Ugly Relic Frankenkit

[zorf]

Instead of spending years tracking down the missing parts for a restoration on a vintage kit, and obsessing about perfection,
I had a thought:

why not make a kit ugly on purpose?

Of course it had to be a certain KIND of ugly.

This kit is also a nesting kit, and can be configured in any number of ways, because
i set up brackets completely around the drum.

You can even mount stuff behind the drum.

You can invert the drum to switch sides for an instant different bass drum sound.
I have a fiberskyn on the bottom here and an ambassador on the top.

Because i find less choices to help me be more creative, i dont usually mount all the drums at once.

Nonetheless, the WHOLE KIT, including a bunch of cracked but suprisingly good sounding vintage A's and the pedal fit in ONE 18 X 28 floor tom case.
It's a one hand, one trip from the car kit.
I use my other hand to open doors and sign autographs.

The tapered tom has adjustable snares underneath and has a cool kind of compressed sound.

sometimes i set up the tapered drum with the snares on and the 13 inch metal snare for two snare sounds at once. Great for drum and bass or funk.

I got all these drums by posting on my local craigslist that i would take any broken, junk
drums that were free or cheap.

Some of the drums i got had even been in a fire!

Now that im done with my project, i listed the leftovers on craigs for free.
Nobody has responded.
Wonder what that says.

I wanted to make the whole thing from recycled castoffs, but I got impatient at the end and bought some of the mounting brackets new.

I tried to use as many different styles as possible so as not to match.

I just couldn't bring myself to " relic" the new hardware yet.

That always reminds me of the guy in the expensive car pulling up to the blues club with the relic guitar.

I figured out how to make my own cymbal stands as well with a tap and die.

I can make endless stacks or dr. suess like abstract cymbal sculptures.

Hey John can i send you the photos so you can post them?
I'm having trouble figuring it out.


<img src="http://www.cocktaildrum.com/gallery2/ma ... d0f83dd846">

<img src="http://www.cocktaildrum.com/gallery2/ma ... d0f83dd846">

[Mike Strehlow]

I hope John replies soon, I'd like to see this set too. Can you post them in the gallery? Or send us a link to an online photo store?

[zorf]

I posted a couple of photos in the gallery on page 55.
Maybe john can help me post them here in the thread.

[Mike Strehlow]

You're right. It's ugly! I like it. Which city's craigslist did you post on?

[zorf]

i posted up on the sf bay area list, but any medium sized metro area should have enough
beat up drums to scavenge.
Or, if you are out in the sticks, garage sale, flea market, pawn shop.
Or ebay, of course.

[zorf]

Here's another setup with the 13 inch metal snare.

I can also use any number of legs as needed. Too many drums mounted to one side of the main drum?
No problem, just add another leg.

Try setting up a snare on either side of the main drum for instant brain challenge.

Want to mount a half dozen cymbals? No sweat.

The overiding design principles here are no extra stands and everything fits in one case.

Also, ugly.

I'm partial to sparkles and wanted to evoke a faded lounge singer gone to seed.