Ah, it's done. For now...

Well, it's all done. I covered the drums with snakeskin tolex. Tolex is the vinyl material that is used to cover amplifier cabinets. I was concerned that it would inhibit the tone of the shells, but they don't sound any different to me. I'm using a tom stand for now. Eventually I'll get some more leg mounts and hang them from the shell.







Here's a close up:

Future enhancements I'm contemplating include a ride/crash cymbal and a remote high hat. I'm not too happy with the little splash cymbals I'm using for the closed high hat. I played a ride /crash at Rhythm Traders in Portland that was awesome. As soon as I have enough pennies saved up I'll go get it.

And finally I bought a large duffle bag at GI Joes for $16 to carry the bass tom around in. I can get it all in 3 cases.

Happy cocktail drumming!

Maiden Voyage

I have the set in a playable state now so I took it to practice last night. Here is the report. (I posted this in the cocktaildrum.com discussion forum and cut and pasted it here).

Practice went well last night except that one of our guitarists missed due to illness. Everyone else really liked the set, but kind of didn't get the point. Why would I stand when I can sit?

There are bugs to be worked out. I'm currently mounting the side snare and tom on a stand because I think they are too heavy for the bass tom. I'm using 8x12 and 9x13 toms from my std set for these. That means an extra stand to pack around and set up instead of simply hanging them from the bass tom. And it's a heavy stand.

I'm very unhappy with the snare sound. I've made a fan snare typical of those I've seen on other cocktail sets. If anyone has any suggestions about that I'd love to hear them. It sounds like a crappy low-end snare that comes on the crappy low-end drumsets. If I can't fix it I'll convert to a standard bottom head strainer set up. That means more $$ though. Trying to keep that down as much as I can.

I have the 20" Zildjian ride I use on my std set mounted on my right with a cymbal stacker holding the closed hi hat on top. I bought some cheap 12" splash cymbals for the hi hat and their sound is not what I'm used to. (I have 70's vintage 15" Zildjians on my std kit.) These are mounted on an arm that puts them almost directly in front of me so I'm reaching a bit for them. This adds to the discomfort level so I'm going to move the hi hat around the bass tom a little closer to me. This means another leg mount needs to be added to the shell.

Finally on the minus side: standing up. I used muscles I didn't know I had last night. This isn't a surprise to me, I knew I'd be standing and I knew it would be mostly on one leg. I tried a tall stool but that got to my back. I'll get used to it. I will probably try a heel block so I can shift a little weight to my right leg.

Pluses: totally cool set up. Takes up a lot less room than my std set. A lot easier to move and set up/tear down, tom stand not withstanding. I'm pretty happy with the bass tom sound I'm getting on both ends. The bottom needs a little more muting, it's still a little ringy, but I get a decent bass sound. I think that's because it's a 16" shell. The top side sounds like a floor tom. Just what I was after. The long shell seems to give it a great reasonance.

Even though my minus list seems a bit long (we do tend to focus on the negative, don't we?) all in all this is a great set up. I've enjoyed building it and I'm going to enjoy playing it (dammit!). I think it will contribute to the unique sound of my band and will certainly get a lot of attention. If any of you readers have suggestions let me know. I'll post pictures later.

Progress

The second floor tom arrived this week and I went right to work on cutting it down and getting it joined up with the other tom to make the bass tom.





Here it is all cut up. The larger piece on the right is the part that will be put together with the one in the picture above. The small ring on top is the sleeve I'll put inside at the seam to help hold them together. I'm saving the one on the left to make into a Bodhran later.




I cut a small piece out of the sleeve so it will fit inside both shells.







And here are both shells joined, glued, all the unneeded holes plugged. I also drilled them for the lugs and test fitted them. Tonight I painted the inside of the shells gray to go with the snakeskin tolex I'm using to cover them. I have some on order to cover the bass tom. I'm planning on getting the toms covered tomorrow. I'll post pics tomorrow night.

Field Engineering

Changed my mind again. The 2nd floor tom showed up today. Full of holes from the old hardware. The good news is it is the same outer diameter as the other floor tom it will be mated with, bad news is it is not the same inner diameter. The shells are different thicknesses so I have to get creative with a lap joint (or something...any suggestions).

I checked on another type of covering but it was too expensive too. But! I was at a friend's house tonight and he had a ton of snakeskin tolex left over from his amp covering project. Voila! So forget about the wood look and the Craviotto example. I'll post some pics after I get the shells joined and then when the covering goes on.

While I'm waiting...

I'm still waiting for the floor tom to come from eBay to put finish my "bass" drum. In the meantime I've been refinishing the toms. I was going to recover them, but the cost of the wrap put me over my budget. The toms are made of mahogany and they are a little rough. I was wondering what to do with them, then I remembered the Craviotto Cherry/walnut set I saw in an ad.

I like the dark bottom half with the orangish top.

The shell I already have for my bass tom has a finish on it that is sort of greenish/gold. I have some Behr deck and fence stain that is sort of orange so I used it on the toms. I'll take the wrap off the tom that is on the way and finish it the same and inlay a pattern between them to hide the seam. I stained the toms yesterday and I 've put on a couple of coats of poly. I'm hoping they will turn out similar to the Craviotto's.

I also reversed the beater on the pedal so it will hit upward now. It seems to work well. I post some pictures of the drums when they are further along.

Getting started

This weekend I scoured a music store that has a lot of used parts. I didn't find all that I hoped for and I didn't find it all used. I picked up 16 used lugs for the floor tom, legs, leg mounts, a 4" snare strainer, lug bolts, and rims. All for a grand total of $150. A little more than I hoped, but not too bad.




I am going to use two shells that I have for the snare and tom, and I've bought two on eBay for the floor tom. One of the floor toms has arrived. I'm still waiting on the other and the pedal.






While I'm waiting for the other stuff to arrive I went ahead and constructed the fan snare the same as you've seen posted other places. I cut the snare wires about 4 inches long and pop-riveted them to a muting device. I used a 4 inch wide snare in hopes of getting a bigger snare sound so I couldn't set it up to rotate away from the head. It's too wide. I can turn it off by twisting the knob to lower it away from the head, just like a regular mute. It's not quick, but it works.
Not much more I can do until the other shell comes. I'm planning on ordering the shell wrap this week. Check back for updates. I may have more done next weekend.

About the tom and snare

Quick update. I tossed it around all day yesterday and I've decided not to cut the toms down. I want to keep the sound as full and fat as I can. I haven't done any new work. Waiting for parts.