I am trying to refinish a set of drums. Right now, the shell is
covered with plastic/vinyl. Drums sound better when the natural wood
is showing, plus the old covering is full of dents and scratches. The
drums belong to a youth group that has a very limited budget, so
refinishing seems like a good idea.
I want to remove this covering (it's glued on), exposing the
underlying shell, clean the shell and apply stain to the drums.
The wood underneath is birch.
I'd like to apply blue stain or dye to the drums so the color is a
medium deep blue, like an ocean blue, or lighter navy. I also want to
be able to see the wood grain.
I'd like to finish off with a glossy protective coat.
I am confused whether a stain or dye is appropriate, and which kind
(i.e water or alcohol based), or brand recommendations if you feel
like it.
I am confused whether shellac, or polyurethane is appropriate, or
something I may not have thought of.
I could use hints on best way to remove the shell, which is glued on.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
You'll benefit from my stupidity...
I tried it and it doesn't work. You'd think they would skimp on the
adhesive used to apply the covering, but they don't. If you try to
peel the covering off, you'll end up pulling some of the wood with it.
And forget about patching, staining, etc.
I say recover with a new cool color. This is what I did. It's easy
and relatively inexpensive.
If you're deat set: Try wrapping it with peel and stick birch veneer.
Spray a thinned down blue alcohol aniline dye. Spray 3-4 coats of
lacquer, wet sand in between each coat, work up to 2000 grit, then
buff and wax after final coat. This is probably what Pearl did to my
brother's set. It's probably exactly what you're after: beautiful
looking blue w/green tinge with evident wood grain. He shelled out
for it though...
Look here for way too much info about this topic:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=rec.music.makers.percussion
BTW, don't even lift a finger unless there are cases for the drums :O
SS - '66 Ludwigs in Silver Sparkle
Another thing to consider too is that the grain on the outer ply of a
finished drum is typically not as good as a drum that is intended to be
finished from the manufacturer. Since it's covered, there are more
imperfections and you'll run into a serious challenge sanding that much
surface material while trying to maintain the uniformity of the drum shell
thickness.
I have an old 26" Gretch marching bass that the blue sparkle covering was
falling off of that I now use for a very portable concert bass with
Fiberskyn heads. From a distance, it looks like a crappy brown stain and is
not too bad, but up close, you can see where there is a lot of glue on the
shell. For my purposes, it's not an issue and the drum works great.
Depending on the age and condition of the shells, bearing edges, and hoops,
you may not notice much of a difference between covered and uncovered. New
heads will make a huge difference...
My opinion is simply to recover the shells with another color after removing
the original. mild heat may loosen the existing glue and assist with the
removal.
Let me know what you decide to do, I am interested in the results.
BTW, what brand of drums are they?
Good Luck!
"No one" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am trying to refinish a set of drums. Right now, the shell is
> covered with plastic/vinyl. Drums sound better when the natural wood
> is showing, plus the old covering is full of dents and scratches. The
> drums belong to a youth group that has a very limited budget, so
> refinishing seems like a good idea.
>
> I want to remove this covering (it's glued on), exposing the
> underlying shell, clean the shell and apply stain to the drums.
>
> The wood underneath is birch.
>
> I'd like to apply blue stain or dye to the drums so the color is a
> medium deep blue, like an ocean blue, or lighter navy. I also want to
> be able to see the wood grain.
>
> I'd like to finish off with a glossy protective coat.
>
> I am confused whether a stain or dye is appropriate, and which kind
> (i.e water or alcohol based), or brand recommendations if you feel
> like it.
>
> I am confused whether shellac, or polyurethane is appropriate, or
> something I may not have thought of.
>
> I could use hints on best way to remove the shell, which is glued on.
>
> Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
"Scott Geyer" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
<snip of good advice from Scott>
>
> "No one" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I am trying to refinish a set of drums. Right now, the shell is
>> covered with plastic/vinyl. Drums sound better when the natural wood
>> is showing, plus the old covering is full of dents and scratches.
>> The drums belong to a youth group that has a very limited budget, so
>> refinishing seems like a good idea.
>>
>> I want to remove this covering (it's glued on), exposing the
>> underlying shell, clean the shell and apply stain to the drums.
>>
>> The wood underneath is birch.
