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Winter NAMM 2012 – Drum Pictures, Videos, and Blogs

January 24, 2012 in Drummer resources, Drums with 0 Comments

I just returned from a 4 day trip to Orange County/Anaheim California and I have a ton of good stuff for you. I’ll be adding blogs pretty frequently in the next week so stay tuned for that. NAMM might have just changed my life.

I went with 2 of my drumming brother’s from Austin – Chuck and Mike!

Philip, Chuck, Mike

Both of these guys are amazing drummers and great friends. We had an incredible time drooling over new drum gear, stalking our favorite drummers, and living it up at NAMM!

I got to meet some of my favorite custom drum builders including:

Bill and Jake Cardwell of C&C Drums
Mike Ciprari of SJC Custom Drums
JR Frondelli of Frondelli Drums
Truth Custom Drums
Craviotto Drum Company
Joyful Noise Drum Company
Brady Drums
Eric Soy From Dynamicx Drums, Drum Foundry, and Black Swamp Percussion

And of course I saw lots and lots of drumming legends, and was able to snag some photos with them!

While I’m working on some of the blog updates, I would highly suggest that you “Like” the Makedrums.com Facebook page, and also subscribe to my Youtube Channel. I have already put lots of pictures and videos on both of those pages!

Check back tomorrow for some more NAMM related content!

What was your favorite drum booth at the 2012 NAMM show? Leave a comment and join the conversation!

33 Drummer and Drum Related Gift Ideas For the Drummer In Your Life

November 30, 2011 in Drummer resources, Drums with 6 Comments

Drum Key – All Drummers should have at least 5…because you never know when we are going to lose them!

Bass Player – Turned Drummer Builds His 1st Custom Drum Set

August 3, 2011 in Drum Building 101, Drum Building Resources, Drums, Reader's Drum Pictures with 1 Comment

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

July 28, 2011 in Drum Building Resources, Drums, Reader's Drum Pictures with 0 Comments

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....

8 Custom Drum Companies That You Should Know About

June 6, 2011 in Drums, General Updates with 4 Comments

1. C&C Custom Drums – Bill Cardwell is a custom drum building legend. He and his son Jake create some of the most classy looking custom drums on the market. Bill started making drums in a 6×12″ room in the back of his drum and guitar retail store about 20 years ago. Their journey has been long and difficult, but they are now one of the most trusted and revered names in the drum industry.

2. Koenig Custom Drum Company – These guys developed the Corian-Granite snare drum. I have never heard a granite snare, but I have to give them props for doing something completely different than most “custom” drum companies.

3. SJC Custom Drums – One of the most innovative custom drum companies out there. Known for their “Butcher Hoops”. Owned by two brothers that are 25 and 23 years old.

Classic Custom Drums by Brian Roberts

May 26, 2011 in Drums, Reader's Drum Pictures with 0 Comments

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!

Esteban’s 1st Custom Snare Drum Build

February 8, 2011 in Reader's Drum Pictures with 1 Comment

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!

What do you want more of?

November 1, 2010 in General Updates with 6 Comments

Lately I've been asking a lot of my twitter followers what they think of this website. I have gotten some great feedback and I plan on making a couple of changes to this site in the near future. I've gotten lots of feedback from the new drum building podcast. That will definitely stay and I'll be adding more episodes in the future. I strive to offer the best drum building information and content for the blog, and I wanted to ask for your feedback. The question is simple; What do you want to see and hear more of on the blog? Who would you like to hear interviewed for the podcast? Any idea that you could offer would be greatly appreciated! This blog is for you. Just leave a comment below and tell me what you want more of!

Interview with Custom Drum Builder Ryan Voight

October 20, 2010 in Drum Building 101, Drums, General Updates, Podcast with 1 Comment

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Philip: I’m here with Ryan Voight, who has recently built some pretty amazing snare drums and I’ve actually covered some of his progress on the blog, if you read down below you can see a couple of the posts and check out the drums he’s built. How’re you doing today, Ryan?

Ryan: I’m good, man. I’m happy to be talking about this stuff. I love building, I love working with my hands and this opportunity to build snare drums and use the book has been really awesome, it’s been excellent. I’m glad to share it with everybody.

Philip: Thanks, man. Well, I just wanted to ask you a couple questions, kinda give our Make Drums readers some insight into who you are and how you got started in the drum building. So, how long have you been a drummer or how long have you been interested in drums?

Ryan: I’ve been playing the drums since 1997, so, that’s what, 13 years I’ve been playing. You know, it’s kind of funny cause it started out, I’m a preacher’s son and it just so happened that we had moved to this little town in Kentucky. Our youth group needed a drummer and at that time I had taken about four years of piano, but the drums just seemed like, especially to an 11-year-old kid, seemed way cooler than the piano. So I just kind of went for it and man, never looked back. Ever since then I’ve loved playing the drums. I played in church, played for our metal band, the hardcore band, and more recently and preferably, played for some more, I guess, pop rock kind of stuff. Of course I’ve done worship, been doing that for about 13 years.

Philip: What made you want to get into drum building? How did you find out about making your own snare drums?

Ryan: Actually, it was from you. When I was playing with Day, we played with you guys I think in Pampa, Texas. Continue Reading....

Ryan Voight Knows How to Build Drums

October 7, 2010 in Drums, General Updates, Reader's Drum Pictures with 6 Comments

Just got some amazing pictures of a new custom snare drum that Ryan from Lubbock built! Aside from being a great drum builder, Ryan is also a great photographer! Check out his work at www.rvoightphotography.com