Can a warped drum be fixed?

hanman

Senior Member
I have a 1976 Ludwig floor tom that I just got the bottom hardware for, and it's clear the drum is slightly warped.

The resonant head will not sit on the drum!

What can I do?!
 
I may be wrong but I don't think there's anything you can do that's cost effective or even possible.

Anything I can think of in my head seems to point toward replacing the shell.

If you're up for it, you can by a shell and remove everything from the tom (hardware, badge, etc) and use it to make a new one. The wrap or finish might be a challenge but I think that's the only way to get a decent or even great sounding drum.

When a drum shell is warped it becomes very limited at what you can do with it and at best it's a monkey on your back when you need to focus on playing the drums instead of maintaining them.

Jim
 
Does the head go on it? If so, can you tune it? If the drum sounds good then play away!

I had an issue where a reso head would not go on the drum so I re-did the edge with the warp in mind. It worked out and the drum sounds great. It was a '61 Maple/Poplar/Mahogany Slingerland.
 
I have a 1976 Ludwig floor tom that I just got the bottom hardware for, and it's clear the drum is slightly warped.

The resonant head will not sit on the drum!

What can I do?!

Aquarian American Vintage drum heads are made oversized compared to modern heads and might work here.Another thing you could try is notching the collar of the head at 12,3,6,and 9 o'clock,with a hack saw,just enough as to not cut the drum head.I have done this over the years with warped or oversized drums and it works very well.

Steve B
 
Aquarian American Vintage drum heads are made oversized compared to modern heads and might work here.Another thing you could try is notching the collar of the head at 12,3,6,and 9 o'clock,with a hack saw,just enough as to not cut the drum head.I have done this over the years with warped or oversized drums and it works very well.

Steve B

Not too sure about this,.. but you could try it.

How is the drum warped? Is it out of round?
 
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