>>
>> I'd like to apply blue stain or dye to the drums so the color is a
>> medium deep blue, like an ocean blue, or lighter navy. I also want
>> to be able to see the wood grain.
>>
>> I'd like to finish off with a glossy protective coat.
>>
>> I am confused whether a stain or dye is appropriate, and which kind
>> (i.e water or alcohol based), or brand recommendations if you feel
>> like it.
>>
>> I am confused whether shellac, or polyurethane is appropriate, or
>> something I may not have thought of.
>>
>> I could use hints on best way to remove the shell, which is glued on.
>>
>> Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
>
I can't see the original post, due to a lousy ISP, so I'll reply against
Scott's post.
It's hard to say what will remove the shell. Some glues degrade with water
and heat , so you might try gently ironing the shell (at a joint) with a
warm clothes iron and a damp cloth to generate steam. You need to be
careful, since this might also attack the wooden shell of the drum if it's
laminated, so go easy at first and check often to see if it's loosening.
If this doesn't work, then you may have to resort to chipping it off piece
by piece, or a combination of both.
As for refinishing, you can scrape the remaining gunk off and sand with the
grain. Broken window glass makes an effective scraper if you don't have a
cabinet scraper. Fine sand with the grain. If the drums are to be used
indoors, then you can pick virtually any finish that takes your fancy. One
of the easiest to apply is oil-based PU varnish cut 50-50 with white spirit
(turps substitute) Wipe it on thinly with a lint-free cloth, leave
overnight, rub down gently with 0000 steel wool. Repeat 4-5 times.
Shellac and nitro lacquer are both good quick-drying finishes traditionally
used on instruents and take a very high shine, but they tend to chip easily
when knocked, which may well happen to a drum kit belonging to a youth
club!
Read here to find out how a guy stained his bass blue and finished it using
nitro
http://larenzo.home.mindspring.com/bass9.html
HTH
Frank
See http://www.drumrap.com/ for heaps of good advice.
Cheers,
Brian.
>>> No one<[email protected]> 8/01/04 10:20:43 >>>
I am trying to refinish a set of drums. Right now, the shell is
covered with plastic/vinyl. Drums sound better when the natural wood
is showing, plus the old covering is full of dents and scratches. The
drums belong to a youth group that has a very limited budget, so
refinishing seems like a good idea.
I want to remove this covering (it's glued on), exposing the
underlying shell, clean the shell and apply stain to the drums.
The wood underneath is birch.
I'd like to apply blue stain or dye to the drums so the color is a
medium deep blue, like an ocean blue, or lighter navy. I also want to
be able to see the wood grain.
I'd like to finish off with a glossy protective coat.
I am confused whether a stain or dye is appropriate, and which kind
(i.e water or alcohol based), or brand recommendations if you feel
like it.
I am confused whether shellac, or polyurethane is appropriate, or
something I may not have thought of.
I could use hints on best way to remove the shell, which is glued on.
Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
Taking the coverings off of the shells should not affect the sound of the
drums. The sound only resonates from the inside of the shell. Birch shells
are not as common anymore. Is this an older kit? I have had a few. Sound
is affected by the shape of the shell overall, warping, movement, etc. If
you do refinish, make sure not to finish the insides of the shells at all.
This will affect the sound resonance from the drum. As for the type of
finish, I wish I could be more help. Considering that Birch, and not
composite, they might be affected by moisture and I would probably not use
shellac.
John V
"No one" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am trying to refinish a set of drums. Right now, the shell is
> covered with plastic/vinyl. Drums sound better when the natural wood
> is showing, plus the old covering is full of dents and scratches. The
> drums belong to a youth group that has a very limited budget, so
> refinishing seems like a good idea.
>
> I want to remove this covering (it's glued on), exposing the
> underlying shell, clean the shell and apply stain to the drums.
>
> The wood underneath is birch.
>
> I'd like to apply blue stain or dye to the drums so the color is a
> medium deep blue, like an ocean blue, or lighter navy. I also want to
> be able to see the wood grain.
>
> I'd like to finish off with a glossy protective coat.
>
> I am confused whether a stain or dye is appropriate, and which kind
> (i.e water or alcohol based), or brand recommendations if you feel
> like it.
>
> I am confused whether shellac, or polyurethane is appropriate, or
> something I may not have thought of.
>
> I could use hints on best way to remove the shell, which is glued on.
>
> Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.