drum and gear building
LEATHERCLAD AND RIVETS DRUMSET
Drumming and drums are my biggest joy, so a few years ago I decided to build my own kit from the well-worn remains of a Tama Swingstar set I bought soon after moving to Switzerland. It was a simple 4-piece black set that I played in Shotgun Momma for two years. I was always a little embarrassed with the condition of the black coating and the rust built up on the hoops and lugs. I tore it apart and gave it new life with a thick leather wrap and 32-ply maple hoops custom made by a boat-builder in the USA, for both the toms and bass drum. The black chrome lugs and claws were imported from Germany. Karl from Eights Leather and I punched in the rivets and stretched the rawhide around the old wood. I drew the flames and had a vinyl cutter apply them to the from clear skin... and the set was complete! It is my favourite kit I have ever played...
FLOOR TOM CONVERTED INTO BASS DRUM
I bought a 30-year old Imperialstar kit from a friend and decided to convert the 20-inch floor tom (!!) into a wee bass drum for those small shows in small spaces. I scrapped the old lugs for new full-length tube lugs to hold the new wood hoops and added a lift to compensate for the height difference between the foot pedal and the striking area of the skin. It worked out beautifully, and I've used this new bass drum with only a 12-inch snare, 12-inch hihats and 20-inch ride. Perfect for the acoustic gig.
BEGINNING OF A "METAL" DRUM KIT
This is a bit of an experiment to see what can be done with different textures on the shells - going for a heavy distressed grungy metal look. Next coat of paint will be a blended black - rubbed into the texture.
NEED AN ISOLATION BOX FOR GUITAR AMPS - LET'S BUILD ONE!
A band was scheduled to come in at the beginning of November this year and the guitarist has a great tube amp that he wants to record with but there's only one live room at Chickenhill :(. So I thought I'd build an isolation box to place his amp into while with do the initial tracking with the rest of the band. It took a couple days to construct and here's a few images of the start...
