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First of all, many thanks to everyone on the forum who has contributed with ideas, information, material resources, wiring diagrams etc.
Before I took on this little project I did have concerns about how badly I would screw things up.
But that never happened. Probably because I took the easy route in opting for a conversion using the Roland baskets. But it still wasn't all plain sailing.
Well I managed to get two Yamaha Stage Custom 12” shells, and a 10” Mapex. Ideally they would all have been Yamaha but trying to find a 10” at the right price was not easy. So I settled on a horrible lime green Mapex Pro M tom. The plan was two 10” toms, 12” snare, 12” floor tom, and 12” bass drum.
For the guts of the drums I was using the Roland baskets. I guessed from reading various posts at VDRUMS.COM it would make things pretty straightforward.
I cut one of the 12” toms in half, along with the 10”. I planned on using a full 12”X9” shell for the bass drum. The bearing edges needed routing – the Yamaha comes with a 45 degree internal bevel. Nothing (or negligible bevel) on the outside of the shell. Originally, when the Roland basket was dropped in, the outer ‘downlip’ of the basket rim rested on the edge of the shell. I couldn’t get hold of a 60 degree router bit (unless I wanted to pay £75 from a pro tool shop) so I settled on a 78 degrees. Quite a sharp angle but just enough to get the bearing edge behind the outer lip and get the basket properly seated. I might revisit this and make it 45 degrees.
Cutting the shells was something I was worried about in case I botched it. In the end it was okay. I got a set square, and positioned on the drum rim, marked the halfway point on the shell. I moved all around the drum bit by bit making a mark around the centre just a few mm apart. Then I got a flexible ruler and, bent it around the shell and drew a solid cut line. For the actual cutting I used a tenon saw (fine toothed saw) and first of all just made a gentle cut about 1 or 2 mm deep around the circumference of the shell. Then went around again and made the cut a bit deeper. And then again. After this I got my bigger hand saw and using the original cuts as a guide, cut right through the shells. Neat job! I don’t know what paint/lacquer they put on those Mapex shells but it didn’t half smell like burning plastic. Horrible!
The Mapex shell was a pain in the arse. I ended up cutting a 45 degree outer bevel on that, and even with a sizeable notch for the Roland basket, it was still trying to rise up from the shell. I just couldn’t figure out what was causing it. In the end I just put the head on and tightened it down. The tension rods and hoop are now holding it all nicely together.
Another thing with Mapex, is the rim mount system uses different lugs where the rim mount system is fitted – the lugs here have a protruding lip on the bottom of the lug. As I had already made up my mind to use the Yamaha mount system, I had to get a few replacement lugs from Mapex. Credit to them they sent them out free of charge.
The other thing I had to modify was the basket. I didn’t want to add more holes to the shell by lowering the mount so I cut a hole out of the basket where it was fouling the mounting system nuts. This was more awkward on the 10” basket as the moulding sections are smaller and closer together. It was a case of selecting the part of the basket that was going to cause least possible structural problems. This meant repositioning and putting in a 2nd alignment notch for the new position. We live and learn!
Another issue I had was that the standard stereo jack connector thread (the sort you get from Maplin/Radio Shack) was not long enough to go right through the shell, so I mounted the stereo chassis jacks in the base of the basket. Having spent an apprenticeship in a telephone exhange soldering no end of contacts to Strowger group selectors (Google it), I was only too aware of what a mess you can make when removing soldered wires. So anticipating some maintenance at some point in the future, I soldered some wire tails to the stereo jacks, and connected these to a small ‘chocolate block’ connector. The Piezo wires screw connected to the other side of the connector. So now the piezos and jack can be easily disconnected from other if needs be. The connecting block is held down by double-sided tape.
For the bass drum I used a barrel jack socket which is fitted through the shell but past the bottom of the basket. Again I have used the old chocolate block connectors should future maintenance be necessary. Hardware for the bass drum was from Yamaha again – I used the bits the put on their Daxdad drum. A bit more pricey than I thought it would be, but the spurs are quite long and ideal for this size drum.
Made up some leads, hooked the pads up and voila – edrums for my TD8!
