My high school marches fairly decent Pearl quads (small size). They sound pretty good, except they do not have any spock drums. So, I have decided to make one out of pvc piping. I bought the rim and head yesterday, and have lugs and casings all ready. I'm acquiring the pipe today.
my questions-
Where is the spock supposed to sit (in terms of height)? Is it supposed to be on the same plane as the other 4 drums, or a little above or below it?
The main bar (that the j-rods hook into) has holes drilled in it for a spock attachment. I'm assuming i can simply put 4 holes in side of the pvc pipe, and screw it on to the bar. Do i need a mounting apparatus?
Any other suggestions or tips? Has anyone done this to Pearl tenors?
I'll post some pics once i get started.

AH! i got the pipe! and it is exactly the same diameter as the metal ring around the head. THEREFORE neither the head NOR the the rim fit on the pipe! WHAT SHOULD I DO ?!

Calm down about 5 notches not the end of the world here i'll give ya a link to my article on haow to make them from pvc. if ya need more help give me a holler and i can help ya out. go here and read. if you still help pm me.

As for the height it should sit lower than the rest of the drums so you dont slam your hand on it when doing rim shots.

sand the bearing edge down.

if your problem is what i think it is, the actual thickness of the pvc itself is too much... you'll need to sand it down a bit and give it a bearing edge, the rounded top to the shell if you will.

when putting the lugs on, keep in mind how long the tension rods are, and PLEASE double check measurements to make sure all lugs are lined together. make sure to use the right size washers too. you dont want something too large, because then it wont give into the curvature of the pipe that much, and if it's too small, they can pull through the pvc and pop a lug.
I'd measure it (where you put the lugs) by placing the rim over the bearing edge, and placing a tension rod through one of the eyelets. Now, screw the tension rod through a lug (as if it's a rim on a drum without a head) a couple rotations so it's attached, but not that many, because you'll want it as low as possible so you can get the highest tension if needed. After the lug is danging there, line i up against the outside of the shell, and mark it. This should be a good place for every lug too be. If you want to be sure, just displace the lug upwards (that is, closer to the rim) a centimeter or so.
When I made my bucket drum, about every lug was 1 3/4 to 2 inches from the bearing edge in terms of distance from the top of the lug (not where it was screwed in) to the top of the bearing edge.

ok HERE is the problem-
PVC diameter is measured from the inside of the walll to the inside of the wall on the opposite side.
DRUM diameter is measured from the OUTSIDE of the wall to the OUTSIDE of the other.
Therefore, a 6" PVC tube is actually 6.5". A 6" drum head is meant to fit over 6 inches. Therefore, the head cannot fit on the tube. Unless, i somehow splice a vertical section out of the tube and join the two sides to decrease the diameter. However, i do not think this is a feasible thing to do.
Well this definitely puts a halt to my operations.

Really it works its how i made my shots just take your time and cut 2 stright lines and it will work fineIve made a few of these drum now and i have spliced all of them and they have worked just fine. dont use a hand saw if you dont have to use a hand held jig saw or some other kind of power saw to do it i dont reccomend a circular saw though. As always becareful with power tools.

so how do you recmmend doing the splice? i guess since technically the pvc is about .5 inches large, you'd want to take two quarter-inch cuts in it....

How do you reccommend to do that, and what to use to reattach everything?

anybody have a photo of a PVC spock? I'd like to see how they look.

yeah... this project is no longer simple. After cutting the tube up, what do you use to reattach the two halves?? I really need to get the BD to scrounge up a few hundred and just buy the damn things.

This project is very simple to do i can make a whole drum in an hour. you just have to measure and cut and stay focused. PVC Spock Page
To make the cut Get a ruler or strgith edge and draw a line top to bottom.
Then make the cut.
Over lap the shell and put the head on it so it fits.
get it so its the same diameter from top to bottom then mark it with a marker at the bottom.
draw another stright line going from top to bottom and cutt off the remaining overlap of pipe.
Using the pipe section you jsut cut off. cut about an inch off of it.
Close the seam on the shell by duct taping it shut. then put the piece you cut out underneath the seam inside the shell. Drill 4 holes into it 2 on each side of the seem.in the middle between the seam and the edge of the piece on each side of the seam. Using PVC glue glue the plate on to the back of the seam
once dried put 4 small screws into the patch and shell to hold it tight.
The shell is done. Line up yur holes and drill them out then apply hardware sand bearing edge put on head attach drum and play.