Hey,
My little tiny drumline at school (1 Tenor, 2 Snares, 4 Bass) has grown this year, and we now use all the instruments we own. Which is great, but I'm the oldest member in high school drumline, and I'm a freshmen. We march a bunch of 7th and 8th graders. I'm also the Drum instructor and drum tech, because if I don't, nobody does...

Anyways, we have 4 old Ludwig Bass Drums, 24" 22" 20" 18" and they are in pretty narley shape, cosmetically. But we don"t have the money to replace them at this time. All I know is they are at least 12 years old, and they have the origional heads on them. What I want to know is how to look at the bearing edges so I can see if they are decent, and also see if they are round. imo, I see no point in spending 300-500 dollars on bass drum heads for torn up drums. Can anybody give me some ideas on what to look for, and what to do?

Thanks.

You want to look for dents, flat spots, cracks. Also look to see if your bearing edge is uniform. If all these things look good the they are ok.
I would get new heads for them or they will always sound like junk. If the bearing edge has only a couple of minor dents that's still ok. So long as they don't look like someone played Wipe out on them they should be ok.

But if they are too damaged then you need to have the bearing re-cut, not that big of a deal. There a companies that do it and it's cheaper to cut bearings than buy new drums. I have had too get new bearings before and it can get costly. I went to a cabinet maker to have them cut. I'm not sure what angle that Ludwig uses but a safe angle is 45% on the inside then with a slight bevel of 45% on the out side,that can be checked by the cabinet man. But check around your area for drum shops offer bearing cutting. Tell the cabinet guy to only clean up the edges not to cut deep.

Look for dents and make sure you don't see any compacting of the edge. If the wood looks like it's splintering, that means it is probably time for new drums because the shell is collapsing. Check for any cracks around the lug holes as well.

To check if the drums are round, get a tape measure and just measure the diameter around the shell at different points. A good idea is just measure it at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock lugs so you know you are measuring straight across. You don't want anymore than a 1/4" variance from measurement to measurement. Another good thing to check if the shell is warped is to get a flashlight and set the drum down on its side with both heads off. You should be able to shine the light into the shell and see no light coming out from under the shell. If light comes out, that means you have a badly cut bearing edge or the shell is warped.

If the heads are 12 years old, it probably is time for new heads. If you are spending $500 on bass heads you are doing it wrong.

Something to push you guys to get new drums. The sizes of your drums should not be sequential. There should be skips in the sizes to get more pitch variance out of the line.

Remove the heads and look for obvious dents, splits, cracks, etc. Also for separation of the plies, especially if the drums have been exposed to moisture -- and what marching drums haven't?

Small cracks and splinters, as well as ply separations, are generally repairable with good wood glue like Titebond II or Titebond III. Apply glue, clamp, wipe off excess. Bigger gouges might need to be filled and sanded. I've used epoxy-based wood fillers with good results. In a worst case scenario, if your edges have really taken a beating, you might need to get them re-cut. But bass drum bearing edges usually don't get beat up to that extent unless they've been dragged around with heads removed. The presence of heads and hoops generally keeps things from smacking and denting the bearing edge.

As for sequential bass drum sizing... Plenty of lines use sequentially-sized drums. It may not be my personal preference, but it can work. The problem with sequentially-sized drums, particularly outdoors, is that if your top bass is an 18" drum, your bottom drum won't be big enough to provide a deep bass tone unless you're marching at least 5 players. Outdoors, I personally consider a 26" drum to be the absolute minimum for a bottom bass. I like 28" for high school use -- big enough for rich bass tone, but not so big you need a moose to carry it.

Thanks,
I will look for these things when I check them...well idk when. I would have tomorrow, but my CX Airframe tenor carrier just arrived like 30 minutes ago, so I may put the basses off (that's nice of me...).

As for 300-500 for drum heads. I really don't know how much it would cost. I was figuring over 40 a head (like bass for drumset), and beings there is 8 heads, that's 320 plus tax minimum. So unles bass heads are less then 40 a piece, they my guess wasn't too far off. But I'm going to check the drums before I look into new heads.

Thanks,

xb2003:

**Cosmetics/Appearance**
Drums in good mechanical shape can be refurbished, and bass drums and current high tension snares can last virtually forever if well-cared-for. The best way to “refresh” the appearance of a drum is to rewrap it, i.e. remove the old plastic wrapping and put on new. Unless someone just has some money lying around, leave unbroken hardware alone.

