*update made 06.09.12 scroll down*
Hopefully you’ll find this interesting.
Were currently building a 7 piece kit finished with an inner and outer veneer of Walnut. These shells feature a thin 3mm Birch core and for the sound were looking for here weve added thin Birch reinforcement rings to the Toms and Snare. The Bass drum has a thicker 6mm core with no reinforcement rings.
The kit consists of 22×18 Bass Drum, 8×6, 10×7, 12×8 Rack Toms, 14×12, 16×14 Floor Toms and a 14×7 snare.
Here are the shells prior to any finishing, just having had a light sand.
For the finish were using a hard wax Satin Oil, its incredibly durable, used for hardwood floors etc and makes a wonderful finish for drum shells.
Were going to apply the finish first, we usually do this after marking out the shells and drilling, but having lots at that stage already to save time we’ll do this first then protect the finish before drilling.
The oil will really make the walnut pop and transforms the look straight away. As you can see from this image, this is the very first coat of oil going on to the bass shell. The oil is applied nice and thin and rubbed off to ensure no streaks or uneven build up. It will take quite a number of coats to get the finish were looking for.
We’ve had a few days of oil time now, were upto 5 coats. You can see were starting to get that lovely satin sheen to the finish now.
Having applied several more coats of oil were ready to cut the bearing edges and drill the shells for the hardware. Weve started on the snare.
Having drilled all the shells, were ready to fit the parts. We’ll start with our Lugs. Designed and made in the UK and machined from solid Aluminium, they dont require any inserts and are very light. We use a rubber gasket between the lug and the shell, again made in the UK, as are the washers and cap screws, all of which we polish prior to fitting.
Join us each day here to see the progress.
