Really beautiful kit and very well cared for.
Yes, big rack toms are the hardest piece to get a good tone. They are
often sour. Over the years I've had maybe 6 or 7 big kits, 7,8, 10 and
even one 12 piece monster. I am real good at finding deals and pretty
good at selling them again when I don't have space, etc. I think every
kit has had at least one sour big rack tom. I've had varying success
trying different types of heads, etc and I can usually flatten out the
bad overtones. They always record well, just sound sour from the
drummers seat.
On Mar 22, 2:23*pm, Steve Turner wrote:
On 03/22/2010 01:22 PM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 3/22/10 11:59 AM, SonomaProducts.com wrote:
Got me thinking about drums.
I hope someday to buy a set of Keller shells and do my own finish,
make a drilling jig for the hardware and build out my custom killer
set. I recently sold off my 7 piece Yamaha Custom black lacquer Maples
with a dozen Zildj cym's. I miss it. I think I need to work on my
dying skiils so I can do a cool sunburst type coloring like on a strat
when I build my own.
http://www.kelleratthecore.com/vintage_maple.html
If I ever go with Keller, it will be the vintage mahogany shells.
All those Keller maple shells sound the same, but I've great things
about the mahogany.
My mid-eighties Gretsch kit (which has the coveted maple shells made by the now-defunct
Jasper company, and for which Keller now has a nearly identical replacement) has a complete
complement of rack toms (8x8, 10x8, 12x10, 13x11, 14x12, 15x13; I haven't used them all at
the same time in years) and one 16x16 floor tom. *I really like running a 10&12 rack and
14&16 floor tom configuration, but I don't have a proper 14x14 floor tom (which I LOVE but
are IMPOSSIBLE to find) and neither the 14x12 or 15x13 rack toms are doing it for me. *For
quite some time now I've been seriously toying with the idea of getting a 14x14 shell from
Keller to make a complementary floor tom for that kit, but I've yet to take the plunge. *I'd
be looking at trying to match the "walnut" color on those shells and the smooth lacquer
finish that Gretsch is famous for; methinks it will be a bit of a challenge in more ways
than one.
BTW, you can see the kit in question hehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboye...7603970680808/
I've been making my own snare shells for snares, from staves.
I think you'd be surprised at how easy they are for a woodworker.
Yes, I have two examples of stave shell snares that I've made on my Flickr site:http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboye...7604599305593/
I'm currently building a second kit that I can keep at home to practice on (I've only just
had that one Gretsch kit for the past 25 years or so). *I'm making it out of Black Walnut
(not really my first choice, but I have a bunch of it that I don't know what to do with)
using stave shell construction. *Starting with a 20x15 kick that's all glued together and
just about ready to go on the router-based turning jigs; the first jig cuts the outer
surface down to a perfect cylinder, and the second jig trims the inner surface to the
correct thickness with respect to the outer.
Some day, I'll end up getting a machinist's lathe and turning my own lugs.
I heard that! *Most of the lugs available from today's drum building supply houses are
absolute crap. *I'll probably spend the next few months on eBay trying to snag enough
vintage Gretsch lugs to finally put the kit together...
--
What percentage of the driving populace do you suppose actually
understands the rules of engagement at a four-way stop?
To reply, eat the taco.http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/