent to make it I flipped out yet again. He had ordered all the materials for the set, stained it, put a clear coat on it, and assembled it…and HE RECORDS THAT DRUM SET ON 90% OF HIS STUDIO PROJECTS! My first build took about 2 weeks to get supplies shipped to me, 2 weeks to complete it and cost me approximately 0. Continue Reading....

How to Wrap a Drum Shell Part 1

January 5, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Tutorials, Drums, General Updates with 4 Comments

Using a wrap to finish your drum is a great way to get an outstanding finish in very little time. If you are wrapping multiple drums you should find out if your wrap supplier has specific configurations already cut to size for your drums, if not you’ll need to calculate how much wrap you will actually need to buy to be able to cover all your drums. If you are unsure of how to do this, just ask your supplier to help you figure it out. First you will need to cut your wrap to size. An easy way to do this is to wrap it around your drum shell and mark the edge of the shell all the way around. This shows how to wrap a bass drum. If your wrapping a smaller shell follow the directions below as follows, but you’ll just end up with one seam

(Some wrap manufacturers don’t make wrap to go all the way around large drums, so you’ll end up having to use 2 pieces for larger drums – mark your cut line around the top of the shell)

(What your 2^nd piece of wrap for larger drums will look like, this will go on the bottom of a 22” kick)

You may use a sharp pair of scissors to cut the wrap. Sparkles are a little easier to cut than glass glitter wraps. Plan on sharpening your scissors frequently if you need to cut a lot of wrap. After you cut your wrap to the length of your shell, you’ll need to cut it down to the diameter of your shell. An easy way to do this is to use a flexible measuring tape (for sewing) to measure all the way around the shell and add an extra inch for overlap. Now lay the wrap down flat and measure out that distance and use a straight edge to mark your next cut. Continue Reading....

Makedrums.com | How To Make Custom Drums

December 15, 2009 in Drum Building Resources, Drum Building Tutorials, Drummer resources, Drums, General Updates with 0 Comments

This video shows many of pictures that are included in the book "How to Make Custom Drums" – Over 100 color pictures that visually explain drum building processes! Learn how to build your own custom drums by reading "How to Make Custom Drums"

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