A Project

wildbill

Platinum Member
This thread about working on beginner sets came up while I was doing a project:
so if Liam sees it, he can see what's involved in it for me.

I play 18 and 20" bass drums, but wanted to get another inexpensive 22 with 10 lugs to work on.
Vintage stuff is good, but while I paid too much for this set, it was still less than what I see those type bass drums go for.

Anyways - here goes - it'll be a lengthy thread.

The set I got had a 22x18" BD drum, so the first thing I wanted to do was cut it down to 22x14.
1_18 - Copy.JPG



I used a table saw for that, but it could also be done by hand:
2_saw - Copy.JPG



I wanted to clear all the holes, so it ended up at 22x13.75
3_cut - Copy.JPG



After you make the cut, you've got a somewhat ragged edge that needs to be squared up.
Rotating the drums in both directions on a flat surface covered with sandpaper will do the trick:
4_Square up - Copy.JPG


New holes had to be drilled for the lugs - I didn't take pics of that, but just used a carpenter square.
If you do it, mark it off before you make the cut. You can use the existing holes to ensure that the
new ones are lined up straight with the old.

After you've got a true, flat edge, you can put a bearing edge on it. A router and table are needed for that.
On the bass drum, I did a full round over on the batter side, and rounded the outside of the reso side
while leaving the inner 45. Did the same round/45 on the top and bottom of the toms - 9 cuts total.
I used a 1/4" round over for the bit:
5_Routing - Copy.JPG


The wood inside was typical for lower price sets. I've found it to be a bit soft and porous and have had good
experiences with using wood hardener, so I gave it a coat of that - raw and hardened:
6_No Stain - Copy.jpg7_hardener - Copy.jpg


It didn't darken up as much as normal, so I decided to layer a couple coats of stain over that:

8_Stain 1 coat - Copy.JPG9_Stain2 - Copy.JPG


During the drying times, I cleaned up the hardware with chrome cleaner, gave it a coat of wax,
and lubed up all threads/inserts - no pics of that.



The set was blue transparent stain, but I didn't care for that and planned on painting it.
It was in good shape, so I didn't have to go through the major pain of stripping it,
and was able to just sand/wet sand it down a bit and give it a coat of primer:
10_Prime - Copy.JPG




Pic limit reached - to be continued:
 
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I used a water based matte black acrylic paint, and gave it a clear coat with a minimal amount of very fine sparkles mixed in.
It's pretty subtle, and only shows in stronger light.

The small air compressor I used was just barely able to handle the job.
I used an automotive spray gun with a nozzle large enough to handle small sparkle/flakes.

11_paint - Copy.jpg12_hoops - Copy.jpg


That's about as far as I'll be taking it for now. They sound about as good as any I've heard and look OK:
13_done - Copy.jpg


But for Liam's post about making money off of beginner sets, this is why I say it wouldn't pay for me.
Tools, materials, experience and quite a bit of time :eek: can be involved.

This was done just because I enjoy it, had a specific goal I was aiming for, and I don't plan to sell them any time soon. :love:
 
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I didn’t go nearly that far with my Ludwig resto, but it was such a big job just to strip the two shells I did, and frankly the rack (which I did first) was so much work that I tolexed right over the wrap on the floor tom. Alas, nothing I could do about the bass drum as it had an aftermarket wrap that was coming loose.

What I thought was going to be a lot of fun turned out to be way more work than I bargained for, and though I ended up with a nifty looking kit that, despite my poor trimming around the bearing edges, I’m very proud of it, it’ll be a cold day in Hell before I ever do it again.
 
But for Liam's post about making money off of beginner sets, this is why I say it wouldn't pay for me.
Tools, materials, experience and quite a bit of time :eek: can be involved.

This was done just because I enjoy it, had a specific goal I was aiming for, and I don't plan to sell them any time soon. :love:
For me the tools aren’t an issue, I was just curious if it was possible to make money from fixing and selling kits.
 
I didn’t go nearly that far with my Ludwig resto, but it was such a big job just to strip the two shells I did, and frankly the rack (which I did first) was so much work that I tolexed right over the wrap on the floor tom. Alas, nothing I could do about the bass drum as it had an aftermarket wrap that was coming loose.

What I thought was going to be a lot of fun turned out to be way more work than I bargained for, and though I ended up with a nifty looking kit that, despite my poor trimming around the bearing edges, I’m very proud of it, it’ll be a cold day in Hell before I ever do it again.

I did one older Ludwig shell that was glued all the way around, and it was a ridiculous amount of work.
I also ruined a Yamaha set that had the same glue issue.
Won't touch those glued shells again unless they're in good enough shape to just paint or throw a wrap on.

Stripping and sanding can also be a horrible mess. I'd avoid that if possible.
On this current project, I picked a set that would avoid having to deal with the stuff I like least.
 
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That's pretty amazing Wildbill (my interdimensional friend lol) that's a lot of hands on work with minimal tools, but makes a nice hobby and if outcome even half decent well worth the effort in my book. I've done my share of sanding and stripping-and I learned real quick wear a mask and goggles-and gloves if chemical stripping. That bearing edge work is pretty amazing you pulled that off. How many kits have you done over years?
 
For me the tools aren’t an issue, I was just curious if it was possible to make money from fixing and selling kits.
I don't think beginner sets will get you making "much" money. There's just so little margin for profit. Finding tattered old vintage drums, you stand a much better chance of actually making some cash. There's a guy I follow on IG, Woodpeckers.drums ..... in Barcelona, does pretty fantastic work.
 
A whole different ball game compared to low cost, beginner drums:
Yes ..... that's why I said "I don't think beginner sets will get you making "much" money. There's just so little margin for profit. Finding tattered old vintage drums, you stand a much better chance of actually making some cash.";)
 
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