Duncan's Kit

It's been a long while since I posted an update on what I'm playing at the moment. Naturally I'm not sure why this may be interesting to others but out of pure vanity, I'll post.

Questions or comments are - of course - most welcome.
 

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Sorry, Its not a Saturn so I am not interested! :)
Nice kit, please explain more about it.
 
Lovely looking kit, but other than the Guru snare, I can't identify the kick, or toms.​
 
Forgive me! Completely forgot to actually post some details.

Guru Oak snare. 14"x5". Beautiful. Stunning. The crown jewel and the wedding tackle.

20"x14" John Grey 'Broadway' bass drum. This was a shell I picked up from eBay. Totally intact but it had lost its original WMP wrap and had glue residue all around the shell. Two days with chemical stripper and sandpaper and a day with a cloth and shellac and I restored it to the current state. It's a 3-ply drum from the 1950s, equivalent to a Premier but this was the student model with a 6-lug bass drum. Great chrome work on the lugs - more or less intact so I assume it used the same chroming process as Premier at the time. No idea what it's made of but it sounds great. The cymbal holder is after-market and I installed it after restoring the drum to a playable condition.

The toms are from my old Tamburo Ash ply kit. 6mm, 6-ply. 12" and 14" toms. The 14" has been modified with floor tom legs (best modification ever). Coated Ambassadors on the toms.

The snare has a Remo 'Vintage A' head. It sounds great (obviously). The bass drum has a clear Emperor batter (actually a mistaken purchase, I wanted the coated but it worked out for the best) and a coated Emperor with a felt strip. I like to keep it simple with the heads.

The cymbals on here at the moment are a 20" Dream Bliss Ride above the hi hats. The hi hats are 14" Murat Diril 'Black Sea' and the cymbal in the ride position is a 20" Agop Traditional Jazz Ride. On Wednesday I'll be picking up a 21" Agop Traditional Jazz Ride in exchange for a Paiste I have so I'll post an update with the new cymbal then.

Garvin. I've been bowing cymbals for years. Came across the idea during a discussion with a Jazz-playing friend of mine and turned it into something of a trademark when I was at University. I probably ought to pick up a Viola or Cello bow for added effect but I get actual, pure notes from some of my cymbals.
 
I'm certainly liking the vibe. That kick reminds me of the old Club Date ('cept English). I bet that's got a nice, warm tone to it.​
 
vanity is good for drum kits. Nice kit. I love its class, simplicity and overall 'woodiness'. The lugs on the toms are cool and I am a big fan of unmatched drums in general.
 
Great kit! No silliness like double pedals. Just straight-ahead stripped-down classiness.

While it is Frankensteined, I never would have known. You have matched the finishes well. But I can tell now with the different lugs.

Notable how you have a ride on the left. So you have no crash? Very unusual to put a ride there except on a jazz set. Your hats are also exceedingly high.

Is the finish natural?
 
I like it! Small but nice. Plus it has a Guru snare.

How does bowing a cymbal work? Do you have to use one hand to hold the cymbal at the edge and bow it at the opposite edge?
 
Notable how you have a ride on the left. So you have no crash? Very unusual to put a ride there except on a jazz set. Your hats are also exceedingly high.

Duncan was saying on another thread that the Bliss cymbal is very thin and have a tasty dark crash.

Nice Frankie, Duncan. Wood finishes always look great.
 
Love it! I'll bet it's an absolute joy to play. Thank you for sharing.
 
Real classy kit, I wouldn't even know it was a frankenstein kit if you didn't mention it.

IMHO,your snare is at quite an angle though...are you using the trad grip?
 
Very cool kit Duncan :)

I'll join Bo's comment, can we hear this lovely kit? ...including some nice bowing on those cymbals?
 
Right!

Sound clips may appear at some point. To be honest, I'm very self-conscious about my playing so I tend to skirt this issue, despite having a recording rig! I tend to use it for practice purposes - monitoring my playing using the mics with isolating headphones on. Nevertheless something may appear soon. I have some plans to put up some covers but it all depends on my mental state on that day. I'm a little...fractured at the moment.

Bob, I am using traditional grip about 80% of the time at the moment. I switch between grips in the middle of songs without even realising it so trying to focus on one grip made me switch the snare to this angle. I can still play it matched without many problems but although the angle looks steep - it's really not. I used to play with a much steeper angle.

Arky, bowing cymbals is a case of either having a wingnut on fairly tight or using a hand to hold the bell. I choose to hold the bell most of the time because depending on the hand position I use, I can get different sounds out of the cymbal. Like I said earlier I can get actual notes from these cymbals with the right grip and bow angle. I need to find my rosin. It's probably in the violin case! That makes a huge difference too. Bowing is mainly a matter of practice; I've been doing it for a few years.

Martin. The finish on the toms I think is a stain over the ash. That's how it came from the factory some eight years ago. The bass drum is a wood oil I used (I forget which one, probably Danish) which stained it a few shades darker than it was originally. I do have thread on here on the staining process and the look of the drum before I re-finished it. The shine is a light French polish - about six coats of shellac with light buffing between layers. Not difficult at all but it is a little delicate. Either the shell will age with the polish or I will re-apply it.

Regarding the cymbals, I sold my crash for the 20" Dream Bliss about four months ago. I had a Sabian AAX Studio Crash and sold it for exactly the same money as my Dream. It functions well as a big, dark crash. All of the cymbals that I use regularly are 20", although I'm trading a 20" Paiste for a 21" Agop on Wednesday. I can't wait. I love bigger cymbals and now most crash cymbals sound weak. I find that having larger cymbals - especially thinner cymbals - lets me extract more voices and tones from one cymbal but I find that crashes - particularly smaller crashes - tend to have fewer tones available. I'm a total cymbal nut in all reality and as long as my snare is nice, then I don't really care about the drums I'm using!
 
For those of you that haven't totally switched off yet, here are a few pictures of the bass drum as I received it. The shell was about £15 and the hardware another £20 - if I recall correctly. The materials for re-finishing were much more expensive! About nine hours of work in total over the pictures you see.
 

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