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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
 Posted - 02/07/2012 : 18:05:00
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http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/NickSayle/Drums/DSCF3536.jpg
I was very particular as to how I wanted my snare to look and sound and the only thing that came close was the Ludwig reissue/repro. As they are nearly £1800 plus shipping the the UK I went about making one. It wasn't cheap to build as the shell is seamless nickel on brass and the lugs are not those thin tube seven quid a go things that everyone seems to be selling. The throw came from the States as did the damper. The hoops are standard Sonor single flange solid brass as are the claws. The rods will need replacing as they are only plated. It sounds amazing, very bright and open, perfect for giving a bit of clarity when playing with brushes. I'm really please with it as a first attempt |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 18:18:18
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Hello, ding dong!
Very nice indeed. One very minor criticism: it might just be perspective, but the angle of the tension rods looks slightly out, perhaps the lugs could be spaced out very slightly to get them in line.
Edit: when I say spaced, actually more like shimmed! |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 18:25:48
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| The easy fix rather than an ugly washer would be to file the clips slightly to narrow the overall pcd. It's only a few thou and preferable to washers. The head isn't seated as well as it could be either, perhaps I could look at that first. If all fails, I will do some sums and get some spacers made |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 18:32:10
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| I was only being picky! It looks great, I doubt the angle will have any affect at all on the sound. Great piece of work. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 18:40:15
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Be picky!! It's the only way to make things right! I have just been looking at the way the claws seat on the top of the hoops. The hoop is a lot squarer than the rad of the claw and the inside vertical section of the claw is hard up against the side wall of the hoop. A bit of fettling to the claws is in order or it will be wrong in my eyes.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/NickSayle/Drums/DSCF3538.jpg |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 19:07:36
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| The outside square edge/corner of the hoop is up against the curve of the inside of the hoop. If you got a needle file and rounded off the outside corner of the hoop exactly where it meets the inside of the hook that should bring hook inwards enough, without weakening the hooks, and spread the force better and it would be concealed by the hook sat over it. If you need a little bit more, a needle file on the inside edge of the hooks' bolt holes would also let the bolts sit square. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 19:11:12
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| of course!! that's it. There is no rad inside the hook!! simple |
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Spart
Advanced Contributer
649 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 21:52:00
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Good Evening,
That looks mighty classy, if a shade "bling" for my own new puritanism.
Might I ask where you got the shell from? And what it cost... ? Hope that is not too vulgar!
Spart |
Scouring the known universe for... A 14x14 Premier floor in Silver Star. |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2012 : 22:28:46
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| The shell is a prototype cob made by Worldmax for Ludwig. All the Ludwig Black Magic and LM302ssnares are made by Worldmax in the far east. Originally the plan was to spin lathe seamless shells but it was too costly and time consuming. The Black Magic snares are butt welded now as are the new Worldmax drums but the first run of 50 odd drums where spun turned and seamless. I bought this some time ago, sold it once and bought it back as a bare shell. The total built cost was about 300 compared to about 1800 for the Ludwig repro that is now in production. It might be a bit bling for me as well but will look better once it's been in the garden for a few weeks |
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Jon Petersen
Advanced Contributer
Denmark
1768 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2012 : 09:30:15
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Right, out in the rain with it.
Jon |
I TRY to tell myself I already have what I want..... |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2012 : 23:11:06
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| I have now honed and fettled the hooks. Not with a needle file as would be the norm. I fitted a thin 9" cutting disk (one of those wafer thin diamond ones) to my bench grinder (guards removed, sod you health and safety, there was no other way) and cut a fine radius into the flat edge of the inside flat of the hooks. Only one shot across the garage at 100mph, but thankfully it didn't scratch it. The rods are now in line with the lugs with about 5thou extra gap to give me some alignment play. It took me all day as there are 20 of them but well worth the extra effort to make it right. I have now stripped the whole drum down as I am happy with the build and it's ready for engraving. Totally unnecessary but it's my drum and I want it to look fab! |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 08:18:45
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Excellent. Are you doing the engraving yourself?