I wish had done it sooner.
Before I took on this little project I did have concerns about how badly I would screw things up.
But that never happened. Probably because I took the easy route in opting for a conversion using the Roland baskets. But it still wasn't all plain sailing.
Well I managed to get two Yamaha Stage Custom 12” shells, and a 10” Mapex. Ideally they would all have been Yamaha but trying to find a 10” at the right price was not easy. So I settled on a horrible lime green Mapex Pro M tom. The plan was two 10” toms, 12” snare, 12” floor tom, and 12” bass drum.
For the guts of the drums I was using the Roland baskets. I guessed from reading various posts at VDRUMS.COM it would make things pretty straightforward.
I cut one of the 12” toms in half, along with the 10”. I planned on using a full 12”X9” shell for the bass drum. The bearing edges needed routing – the Yamaha comes with a 45 degree internal bevel. Nothing (or negligible bevel) on the outside of the shell. Originally, when the Roland basket was dropped in, the outer ‘downlip’ of the basket rim rested on the edge of the shell. I couldn’t get hold of a 60 degree router bit (unless I wanted to pay £75 from a pro tool shop) so I settled on a 78 degrees. Quite a sharp angle but just enough to get the bearing edge behind the outer lip and get the basket properly seated. I might revisit this and make it 45 degrees.
Cutting the shells was something I was worried about in case I botched it. In the end it was okay. I got a set square, and positioned on the drum rim, marked the halfway point on the shell. I moved all around the drum bit by bit making a mark around the centre just a few mm apart. Then I got a flexible ruler and, bent it around the shell and drew a solid cut line. For the actual cutting I used a tenon saw (fine toothed saw) and first of all just made a gentle cut about 1 or 2 mm deep around the circumference of the shell. Then went around again and made the cut a bit deeper. And then again. After this I got my bigger hand saw and using the original cuts as a guide, cut right through the shells. Neat job! I don’t know what paint/lacquer they put on those Mapex shells but it didn’t half smell like burning plastic. Horrible!
The Mapex shell was a pain in the arse. I ended up cutting a 45 degree outer bevel on that, and even with a sizeable notch for the Roland basket, it was still trying to rise up from the shell. I just couldn’t figure out what was causing it. In the end I just put the head on and tightened it down. The tension rods and hoop are now holding it all nicely together.
Another thing with Mapex, is the rim mount system uses different lugs where the rim mount system is fitted – the lugs here have a protruding lip on the bottom of the lug. As I had already made up my mind to use the Yamaha mount system, I had to get a few replacement lugs from Mapex. Credit to them they sent them out free of charge.
The other thing I had to modify was the basket. I didn’t want to add more holes to the shell by lowering the mount so I cut a hole out of the basket where it was fouling the mounting system nuts. This was more awkward on the 10” basket as the moulding sections are smaller and closer together. It was a case of selecting the part of the basket that was going to cause least possible structural problems. This meant repositioning and putting in a 2nd alignment notch for the new position. We live and learn!
Another issue I had was that the standard stereo jack connector thread (the sort you get from Maplin/Radio Shack) was not long enough to go right through the shell, so I mounted the stereo chassis jacks in the base of the basket. Having spent an apprenticeship in a telephone exhange soldering no end of contacts to Strowger group selectors (Google it), I was only too aware of what a mess you can make when removing soldered wires. So anticipating some maintenance at some point in the future, I soldered some wire tails to the stereo jacks, and connected these to a small ‘chocolate block’ connector. The Piezo wires screw connected to the other side of the connector. So now the piezos and jack can be easily disconnected from other if needs be. The connecting block is held down by double-sided tape.
For the bass drum I used a barrel jack socket which is fitted through the shell but past the bottom of the basket. Again I have used the old chocolate block connectors should future maintenance be necessary. Hardware for the bass drum was from Yamaha again – I used the bits the put on their Daxdad drum. A bit more pricey than I thought it would be, but the spurs are quite long and ideal for this size drum.
Made up some leads, hooked the pads up and voila – edrums for my TD8!
I wish had done it sooner.
any ideas??
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