DIY gong drum

jornthedrummer

Silver Member
I want a gong drum and was thinking to build one myself.

I guess I can get a used 20" shell on ebay and a 22" hoop, but can anyone point me to lugs and holders that would work for this?
I would like to mount the drum in my Pearl Icon rack as well as have some kind of suspension system(RIMS).

Alternatively who offers a new one for a reasonable cost?

Does it make a big difference to the sound to make the head 2" oversize?
The project obviously gets easier if just a 20" bass drum can be used.

Another option could be to put some tom holders on a Pearl 20"x14" marching bass drum.

Help me guys!
 
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Well, gong drums with oversized heads don't have normal hoops and lugs, so you won't be able to use a regular kick drum or tom hoop.

I don't know what Tama claims the advantages of the oversized head is, but all other brands that offer gong bass drums use the appropriate size heads. I think you'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you go that route instead.

Tama+Gong+Bass+Drum.gif
 
Pearl's gong bass is just a single-headed bass drum on brackets (or floor tom legs; I'm sure they offer them that way). I would stick with a 20" shell, as I have turned the occasional 22" into a gong drum and all I got was dead tone and severely dented heads. Maybe a 20" would be a bit more cooperative. The counterhoop should be a wood bass hoop cut down to a 1-inch depth so you're not busting your knuckles against it. 20-inch triple flange hoops exist, but the drum MUST use tom lugs instead of bass lugs, and I have heard that 20" BD heads don't fit well into them, so you would have to specify 20" TOM heads, which may limit your options with Remo and Evans.

For rack and suspension mounting, I would try a pair of Gibraltar's 3-point mounting plates mounted opposite each other, as long as they can reach the larger spacing between lugs.
 
I'm thinking of building one too. I have a 16" floor tom shell and want to turn it into a gong drum. Small, but that is the point. Out fit the 16" shell with an 18" head. the problem as with everyone, where to get some parts. Does anyone have any idea where we can go about getting these parts? Also I'm calling this thing a prototype and we'll see how good it'll work. Always thought it would be cool to have one of these incorporated into the drumkit!!!
 
Pearl's gong bass is just a single-headed bass drum on brackets (or floor tom legs; I'm sure they offer them that way). I would stick with a 20" shell, as I have turned the occasional 22" into a gong drum and all I got was dead tone and severely dented heads. Maybe a 20" would be a bit more cooperative. The counterhoop should be a wood bass hoop cut down to a 1-inch depth so you're not busting your knuckles against it. 20-inch triple flange hoops exist, but the drum MUST use tom lugs instead of bass lugs, and I have heard that 20" BD heads don't fit well into them, so you would have to specify 20" TOM heads, which may limit your options with Remo and Evans.

For rack and suspension mounting, I would try a pair of Gibraltar's 3-point mounting plates mounted opposite each other, as long as they can reach the larger spacing between lugs.

Exactly, Pearl & Drum Workshop use same drum head size as the shell size inch. I also wanna have a gong drum that match my stainless steel kit. I want a 28 inch drum (Pearl style, i think) but legs is cooler and more easy to handle etc i gues(not so much space) etc . Do ya guys think that a 28 ich gong drum would be great, sound etc?
 
I have a 16x20 DW Gong drum back from about 96' when they weren't available. My dealer convinced them to build me one as they were making them for Nick Mason at the time. It uses BD lugs that are positioned one "space" further away from the bearing edge than normal. this allows the swivel/receiver nuts in the lugs to angle out and let the claws hook on the edge of the 22" head. This set up works great and the drum sounds HUGE. However, find me the gig that warrants taking it out of my house.lol.
FWIW, I converted to floor tom legs as the other hanging set-up is a royal pain.
 
Gonna get in trouble but the oversize head concept is to emulate the tympani setup, which has proven to increase resonance. If you're denting your gong drum head you're doing it wrong. A gong drum will never produce the volume of your other toms. Hitting them harder doesn't solve it LOL.
 
In the past and at special order DW used the orignal gong size. 20” with a 22” head.

I had two of these last year by accident.

This one (2001) was made for Marco Minneman:
1629834716599.jpeg

And this one (1993) for Gary Wallis when he diPink Floyd:
1629834781379.jpeg

Gary took the idea from Tama (his brand before he went to DW, Nick Mason switched from Ludwig to DW at the same time).
 
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