The other thought that crosses my mind is that your drum might sound nice with a Vellum head or a Remo Skyntone. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 10:38:37
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I was going to try a fibre skin as it is very alive, It needs something being so bright. I play a lot with brushes
I have a friend who has done the artwork for the engraving but I doubt my skills are up to the task. |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 11:42:56
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For me nothing beats Vellum for swishing with wire brushes, and Eddie Ryan does a great job:
http://www.eddieryancustomdrums.co.uk/
Fiberskyns have a lot of attack and I like them a lot, but not really much like vellum! The coating does bubble up after a while and plays havoc with wire strands, so for a warm plastic head I thoroughly recommend Remo's fairly Skyntone heads, very warm. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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Th0mas25
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
8345 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 22:18:00
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Wow!! It looks fantastic Nick, great work and attention to detail! Really looking forward to seeing it once engraved. Yes I suppose it's kinda bling, but very classy bling indeed  |
http://bjornsdrums.webs.com/ |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 04/07/2012 : 23:30:22
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| Thank you. I have a precision engineering background. I did several different courses when I was about to leave the army and I really took to it. I got a degree in electronics but I blinked and I suddenly was totally out of date and as good as unemployable in the field. So "nose to the grind stone" really was my thing. I love the smell of hot metal and cutting coolants. Weird really, but I would give my back teeth to work in bronze casting. I am trying my best to de-bling it. The hoops are really quite horrible at the moment, just too clean. I think I am going to take the laquer off and let them weather outside while shell is being engraved, They have that machine turned look rather than hand polished and it sort of spoils them |
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gaz farrimond
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
11064 Posts |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 17:50:35
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My second snare drum build.
This utilises the hardware from a Ludwig Accent Custom snare drum with a single ply support hoops (carefully removed from an old Pearl snare) and a 3 ply maple shell. The hoops and internal shell were sanded finally with 1200 grit then given 6 or 7 coats of water bassed clear varnish. The wrap is Delmar Bermuda Sand from STdrums in Germany. The internal hoops were a perfect fit and were re cut along with the bearing edges. Total build cost £112. The P85 will be replaced the a chrome P86 when it arrives
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i56/NickSayle/Drums/DSCF3560.jpg |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 18:50:23
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| Very nice, but not as special looking as the other, that's NOT a criticism in any way! Like the Lokfast snare stand too, I still use quite a bit of Lokfast stuff, very elegant and compact. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 19:01:06
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| This was a bit of a throw together job but I did take a lot of care on the internal and external finish. It sounds ok and looks quite good with the rest of the kit. All my stands are Lokfast, I won't bother with anything else. About a week ago I managed to pick up 2 straight stands that looked unused £20 each!!. I've always played a 252 as well, that will never change now. I've been through all the high end Jap stuff and they just don't do it for me. |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 19:20:58
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| Well it certainly does NOT look like a thrown together job, probably - dare I say it - rather better made than many a Ludwig! It does look good and no doubt sounds just as good. Yup, several 250s and a 252 still at work here. When I was in a Goth band in the 80s and had a heavy Eddie Ryan kit I had to move to bigger oriental stands, but now my old Lokfarts and a couple newly added ones are back in use. I actually use a number of them to display my kits, no use in having a compact kit if you have to carry big hardware! |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 20:06:13
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I remember your array of Lokfast stands, they just look fab!! The only thing I don't like about the Lokfast stands is the snare basket itself. I am trying to find a snare basket with a 3/4" shaft so I can keep the base section but have a more stable top. I might have to turn to a bit of lathe work (no pun intended) I must re-vist the 250s, I always remember them being so fast and far superior in feel to the squeaky speedking.
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 20:24:49
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| Yup, the snare basket is the Achilles heel in the range, it's alright but you loose your angle on fold up and if you invert it the two smaller arms flop down and that T bolt to do up the long arm is a bit naff. The 250s is very fast, but people used to solid modern pedals cannot get used to how wobbly it feels until you get the technique for it. I also have 2 or 3 of the old offset stools too. It makes me smile a bit when so many people here complain about their throne wobbling or unscrewing...those old Prems wobble like hell! I fell off a couple of times and it did take me a while to get the hang of my first one as previously I had used a cut-down kitchen stool! Once I got used to it I found "locked" ones feel very restrictive! Nothing's right or wrong, just what you get used to. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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drummerNick
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
855 Posts |
Posted - 25/07/2012 : 20:59:54
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| A couple of years ago when playing in a Latin fusion band in Marbella I started using a Cajon as a stool. It was the fashion there. It was great and very stable too. Saved me getting up and moving to a percussion set. Still love playing Cajon |
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Captain Bubble
Advanced Contributer
United Kingdom
14650 Posts |
Posted - 26/07/2012 : 08:15:32
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| I did a tour through mountain villages in Andalucia for a month, then down to the Costa Del Sol for a few days in about 1988 and on the Flamenco stage in Grazalema I first saw a Cajon in use. I had no idea it had a name, I just thought it was a box, but when I returned to UK I went around a few shops and asked around, but no-one knew what I was talking about. Very useful instruments, adding a few extras increases their versatility. |
Marcus de Mowbray
www.330studios.co.uk/marcus |
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