Every time I get pictures in an email from someone who has used my eBook as a guide to build their very own custom drums I feel like I was able to make a difference in someone’s life. Today I got some amazing pictures of drums that Niklas Kilenstam built. I highly suggest you check out his custom drum company K-Drums and his band called The Men. Let these pictures inspire you as you think about building your own custom drums!
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Makedrums.com Top Posts of 2011 (according to Google Analytics)
It’s been amazing year for Makedrums.com and I wanted to recap some of the most visited blog posts and pages of the site for the year 2011. If you are brand new to the site, this is a great place to start! Enjoy, and please join in the conversations and leave some feedback in the comments area! HERE’S to an even better 2012!
Makedrums.com Top Posts of 2011 (according to Google Analytics)
- The Cobus Method Review – How to Play Drums Like Cobus | How to Make Custom Drums
- My Favorite Custom Drum Builders | How to Make Custom Drums
- How to make Custom Drums | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building – Pros and Cons of Tube Lugs | How to Make Custom Drums
- How to Wrap a Drum Shell Part 1 | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building FAQ – How much time and money will I need to invest? | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building Tools for the Beginning Drum Builder | How to Make Custom Drums
- Ryan’s 1st Custom Snare Drum Build | How to Make Custom Drums
- How to Make an Inlay Jig for your Router Table and Cut/Install Perfect Inlay on your Custom Drum Set! | How to Make Custom Drums
- Reader’s Drum Pictures | How to Make Custom Drums
- 33 Drummer and Drum Related Gift Ideas For the Drummer In Your Life | How to Make Custom Drums
- 4 Tools That Make Building Custom Drums Easy | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building Tools | How to Make Custom Drums
- 8 Custom Drum Companies That You Should Know About | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building Tools for the Advanced Drum Builder | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building 101 – Don’t Let Your Drums Slip Out of Tune | How to Make Custom Drums
- That’s one very large custom floor tom… | How to Make Custom Drums
- My Drum Head Recipe – The Best Drum Heads for Bringing The Funk | How to Make Custom Drums
- 7 Custom Drum Companies That You Should Know About | How to Make Custom Drums
- Drum Building 101 – How to Prevent Your Drums From Slipping Out of Tune | How to Make Custom Drums
What would you like to see more of on the site in 2012? (Click here to leave a comment)
Bass Player – Turned Drummer Builds His 1st Custom Drum Set
This is a guest post from John A. Ledingham, PhD. He and his new custom drum set reside in Columbus, Ohio.
I started out not as a drummer, but as a bass player in my hometown of Springfield, Ohio.
One Thursday afternoon, the leader of a group I was playing bass with called to tell me the band had been hired for a six-night-a-week gig, scheduled to begin the following Monday night. However, “Eddie” wanted me to play drums, not bass. In fact, I had an older set someone had given me to settle a debt and I had been practicing playing on them for fun. I tried to explain to Eddie that I was nowhere close to being ready to play a drum gig. “If you want the gig, you play drums,” Eddie insisted. When Monday came I was able to get by on the drums, but only barely. That was almost 50 years ago and I’ve been playing ever since.
Drum Builder Interview: Jeremy Wolfe’s 2nd Custom Drum Set
I recently had time to interview Jeremy Wolfe about his recent experience with building drums. This is the 2nd custom drum set he has built with the help of this site. Check out our conversation and pictures below!
Makedrums: Can you tell us about the drums you’ve built?
Jeremy: This is the second kit I have built. It’s the first using the E-Book. It was actually a rebuild from an older kit. The drums were originally wrapped in a dark red wrap. After using some wood filler and the “wet sanding” tip from the book the shells were then consistently smooth. I also plugged the original lugholes with filler because I was going for an alternate lug layout. Also the toms were cut to custom size. The 9×12 rack tom was cut to 7×12″ and the 16×16″ floor was cut to 12×16″. There was also a 10×13″ rack tom that was cut to 5×13″ which is now the snare drum. Finish is a simple white gloss spray with off centered double pinstripes that gradually get bigger according to shell size. Using the finishing steps in the book the build coat and pinstripe came easily. Top coat is the lacquer suggested in the book also and finally black hoops and hardware were put on to finish.
Continue Reading....
How to Refurbish an Old Drum Set – Breathe New Life Into Old Skins
This is a guest post by Jon Lee of MNI Drumworks in Austin, TX.
In the fall of 1993 my parents gave in. The past 18 years had been a torturous, ear bleeding ordeal for both my Father and beautiful Mother. I had slapped, hit, tapped, knocked, kicked, and played EVERYTHING in every house that we had ever lived in, or vehicle we had owned. From banging on pots, pans, lamp shades (great cymbals), to foot pedal trash cans (great hi-hats) and seat cushions…I was born to play drums.
Music Lane Studios, Summer 1994
The only drum kit I have ever owned is as a 5 piece Mapex Mars kit (later 6 piece) that I bought from Phil Fisher at the Drum Connection on North Lamar in the summer of 1993. The kit is obsolete by today’s standards, but there weren’t a lot of technological advances in drum design for beginner kits in the early 90s. When Pearl and Tama introduced suspension mounting systems for drum kits under the $1,000 price range, it was a revolution. A concept that just about every drum company foreign or domestic soon adhered too, including Mapex in the late 90s. For me, I got to hit stuff really hard, and could hit stuff really hard without breaking my parent’s . If anything the first few weeks playing would have been like watching an Animal impersonator screaming WOMAN WOMAN while banging away in the garage.