The *really* cheap option is contact paper applied over the old wrap; it’s vulnerable to scuffs and scratches, but can give things a (temporary) facelift for less than $40 *total*.

Rewrapping is relatively cheap in comparison with replacing the drum, but still not inexpensive. A sheet of 24”x54” basic, single color wrap is $40-$50 (depending where you buy it – I’m about to buy black gloss from Columbus Percussion @ $40/sheet) and each bass will require more than one sheet; though, for your sizes just one additional sheet would be required (note: ~1.5”-2" overlap on each edge; 18” can use remainder from any other sheet):

18” = 54” + 6”; 20” = 54” + 12”; 22” = 54” + 18”; 24” = 54” + 22” ==> requires 5 sheets

So, the materials cost is as little as 5x $40 = $200, which is less than the cost of heads (see below)!

The labor is what really costs. It can be a do-it-yourself job, but it’s probably better to farm this sort of thing out. If the drums are stripped and prepared (remove old wrap, remove glue, remove glue residue), it cuts *way* down on the labor costs for a drum shop to wrap them.


**Heads**
You aren't *too* far off on bass head prices. I checked out bass head prices on-line and Remos from Steve Weiss were cheapest with totals of $285 for Smooth White Emperor and $295 for Powermax. If purchased through the school, sales tax is waived, I think? (experienced instructors, Y/N?) There *may* be discounts for schools, too.

IMO, the Powermax would be what to go with because it is acceptably pre-muffled: you're basically removing the hassle of installing foam and probably comming out ahead on costs once purchase of foam - which is going to be more than the $10 price difference - is considered.

Hey, man thanks for the info.

I (being me and my father) have actually done some restoring and looked into re-wrapping on some AUX drums i have for my drum set. Im not any expert on it, but i do know that could be done, and Im confident between me and my dad, we could do it if we wanted to. Also, pulling the lugs of, and hitting it with the buffer makes them clean right up, but that takes forever, and it of course doesnt fix cracks and dents in the wrap itself. But, you saying that reminded me that some tension rods are bent, so thatnks for that too.

The heads are going to get replaced if the shells check out ok. There actually already is foam on the hoops, but thats all the more i can say. Its it horrible shape, bits and pieces are missing, everything else. I would say i dont want to take it off because of the adhesive, but the hoops are in such bad shape i dont think it would matter. Im a personal fan of Evans drumheads, but Im not against anything. I will say Im not too happy witht the pinstripes i put on my quads thought....But that could be my fault. Im by no means the greatest tuner out there. I will look into it, and try to get the school to buy the heads. I could go through the director, but i wont get anyware.

Thanks again.

Public schools, being government entities, are exempt from sales tax. Private schools are often under the financial umbrella of an organization with tax-exempt status, like a church for example.

A simpler way to avoid sales tax collection is to order online from out-of-state vendors. Most states don't require sellers to collect sales tax on orders shipped to customers in other states. Legally, the customer may be required to pay taxes on these purchases, but few people ever do.



It doesn't hurt to ask for a quote, but prices on consumables like heads and sticks usually don't differ much from the prices published on vendors' web sites.

I assumed the school is cash strapped, and the Remos are cheaper than Evans by about $6-8/head.

I would suggest stipping off the existing foam. If it's in rough shape it should be replaced, anyway and if you get pre-muffled heads you won't need it. (And, who on earth sticks foam to the hoops?)

As for hardware, I've seen really chewed-up tension casings on basses (concrete and asphalt are not friendly surfaces to set drums down upon) that are mechanically fine - that's what I meant.

Good luck on your bass refurbishment!

Well I am glad I do not have to install foam, because I thought it went on the hoop. Shows how much I know. But if the pre-muffeled are just as good, I think I will go with them.

I think the music booster club will pickup the bill. I am lucky to be the son of the President. I suppose it gives me some power. I would like to run some other things by you guys, and I figure I will just put them in this thread. Hope that's ok, I will change that if it's not.

-Black Max Crimped Batter
-Ambassador Resonant
These will go on a 13x11 Pearl Competitor with High Tension Hardware.

Powermax Bass heads

DC51 Snare Sticks

PSMBC Medium Small Bass Mallets

I'm totally inexpirenced in bass drums in general. I just know pro-mark makes a good stick most generally. So if I'm way off on those, please tell me. As for the DC-51's and the Black Max, I know I like the DC-51's, but I'm not sure about the Fiber Heads. It seems to be the best, but suggestions welcome.

Thanks