The closer I looked at them, the more I realized that I was making the right decision.

Since I would be working on many different drums from varying manufacturers, I brought several heavy duty poly bags to separate the hardware as I removed it from each drum. I also brought my Ryobi angle drill which allowed me to easily reach in and remove the lugs and other hardware from even my smallest drums. I don’t know what causes it but the discoloration was pretty bad. Once the hardware was removed I was relieved to see how easily the old drum covering came off.  I had imagined that it was glued on but instead, it was merely held in place by the lugs and other hardware.  Even the matching strips on the bass drum hoops came off without a struggle.

Now there was no turning back!

(But you saw the photos.  Who would want to go back?)

Would we be able to successfully replace the original drum shell covering with a new durable counter top type of laminate?  We were about to find out.

(To Be Continued on Extreme Makeover – Drum Edition – Pt-4)

There are a few things that you must keep in mind about recovering drum shells with this sort of laminate:

• You only get one shot to get it right. Once the laminate is glued on, it’s not coming off.  It is very likely that any attempts to remove it will result in layers of plywood tearing off before the laminate will come off.  So make sure you are completely satisfied with whatever laminate color and pattern you choose.  If you have wooden drum shells, and apply the laminate as we did, you will not get a second chance!
• If you are afraid that by gluing a very thin but hard layer of laminate to your drum shells might change the sound of your drums, you might be right.  I had a mix ‘n match drum set,  so I was not worried about it because I knew that if it changed, it would probably change for the better.  You’ll notice that in the Before and After photos I also removed the bottom heads, which I knew would have an even greater effect on the drum’s sound than adding a layer of laminate, which it did.  I think they sound fine, but if you’re worried, you may not want to attempt this.
• You must be able to do some fairly precise measurements and cutting of the laminate because, unlike the original drum shell fabric that slightly overlaps itself around the shell, the laminate must be precisely trimmed to allow for the two edges to butt up together where they meet.  If you do a bad job the seam will show.

Now, with that out of the way . . .

You might think that the decision to use a countertop-type of material for re-covering drum shells would substantially limit your color and pattern choices.  Au Contraire! Compared to the choices I saw available for the actual replacement drum shell fabric kits, there were far more to choose from in laminates.  And I’m not just talking about minor variations of wood grains either.

Here is just a sample of what I found available from Wilsonart that I thought would make for some interesting, even bizarre, drum kits:

Unfortunately, I was under pressure to get mine finished in time for a gig, so there was no time to special order anything not already in stock from the local distributer.  I chose an exotic woodgrain style from the laminates in stock, and I have been satisfied with that choice.

(To Be Continued on Extreme Makeover – Drum Edition – Pt-3)

The following article describes how I, (with the help of a couple true friends), performed what I refer to as:  Extreme Makeover – Drum Edition.  It chronicles how we transformed the drums pictured below from “Before” to “After”.

BEFORE

AFTER

My drum set is comprised of pieces from various sets I’ve used through the years.  And although I’ve adjusted and tweaked them to the point where they sounded pretty good, they looked horrendous.  Playing them in my own home was one thing, but they were definitely not ready for prime time, so when we started booking gigs I had to get serious about doing something, as the photos below testify:

I certainly could not afford to buy a new 8-Piece drum kit, and could not really justify it anyway since it was just a matter of aesthetics. I did a little research online and found several vendors that sell replacement drum shell fabric kits, but I was surprised at how costly that proved to be.  I began thinking about how soft, and easy to scuff, the material is that drum manufacturers typically use to cover their drum shells.  I started wondering whether it would be feasible to use a hard countertop-type laminate to replace the original material.

So one day I asked Erik, my friend in the custom cabinetry business, about it.  (He is a master craftsman in the industry.  He owns and operates his own shop in Southern California.  He specializes in creating custom store fronts for the dry cleaning industry, so he has seen it all when it comes to what can and cannot be done regarding the application of laminates.)

The main concern in using laminates for replacement drum covering centers on being able to get it to conform and stay around the curvature of a drum shell.  Nonetheless, Erik told me that it should be no problem if done properly, and that laminate can be applied to a fairly small radius, certainly smaller than the radius of my smallest (8″) drum.  He invited me to come by his shop and he would see what could be done.

(Continued on Extreme Makeover – Drum Edition – Pt-2)