PDP Drumkit Upgrade

Basher

Junior Member
Just thought Id share some pics of the upgrade project to my PDP MX kit. After years of gigging and traveling abuse, it was time to give em some TLC and a new look. Originally an emerald fade oil finish, I decided to go with a Curly Maple Fade finish from Bum Wrap Drum Co. They are very high-end looking wraps and are easy to work with. I also added S-Hoops on tops of all toms and on both sides of the snare. Love these hoops. Heavy-duty, easy to tune, and cross-sticks and rimshots on the snare are very crisp and even. Love em! I outfitted the snare with Evans HD Dry on batter and Orchestral 300 on the reso. I also added the Puresound Custom Pro snare wire system. Toms got Hydraulic Glass batters and Resonant Black Resos. Kick has the EQ 3 system with Inked by Evans speaker design reso. Also, when I wrapped the kick I wrapped over the tom mount holes and did not cut out the holes. For one, I never use it anyway and I also wanted a "virgin" kick look. Plus, it is unbelievably punchier now! Very focused and controlled. I will slowly beef up my hardware as well, starting with the hi-hat stand and snare stand. I'm leaning towards the Mapex Armory line for this upgrade. All drums also received the Hendrix sleeved washers to limit metal to metal contact. Kick batter will have a new natural finish oil-based drum hoop as the old one cracked. here's some pics. Hope you like the new look!













 
Wow. I hate wraps and fake wood-look anything, but that is pretty gorgeous. WAY better than the Pearl (or was it OCDP?) I saw at guitar center a while ago that had very fake-looking wood wraps. Good call and good job.

But the illusion of having a speaker in your bass drum is somewhat lessened by the 4" hole =)
 
Thanks for the compliments everyone. As usual, they look much better in person than these lame phone pics. The contrast in the wood where it gets brighter towards the top almost has a smoky fire effect to it. Very cool for a wrap. Now I just gotta upgrade my hardware to go with it.
Jankowske- You got a point about the 4" hole degrading the effect of the "speaker", but at the time I was gigging a lot and needed the hole to mic the kick. I've since switched to the Kelly Shu system, so it's all internal now. I'm thinking of maybe going with a Fibyrskin - type reso for a more classy, retro look. The one that looks like parchment paper.
Bo- I took my time doing these. Overall it took 2-3 days to get everything back together. I used a combination of painters tape and spring clamps while wrapping to keep everything nice and tight. The kick was especially tricky, but it turned out great. Looks like a brand new kit now.
Time to go rock 'em!
 
Like this one?

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Pic's not that great...looks great in person, though!

That's my new diplomat, and before that I had the powerstroke ambassador. That one was a whole lot of thick head. I would definitely recommend the diplomat (whick I'm pretty sure also comes in a powerstroke, if you're into that sort of thing.)

How do you like your kelly shu mount? I was considering that and the may monorail, or just making something janky myself.
 
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