A new matching snare drum for my kit

I recently bought an additional snare drum from TradeMe.

The listing read:

"This drum started it's life as a Pearl Free floating shell - was converted to a snare by Bruce King using 16 Slingerland lugs. It has COB hoops and except for not having a zoomatic strainer, looks exactly like the real thing. In excellent condition. Fitted with coated pointsripe and active snare system. Comes with a hard case (a hard plastic briefcase which is converted to a drum case).















This is a very nice snare drum, so I decided to sell my Yamaha Stage custom 14 x 5 inch.
Here's the original catalog image from 1973.

Link to more information about the Buddy Rich 4 x 14 inch snare.






















Now my kit looks integrated with snare and toms matching the Maple hoops of the bass drum and most importantly it sounds great.

Now that Julie and I have moved house we have set up a large music studio in the loft with plenty of rehearsal room.

My Cahon and I have a live gig

Richard Adams Nigel Gavin

Last Friday night Julie and I traveled to Kerikeri to meet up with Nigel Gavin and Richard Adams for a performance at the Marsden Estate Winery.

Nigel and Richard opened the evening with a couple of ethereal pieces before inviting me to sit in with them (literally) on my cajon.

We blended well, very quickly, with the cajon directly plugged into the PA system.
Plenty of bass, very little midrange and a tiny bit of treble gave us a very commanding drum sound in the mix. The AKG mike does the business again.

I had a blast, the audience did too!

Vintage Ludwig bass drum pedal restored

The bass drum pedal project is finally at a stage where I've been able to attach it to my old bass drum and get a feel for how it plays.




















I designed a different pedal to beater link from the original link rod.
After noticing the wear caused by the rod link to all the three connecting pivot holes in the brass castings of the foot plate and the fulcrum beater clamp, I decided to bolt a pin through the pivot holes. I then fabricated a stainless steel bow strap. All the tension and friction is now transferred to the pins which distribute the load and the wear to replaceable components.
Every modification I have made is reversible in the event that this old pedal becomes a museum piece at some future time.



















Now that I've secured the leather beater to the shaft there are now no loose parts and the pedal plays noiselessly. I installed a new spring in the pedal post and tensioned it to my liking.

Surprisingly the pedal plays very well. It takes some getting used to as the foot plate is relatively short by comparison to the modern pedal that I have been playing. The short foot plate means that only the ball of my foot fits on it. Keeping my heel on the floor the pedal is relatively lively and responsive. The beater is lighter than my modern felt one which means it has less mass and will therefore alter direction more quickly.



















I have come to like the aged look of this pedal so I've decided not to nickel plate it after all. Some of the steel components are quite badly pitted with corrosion so I have simply wire brushed these items and coated them with boiled linseed oil.

My Cajon has a microphone

Last week I fitted my AKG C411L active microphone into my Cajon.

This mic is designed for stringed instruments, in my case I had used it in my one string skiffle bass for around 10 years but I have found that it is also suited to the tonality of the cajon.

As always placing it in the sweet spot is the secret to getting a good sound.
















The AKG, 9 v phantom power supply and preamp fits neatly against the outside left panel of the box attached by velcro strips. The 1/4" Jack plug from the amp plugs into the the microphone power supply control box. The mic output lead is connected via a 3 pin Cannon plug set into the box back panel, that way I can remove all the exterior gear when not in use and transfer it to my one string bass which has the same mic set up.




















In my cajon I found that the microphone sounds best placed just above the port at the rear of the box. The microphone is secured with contact gum inside the cabinet at the 11.00 o'clock position at the inside rim of the port.

Played through my 50 watt Jansen Bassman tube amp with its 4 x 12" speaker quad box it sounds huge and very convincingly kick drum and snare like.

Drum kit complete

That's it I'm ready to go.

The fiberskyn arrived in the mail from Auckland along with a new 14" 6 lug rim.

The Tomtom was an old pearl export shell which had been modified to take floor tom mounts by my old friend Tony Parker.

Tony had removed the original wrap and unsuccessfully attempted to stain the maple shell.
I sanded the shell back to the bare wood and laminated a plug to fill the hole left by the removal of the metal bass drum mount. I then finished the shell with a number of coats of boiled linseed oil. The plug infill looked a bit obvious to me so I selected a copper penny that I have been keeping and soldered a brass stud to the head side, sorry Elizabeth! The coin is a New Zealand penny from the year of my birth, 1957.














I found a chrome bezel from an old door lock set and set the coin into the bezel, a perfect fit, then screwed the assembly through a small hole drilled in the plug. The whole thing has concealed my repair and looks like it was meant to be there.

The hardware went back on after which I fitted the new skins and tuned them.
I tune my tom skins equal tension top and bottom.

Harmen's drumkit virtually complete

Ok so now all that's left to be done is to obtain a second 14" bottom hoop for my recently acquired floor tom tom. I'll purchase one more Fiberskyn for a head and relocate the emperor.

Last night I painted the Chief's head on to the front head of my old bass drum. This image featured on my old childhood tent when I was just 10 years of age. I've always loved the simplicity of it.















Here are some photos of my kit layout.













Drums:
Ludwig 24 inch Aero Kraft bass drum, calf skin heads, floating tension rods, vintage Japanese (speed king copy) pedal.
14" Yamaha Stage Custom snare, ambassador coated head.
14" vintage, maple shell, Olympic snare drum converted to a free standing tom tom, Fiberskyn head.
14" Vintage, maple shell, Pearl floor tom tom.
Meinl 14" high hats on a 2000 series Sonor stand.
Meinl 16" medium crash cymbal mounted on an extension from the hi hat stand.
Sabian 21" AA medium ride mounted on a vintage Premier cymbal stand.
Wa Lee cut down, china bell, splash mounted on a bass drum rim bracket.
RythmTech wood block and two cowbells, bass drum rim mounted.

Vintage Ludwig Logo

I've just finished roughing out a vintage Ludwig logo for my old 1930 Ludwig bass drum.









This logo is similar to one that features on the Aero Kraft label that I found inside the drum.
I do this all free hand the same way I used to do when I was a sign writer and graphic artist in the 1970's and 80's because I have no skill with any computer graphic program.

Next step is to pounce the logo on to the calf skin and paint it on.

I'm still deciding on whether to paint a graphic on the whole skin or not.

I've seen some beautiful vintage, bass drum skin graphics that strongly tempt me to do it.

More later.

I found a 16 inch Meinl medium crash cymbal this week to add to my collection of bits and pieces. I now only have to pick up a 14 inch floor tom tom and a cymbal stand from a friend next month and I have the whole set up complete. I can't wait!

Once it's all together I'll set it up and take some images with my cymbal set up and post it all on this blog.

Harmen