Purple maple 13 x 7 stave drum

[Seth Dolcourt]

Hi, Creekers,

Time for another snare drum build. I was requested by a local drum store manager to build him a 13 x 7 maple snare drum, as I've shown him my previous work.

Here is a synopsis of the build so far, kind of a whirlwind progression. I'm not showing my usual step by step, so if you're a first time viewer of a stave drum build, yes...there is a bunch of magic that isn't documented here. I do have other threads where I'm much more detailed, and verbose.

To the shop!

A long maple plank, cut up into sections.

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The individual staves are ripped from the sections. For a 16 stave shell, the staves will need to measure 2.6" wide, and have a 11.25 degree bevel on each edge.

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Flashing ahead, stave were milled, dry fitted, and glued. Stainless steel furnace band clamps excel with holding together a barrel shape with plenty of clamping squeeze.

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Out of the clamps.

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The outside is turned. I have a shop-made jig that I custom built for making drums, which uses a router as the cutting tool. A separate jig executes turning the inside.

This tube is nearly 12" tall, and I used a Japanese style pull saw to cut the shell down to 7". The off-cut will become a 13 x 4" piccolo snare drum, so careful sizing of a drum shell can yield 2-for-1.

maple_out_turn1.jpg

[Seth Dolcourt]

Really flashing forward, let's presume all the sanding and whatnot was done. The shell was handed over to a painter, for some pizazz.

Yeah, this is not Craftsman or Mission style. It's called a fade. Color is a mix of 2 tones, a raspberry type purple and a dark blue. The paint is House of Kolor kandy, and the painter said this was a challenging project to get the color he wanted onto bare wood.

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The painter who did the work dubbed the shell "Grape Kool Aid." And so it shall be called.

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I need to wait another few days before wet sanding and polishing, then the fun can begin to put chrome plated drum hardware on the shell, and deliver it.

June 11, that's the projected date to put the drum into the hands of the customer. Thanks for looking.

[Mark Crenshaw]

Seth, that is beautiful! It looks like it's translucent and lit from within. Stunning!

Peace,
Mark

[Seth Dolcourt]

Thanks, Mark.

The painter is himself a drum specialist; his livelihood is making, painting and selling drums. He has other work that spans boisterous red kandy over silver marblizer base to a subdued white, semi-transparent satin, so he has a huge range of color emotions.

One other thing he did for this shell was lay down some shellac to give some shimmer, then put on the kandy. The transparency of the kandy offers a peek-a-boo to the dancing grain underneath.

My 14 year old son wants a maple drum kit; guess what he wants as a finish? Yeah, this shell pegged a 9.65 on the Teen Jealousy Meter.

[Seth Dolcourt]

Ever have one of those days where you start off talking to your cup of morning coffee just how much you'll accomplish today, and you mutter into your evening tea that man, not a lot got done.

Today sure felt like that.

To the shop!

1200 grit 3M Stick it. Uses PSA, not hook and loop. Gonna use this to dry-sand the shell. While the PSA does stick to the hook 'n loop pad of my little RO, it's not the best solution.

polish_0.jpg


Hard to tell, but I've used 3M 77 spray adhesive to bond the abrasive side of a sanding disk to a layer of 1/16" thick cork. The loop side of the disk grabs the hooks on the pad, and the PSA of the Stick It...sticks to the cork.

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The subject of future attention.

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The Stick It does a fabulous job on automotive polyurethane, which is the top coat of this drum. The job goes very quickly, the 3M abrasive really knocks down the orange peel; basically, I don't think you have to wet sand with 1500 and 2000. The finish shown is completely satin and level, ready for polishing.

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My polishing recipe. See, Harbor Freight is good for some things, in this case a 9" wool and 9" foam pads that fit my Harbor Freight 7" polisher.

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Learned some good lessons on this shell. I needed to boost the RPMs of the polisher, and used more polishing compound. Automotive poly urethane can take the beating, whereas lacquer needs a more gentle hand. Generally, not a bad job. Nice and wet and shiny.

polish_4.jpg

[Seth Dolcourt]

Time to edge and bed.


After the polishing, I finally get to remove the tape and masking that protected the inside of the shell. The poly urethane did have a little build up on the slivers of the bearing edge where the green tape didn't quite cover. Some revolutions on the sanding table - really a 1.5" thick melamine lab bench with 150 grit paper stuck to it - ground down the build up and erased any tape gunk.

edge_1.jpg


Protecting the polished drum from the ball bearing pilot of a 45 degree chamfer bit. I make a small chamfer on the outside of the drum, then a much larger chamfer on the inside. You'll see....

edge_2.jpg


I've completed the outside and inside chamfers, time to make the depressions in the bearing edges for the snare beds. Here is my quick 'n dirty bed jig. I'll be cutting a 5.5" long sweep, 1/8" at its deepest.

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Close up of the bearing edge (with the inside chamfer) and the snare bed. Where the outside and inside chamfers meet, it's about 1/32". That's the entire surface that the drum head will contact.

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Today was a gray and rainy day, but as I started to lay out the drilling for lugs and such, the sun came out and illuminated the gorgeous color of the drum. I took that as an indicator to stop, clean up, and go have dinner. Layout and drilling will be done tomorrow.

Thanks for looking!

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[Seth Dolcourt]

Let's finish it!

Laid out the holes that I need to drill for lugs, strainer, butt and vent hole. After all the drilling, I wiped the shell down with some magic polish given to me by the painter, applied with a microfiber cloth. It cleaned up all the random adhesive from the blue painter's tape and other whatnot.

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Assembly begins. Lugs are from Drum Foundry, the strainer, right there in the middle, is DW.

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All heads are on, buttoned up.

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In the snare basket, ready for delivery.

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Here is a quick video of my son playing it. Sound quality is meh, but you get the idea. It's a great, great sounding drum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB5CAHPDnhA

Thanks for looking!

[Tim Mahoney]

Interesting pics. I like your choice of colors. What does "meh" mean? For us musicians, sound is everything and then what it looks like. It's nice to learn about what others are making that we take for granted. Beautiful work.

[Seth Dolcourt]

Hi, Tim,

The purple was a request from the customer, he just digs purple. When we were talking about a drum for him, he was a lot more animated about a purple drum than a natural finish. I gave the painter some general impressions, he developed the actual color ratio from two base colors; one was a rose/cabernet type purple, the other was a blue. The mix is approx 25% blue, 75% the other.

Meh = not so impressive, could be better, it'll have to do. Saying "meh" is accompanied by shrugging the shoulders. The Canon S90 I use to take pictures is a great little camera, and for video mode, it captures voice just fine. Drums put out a lot more sound pressure, and camera mics are not well situated for it; I'm sensing compression, where the mic and software are attempting to equalize soft and loud dynamics.

[Nauman Shafique]

I never imagined I could make such a drum on my own. Thanks for sharing these instructive pics. I am thinking of giving this a shot. I hope it turns out as good as yours did!