alpha010

I'm about to venture into the world of custom drum kits for myself. One kit is going to be a 20 pc. setup much the same as Mike Portnoy's "Siamese Monster". Now I was thinking of how to do the wraps or colorings, and thought....BANANAS!!! I could take photos of banana trees and fruits and apply them to the shell and clear-coat over to protect the imagery. Kinda wanted something I can put in my family room when it is done and have it be at home with the rest of my tropicals and my wife's giraffe collection...what do ya think?

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Michael_Andrew

So u gonna make the shells and all from scratch? I was looking at some sites not to long ago and they were all about construction materials and the effects of the sound. Like the shape of the rim and the wood used. Solid staves verses plys. I made a set of bongos with maple staves and birch ply heads that sounds pretty darn good. I also have made many cajons and tongue drums. I'll try to find you some links. Or were you gonna order the shells and install the hardware and do the finish? I think incorperatating bananas would be cool. Even if it looked like a banana leaf was wrapped around it. I was wondering what to put on my cajons! lol

Bongos:



See the papaya seeds drying in the background?

lorax

If you are going to make the shells from scratch you need to consider your woods and whether you're going to join your wood (as Micheal shows with his staved bongos) or hollow out a trunk of appropriate size....

Also consider your wood. Here in Ecuador, the best wood for drums is considered to be Strangler Fig, followed by Ceiba and Cedro (tropical red cedar) but you should take a look in your local drumshop and ask the people there about the woods used in those drums as well. You'll need something fairly hard with a strong tensile strength. Personally, I like jointed Maple for deeper-sounding drums (like pow-wow drums) and hollowed Strangler Fig for talking drums, but that's a personal preference. You can, if you like, make drums out of pine and they'll sound great.

Will you be making your own skins as well? Wood or actual skin? What kind of tone are you looking for? If you're going with skin heads, are you putting on tuning pegs (ala kit heads) or tuning with cords (ala talking drums)?

Michael_Andrew

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alpha010

I'm just gonna buy some keller maples and my octobans are gonna be acrylic since 6" x 24" deep shells in maple are very expensive to have made. Also, I have all the necessary info collected on the ghostnote.net community since they are ALL and ONLY about home fab drums and kits. Pretty handy amount of info on there plus other people that do the same thing!
I also have 4 other setups I want to build, they are all reproductions of my favorite Musicians. the one of Franky Costanza's kit I'm gonna build with Carbon Fiber with either crimson or black powder coated hardware, Daniel Svensson's kit will be Bubinga painted flat satin black with black hardware and 'In Flames' jester head, and Mike portnoy's Albino Monster will be made from african Black Ironwood / Purpleheart staves (I was also thinking a nice contrast of Chakta / Purpleheart staves but thought that might be to high "volume" for my tastes") with Tung oil and clear coat and white powder coat hardware.
This is going to be a continuous project over the next 10 years for all of these kits. The cymbals for just one of the "monster" kits is over $6,ooo.oo (which happens to be almost twice the amount of the cost of all the shells put together) so money is the brakes on this vehicle.

bob

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alpha010

Thank Michael for the links!

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lorax

Bob, if that's the case are you aware of the techiques for painting your own kick drum resonant heads?

alpha010

not really, just figured on using a light and flexible type paint and airbrushing or hand-painting them when I figure what I want on them. OR, I was just gonna have Evans make some blanks for me in black. But, if you know how, the help would be awesome since I haven't even thought about that aspect....

bob

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alpha010

So, Michael, do you use a standard lathe or a custom rig to turn down the outer and inner dias.?

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Richard

Yes, making congas has become a fine art as in the making of acoustic guitars. One of the old european masters would use a very thin strip of an ebony (bullet wood) among the other composites in the sound board to give the instrument interesting tonal characteristics.

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Michael_Andrew

I just turned the outside and left the flats on the inside. I did it on a regular lathe with a jig to hold it. I made plywood to fit each open end and turned it between centers.

Michael

lorax

Bob, there are a number of ways to approach it, some of which will change the tonal quality of the bass slightly (which you might want, who knows?)

The first method, which is best on white skins, is to use a Sharpie or similar permanent marker to draw and colour the design. This doesn't affect the tone any, and is fairly inexpensive. Equally, you can airbrush or paint onto them with acrylic. Stencilling, of course, works just fine.

For all-black skins, if you don't want them custom made and prefer a matte finish, you can dye a white skin using leather dye and a brush or sponge, then apply the design in light acrylic with an airbrush or paintbrush. Equally, you can draw the design on with metallic gel pens if you want very fine, unbroken lines of gold or silver. The dye technique works well for other main background colours as well, and leather dye is available in a wide range of colours.

