Despite the promise of copious medical gore, there is none. But promise fulfilled, I will literally take a saw to a commercially made drum shell.
The story is, I was contacted by the owner of the bubinga drum kit, who knew a guy that wanted to have his kick drum shortened. See, big kick drums make big booooooooms. Lots of resonance, lots of attention, and big kick drums look great in magazine ads. Just look at any fitness magazine (the guys have big biceps, let's keep it friendly) and you get the idea that selling sizzle with the steak applies to musical instruments, too.
As drummers refine their playing a little more, the big cannons start showing some sonic warts. A big kick takes just a split second longer for the wave from the batter side of the drum (where the pedal-actuated beater strikes the head) to the resonant side of the shell (wot points at the audience, and resonates.) By shortening the shell, the drum has the feeling of being faster, where the reso head responds more quickly. The sound is balanced, with less booooooom and more thuMP.
So my customer wanted to bob his kick drum, taking a 22" diameter x 20" long shell down to about 14" in length - a 30% reduction. For those keeping track at home, Mr John Bonham of Led Zeppelin was famous for a 26" dia x 14" deep shell, and a short kick didn't hurt his music career at all.
So, let's get started.
Our project drum. He's a big fellah. 6 plies of maple.
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This is the drum in its "war" position. Spurs extended, and the resonant head of the drum (resplendent with the Ludwig logo) looking viciously at the audience, as vicious as a green, sparkly drum can possibly look. The surgery will take place at the reso side of the shell, I'm not going to cut the batter side at all.
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Everything comes off the shell.
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Ya know how sometimes a big, furry dog looks all skinny when they're soaking wet during a bath, and the hair is matted down? No. This is still a big dog.
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Best move of the project. After removing all the metal, I gave a good inspection to the shell, and photo-documented any prior scratches and dings. Before doing any work, I emailed the photos to the customer. It's a little touch that I think will save big aggravation later.
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Laying out the lines for where to cut. The two heavy lines represent 14" and 15" lengths. I'll get somewhere between there.
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