Classic Custom Drums by Brian Roberts
I’ve been chatting with Brian Roberts who has recently sent me some amazing pictures of the drums that he has built with the help of the eBook. I hope to post an interview with Brian soon to find out more about these amazing classic custom drums that he has set out to make a company around.
Phillip,
Hi there. I downloaded your book about six months ago and it lit a fire inside of me, and I am in the process of starting my own drum company. I’ve built drums and wrapped drums before, but at this point, I have not built a drumset under my company’s name – Roberts Drum Company.
You see, the idea behind my drums company is to build drums that look, sound and feel like vintage drums – and vintage drums only. So you wont find any 45 degree edges on my kits or any all maple shells etc. Right now, I’m in the process of raising support to fund the first prototype kit (a replica of a 1960’s Ludwig Super Classic set in silver sparkle…14×24 kick, 9×13 rack , 16×16 floor w/ a black beauty clone snare. My website is pretty understated and simple at this point. However, I’d really appreciate it if you would still include me in your blog.
The website is www.robertsdrums.com
Thanks, Phillip! You are an inspiration to me!
Thanks Brian for the email and the pictures! The drums look amazing!
Jeremy’s Custom Snare Drum Pictures
I just got another email from a customer in San Angelo. I love getting these emails and sharing them all of my readers! I hope that these pictures and stories from other drum builders will help you realize that you can build drums!
“Hi there! My name is Jeremy. I’m from San Angelo, TX. I just recently completed my first drum set. I built the kick and toms at the end of last year and completed the snare drum in early February. All of the tips and tutorials from your e-book and website really helped me along the way and now I have a hobby which I can enjoy for years to come. I have included some picture of the set. I did a natural tung oil finish on the kick/toms. I did a two-tone, dark walnut over natural maple finish on the snare. Thanks for all of the help and keep up the good work!”
Esteban’s 1st Custom Snare Drum Build
Just got these awesome pictures in from Esteban in Ventura, CA! This is what he said
"First off I wanted to thank you for putting out your e-Book, it was a huge help. I wouldn't have even got into drum building without the e-Book. I just finished my first build yesterday, I built a 6.5"x14" 10ply Maple snare. It was totally fun and I'm planning on building the full set sometime soon. Thanks again, I'll keep checking your websites out to stay updated and what not. Hope to hear from you again bro."
Dude, all I have to say is: Job well done! These are some great photos of a great looking drum! Good luck on starting the full set!
If you like Esteban's snare drum, please give him some love in the comments section!
Drum Building Encouragement for 2011
You Really Can Build a Professional Custom Drum Set
Building a professional custom drum set is something that is achievable by everyone, from the experienced wood worker, to the low budget garage band musician. I remember before I started building my own drums I would always wonder what it would be like to have an endorsement deal with a major drum company, preferably Yamaha. I would day dream about the different configurations that I would be able to have and how I would entertain an entire music venue full of wild screaming fans all listening to pounding beats emanating from my drums… I think most drummers have this fantasy at least once in their career, only to eventually settle for a second best “out of the box” assembly line drum set.
Drum Building Encouragement for the Year 2011
I just wanted to remind and encourage all you drummers out there not to give up on this dream. You can and will achieve it if you don’t give up. I feel like this is a post that needs to be written about once a year, and since it’s the beginning of a new year it just felt right to talk about your dreams. 2010 may have been a year where you met lots of your personal and professional goals, or you may have failed miserably. Don’t let your failure bring you down. More specifically don’t let your inability to play the drums well enough to receive a full sponsorship keep you from having the drum set of your dreams. You don’t have to wait for someone to respond to one of your hundreds of emails that you’ve sent to custom drum companies asking and begging for a free drum set. Yes I’m talking about you, you, and you. I’ve gotten all of your emails asking for an artist endorsement deal, and I’m sorry I haven’t responded, but I (and most custom drum builders) just can’t give away free drums. I do, however, have another option for you.
This is your year to learn how to build that custom drum kit in your dreams. I may not be able to help you achieve your dream of playing sold out stadium shows, but there is no reason for you to go another day thinking that you don’t have what it takes to build a custom drum set. I’m not going to give you my sales pitch, but I did want you take a look at what I have been able to do since I started building drums in 2006.
A History Lesson: A Few of My Major Drum Building Milestones
In 2006 my friend Kevin showed me the very basics of building my first drum set. At that time I was able to order all of the shells, parts and finishing materials for under $1000. With no drum building experience at all I was able to crank this baby out.
Interview with Pete Yaskovik on Building Drums
Pete emailed me the other day with these pictures. I loved what I saw and asked him to be interview for the podcast. Listen below!
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Mentioned in this podcast:
- MinWax PolyShades
- Carnuba Wax
- NuFinish Scratch Doctor
- Roland V-Drums
- Spring Loaded floor tom legs
Reader Drum Pictures