If you are very adventurous, you can also experiment with finishes that change the tone of the bass - I did a set of heavy heads in flexible heavy acrylic molding paste using a painter's technique called impasto - this deepened and slightly rounded the tone of the drum. You can also apply layers of cut vinyl (again, done heavily this will change the tone by flattening it a bit) or layers of paper and glaze.

Finally, you can batik some types of head (I'm thinking, primarily, of Remo Batterkings and Ambassadors), using either hot wax or gutta percha as a resist and painting with leather dyes. I prefer metallic gutta (gold or silver is available) for designs dominated by dark colours, and a mixture of beeswax and parrafin (50-50) for designs dominated by light colours, or where I want very heavy lines. I did a set of custom heads for my Banjo in this style.

alpha010

well lorax, those are all awesome ideas......i just might have a go at all of them to see which i like best...just not sure which bass resos i want to use yet cuz im kinda impartial to the tonality and darkness of Evans Hydraulics and EVans black Genera 7 mil reso, and I'm not sure if I'm gonna use holz or not since right now i don't have holz in my resos and i like the sound but the heads are goin to get replaced and wont be available for the kits i'm building.

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alpha010

Michael, did you use the plywood ends to steady the tubes while gluing? I have seen a method for that involving plywood plugs and ratcheting cargo straps.

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Michael_Andrew

Actually I just layed tape sticky side up and placed the staves on it with the bevel up. Then just put on the glue and roll it together.


Richard Quote: Yes, making congas has become a fine art as in the making of acoustic guitars. One of the old european masters would use a very thin strip of an ebony (bullet wood) among the other composites in the sound board to give the instrument interesting tonal characteristics.

Which master was that Richard? I'm curious to see what he did and the success. The sound boards I've made were with spruce or cedar and spruce and basswood lining and braces. I would think you would avoid a dense wood like ebony at all cost. You did say very thin though. I can see it as a binding. The old Spanish makers were spose to be the experts. Torres if my spelling is correct is renowned.

Michael

I haven't researched it but I think there are makers that use the acoustic guitar body as the basis of a percussion instrument.

lorax

Bob, I should add that if you're going to try batik with wax, you'll need a few tools. Namely, an old electric hotplate, a set of tjanting tools, and probably a kytska (pysanka-maker's wax stylus) as well.

Michael_Andrew

Ouch Shag those Kellers are expensive. Why don't you try making the shells with staves, which I think is better acoustically and mechanically than the ply construction Keller uses. Lets try a snare as an experiment and see if it turns out. I probably have enough ambrosia maple lying around to do one like this:

PDGood Snare Samples

I'll make the staves for ya and you can take it from there. I have regular hard maple also. Your choice. I would need the depth and diameter. If you don't have access to a lath pm me I have an idea!

Michael

alpha010

So it's kinda like Ukranian Easter Egg painting....I have styli for that of all different sizes (thats what happens when you marry into a Byzantine Catholic family) that are hollow to hold melted candle wax which is then transfered to the media and then once the outline is done the first color goes on then the wax is heated and rubbed off...done more times for more colors.

Yes, kellers are expensive for plywood, but I always hear good things about them. I could go to Universal Percussion which is the home manufacturer of "Cannon" and have them make me some true solids. But, the thing of it is right now is time, my biggest and most varying constraint. I'm not sure if I'm gonna have the time to attempt making my own shells in the next couple years. Mama always has a laundry list for me and projects around the house are building up (not to mention a toddler and an infant running around with poopy butts ;oD). So, I figured on going the way of the kellers over the next year or two and later on down the road, slowly replace those with staves and/or true solids as life goes by and free time opens up and sell off the kellers on ebay or give to friends and family that play.

bob

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alpha010

lorax, I just looked at the link you tossed in about the tools, those are exactly what I have at home. I think they would work nice but I need plenty of practice (and maybe even the help of a Studa-baba) cuz I simply suck at using those, you should see my eggs of the past..lol good laugh!

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lorax

Batik is an advanced technique and takes a great deal of practise - just like Pysanki, lol! My great-omma (who was a Ukranian Gypsy) taught me how to make Pysanki at a very early age, so I've got the knack for it. It's actually much easier to apply wax to a flat surface, like stretched cloth or a drumhead.

However, if it all seems a bit Greek to you, you can always go the other route. Drawing with Gutta Percha is like using a pencil.