To Project or not to Project

That is the question...

I am certainly guilty of projection...and thoughts and speculations as to what people say and do or don't do, etc, etc... but in the spirit of this blog...a play on words.

Coming up onto some major neck surgery on the 24th of this month, I am faced with the reality of allot of down time alone at home during the day as I recover over the next several weeks. Not wanting to fall into a tv viewing trap and knowing the loneliness I will be facing, as I progress to feeling better, I am hoping to be able to work on some pre-set up 'light' projects that I can do as I am able without physical exertion beyond my abilities and can start and stop to rest.

One of them will be to try and convert an old, acoustic drum set I have into an electronic one. This has been something I have wanted to do since I got this free (thanks Brother Rob!) set a couple of years ago, but projects for others always shouted "me first" and I had access to a set I could play. With completing this now, it will allow me to practice anytime, without involving and disturbing family and neighbors when I do. It will be quite the project of cutting and separating each drum I have into two, sanding and finishing the exterior and interior, making a support structure to fit  inside to hold an electronic drum trigger mechanism I am making and then assembling, wiring and somehow making mounts to install them back into a set, which will be tricky as I will have twice as many drums as I have now. Thankfully, others have done this before and there are allot of ideas out there on the web as to how to do it right, so as of now, I am reading, reading, reading.

Playing them..., that will also depend on my recovery pace and the fact that I have yet to purchase a 'brain' module to electronically create the sounds the drum triggers will produce. Being the expensive part of the project, that will be further down the road when I can afford it.

Playing the drums is a fairly recent thing for me. Being a musician on a few other instruments, I have always wanted to play the drums and had an opportunity through my church to do so for about 5 years. It was a wonderful passion, that was invigorating and freeing in spirit on many fronts and physically fun, and I was blessed to enjoy. Very sadly that opportunity is now gone, so I am endeavoring here to get a set up at home to play. I hope I can make it happen and perhaps if I have my own set, there will be a church that would welcome a drummer.

Here is a sample of the drums as they now are:

4/16/14 Step #1

I removed the heads from the drums and found a very interesting jelly bean-ish choice (it is Easter time!) of inside colors and started removing the chrome hardware. At this point, it gives me pause whether to just polish the hardware, or prep and spray paint it satin black, which was my original idea. or maybe a cool darker copper color I found. The stands are chromed. The insides of the drums will be flat black and I am debating whether to just sand, stain and finish the shells as is (though they are pretty rough right now), paint them a solid color or purchase wraps which opens up a world of finish options, but all at a cost. Like with any project, each additional idea comes with a cost attached. Thinking also to wrap them in metal and painting them.

 

4/21 O.K. Got all the hardware off and took a sander to the shells to remove the existing finish. Unfortunately, the Luann veneer was very thin and unsalvagable, so a metal wrap it is....painted copper color with the orignal chrome hardware and satin trim black accents. In doing so, I thought to 'stretch them back to original height to keep the original 'acoustic' look and am now set to work out a brace system to do just that.

 4/22 Made a jig last night to facilitate cutting the drums in two and it worked perfect! I almost felt like an engineer, but then realized as they usually are quite dull people... I couldn't be. Phew! So... now I have a snare drum (yellow one in the middle) and 7 toms! It looks like the beginnings of a awesome set and is a good start before the surgery.
The jig:

 

5/4 Progress post surgery has been slow for serious pain is hanging around, but I have so far done some of the light weight work of cutting out foam inserts for the triggers and screen heads and polishing a set of hardware for one complete drum!

Old rims vs newly polished. 

 

5/19 Update: Making decent progress, but it has been slow. Working with this 'collar' (being nice) around my neck tires me quickly and it is naturally hard to move and see close-by. My left hand has ceased to fully function, so that also has slowed me down and makes typing very difficult. With my right hand, I can barely write now. As all the drum heads are done, almost everything polished and so forth, I have decided to take at least one drum to completion and test it out with a module I can use. From there if it is successful, I will follow with the remaining drums, but it is a big project! Photos of the inside 'stretchers', the piezo triggers I wired and the metal drum shell finished.

 

Update: 5/21 They work! Tested them tonight at church and it performed flawlessly. The photo below showing the dual triggering set up and the finished drum below. Now onto the rest of the set.