Main drum muffling

[Anonymous]

I've been thinking for some time about getting myself an acrylic cocktail kit, and today I started asking for prices. But I just realized this may present some problems.

I'm mostly thinking about the muffling and tuning of the main drum. Basically, I'd like it to be bass / tom. But how much muffling do people use in these drums? Since the drums are see-through, muffling can easily destroy the visual appearance..

Listening to the Steve Jordan videos, I like the way his drum blends in with the rest of the music. Listening to "Gravity" you realize the bass drum is really ringy, but you don't notice that at all on "Cissy Strut". A lot of it probably comes from releasing the bass beater on Gravity and holding it on Cissy Strut, but I wonder how he tuned the drum. And if he used much muffling.

The tom is very ringy, and that is cool. It gives a nice effect compared to the other tom.

All replies to this are very appreciated.

[jim kooser]

Flaat:

My main drum is 14 inches diameter, 26 inches tall. I built it from an 8 ply maple Keller shell, with double 45 degree bearing edges. I'm using an Evans hydraulic on the bottom head, and an Evans EC2 on the top. The drum rang like a demon when I first built it (I finished the inside with a semi gloss urethane, might have added to the resonance!). I've tried several muffling methods, looking for a combination of a pretty solid bass thump, and a bit of resonance from the top head. I've settled on two felt strips on the bottom head, and one on the top. The bottom head is tuned pretty low, just tight enough to get the slack out and not deform much under normal playing. The pitch of the top head is roughly a third (to my ear) above the bottom. This combination works well for the acoustic rock band I'm in.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

that does give me some hope that an acrylic set won't look too ugly after all. I haven't got any responses on the prices yet. Looking forward to hearing from the acrylic drum company.

[multiperc]

Hi

When I was first exploring construction of my cockail kit, I was thinking about acrylic too. I gotta say, the fragility of a long, exposed and rather expensive acrylic tube concerned me. So, I went with 8ply maple (24x14) and I'm very happy with it. And I don't blink when packing and moving it.

I've since retrofitted a Pearl floating snare with an acrylic shell (nice) and am faced with the pleasures and agony of acrylic - looks so great, sounds loud, rings like a banshee, relatively expensive, somewhat fragile and prone to scratching. But did I say it looks great and is LOUD?

Good luck with your decision. If you end up doing acrylic, bravo! You'll undoubtedly find some good solutions for muflling (I still like cotton balls). And it will look amazing. Be sure to post info and pics.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, multiperc. Actually, I didn't know of the fragility of acrylic drums. Guess I'll have to investigate that a bit further.

[multiperc]

I certainly don't want to scare you off - acrylic shells are pretty tough but may not be as forgiving in some cases as wood. I considered this with a shell that was to be rather long (24") and sometimes knocked around in a soft case during transport. I was also concerned about how it would hold up against scratches. So those were my specific issues.

You might want to contact RCI and specifically ask about their cocktail kit shells (how strong, how heavy, how they sound, tuning challenges, cost) -
http://www.rcistarlite.com/

Also to note I bought my acrylic snare shell from drummaker.com and spoke with Andy about my purchase decision - he was very helpful.

[jmettam]

Hey Flaat,

Don't forget about all the muffling products out there that are fairly invisible and easy to add on to a kit. Some of them might be to extreme but they are worth looking into and they will keep your drum looking very nice:

External Tone Control Rings:




External Mufflers:



Remo Internal Mufflers:



Felt Strips:



- John