my diy kit

[jammin777]

hey Guys and gals. i finaly am underway on my diy kit.
they consist of keller maple shells the same demensions as the roland pd 105 and pd 125. why? because i wanted a kit that i can haul easily. i am using red rack from the td 10 session kit and a kd 120 as it would have not been cost effective to make my own. i bought the shells, red wrap and lugs from drummaker.com.
i have one wired up so far and it triggers pretty good. i added a second rim piezo as 1 wasnt enough. just had to set the rim gain up a little is all. ok i had to crank it up quite abit to match the gain of my real rollies. any suggestions?? im using 27mm rim piezo and 35 mm cones for the head. would 35mm make a big difference for the rim? i will not be diying the cymbals as i need quite ones as much as i love the rolands, i will probly use yammies pcy 135 and pcy 155. much cheaper. also got a great deal on a fd 7 hat controller and a new cy12h for the hihat. just a light wieght and inexpensive kit for church. the only thing i will be packing from my main kit is the td 20 module.

[jammin777]

more pics. will add more later when i get the cymbals.

[daveybabes]

L Bracket

Hi - try mounting the rim piezo's on small L Brackets with double sided tape, L bracket clamped directly on to the lug.

Nice neat job, are those Roland cones?

[Nico!]

nice choice of colour! mine were red before I had to unfortunately pull the wraps off. Did you spray the inside of the shells? Think you need a nice bottom trim to finish it off.

[jammin777]

thanks! i painted the inside with black semi gloss latex with a brush. turned out pretty smooth.
i am looking for something to use for as trim in the bottom to finish it off. any ideas? i thought of using fuel hose.

[Nico!]

Fuel hose would work but might be a bit bulky for the right thickness of the shell. car door trim off ebay works pretty well but some (like mine) have metal inside so you have to open it up a bit to fit the shell, used bit of maths to work out how much I needed for all my shells then bought it by the meter.

[vjboc]

That's a nice job you did on those drums. You could always get a td 8 module to keep it with the kit at church, Just So your not unpluging the td 20 every sunday and mid week service. I like the bracket system. Is the wiring secure enough against vibration?

[jammin777]

thanks for the kuddos. a second module would be nice. as for the wiring. im going to work on making it neater and more secure. i just wired one up to test and see if it works. i am wondering if i should move the rim piezos up closer to the rim rather than the middle. any takes on this guys?? Jman, where you at?? the rim works fine if i crank the rim gain all the way up. also would it make a difference if i may have the cone up too high by a 1/16"?? how cruicial is this? thanks for any help to perfect my project.

[jammin777]

cleaned up wiring

just a few pics of some wiring clean up on one of my drums as i wasnt happy with my first one.
i bought the little wire holders at radio shack and thay already have double stick tape to mount them with. i am very excited as it triggers very well without tweeking but will need to do a very little. position sensing is working great as well as the rim. the 35mm coned piezos came with double sided tape but i took the advice of some of you good people here to add a second layer of tape so i used 3M. i only used 2 rim piezos in the natural playing area and triggers very well. i found myself having to hit the rim a little harder on the area that dont have the piezos but thats ok with me as i dont play that area anyhow. i want to thank all of you for the wealth of info to be found here in this forum. now to finish the rest!

[PumaPhreak]

Great job.

[SuperPuss]

That's a really neat looking DIY, Jammin. I love the colour too

[jammin777]

thanks for the kind words. i am going to replace the rim piezos as they are 27 mm except the one i am using for the snare which has a 35mm. the 35 mm triggers much better. with the 27mm piezos i have to wack them pretty hard to get them to trigger. i am having a hard time with the rim gain. i try setting it higher then it triggers the rim when hitting the head and lose my head sound in the process. kinda wierd. any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[daveybabes]

Did u try L bracketing the piezo's straight to the lugs? at the moment you are counting on the vibe from the rim travelling through the wooden shell.

If its clamped to the lug the rim hit will go from rim (metal hoop)to lug pin to lug to lug screw to L bracket to Piezo baboom ...

Worth a try ?

Bu upping the rim gain you are making that more sensitive to a hit so it over rides the head piezo.

ps you do need 35's

[jammin777]

thanks for the reply, that does make sense, i think i will go for the 35mm as i know that would solve the problem. the one i have with a 35mm triggers nicely. as well as look cleaner without the bracket.

[jammin777]

update, i have replaced the 27 mm rim piezos to 35mm ones and wow what a difference! i could hardly get the 27 mm to trigger and the 35'S trigger really well. i am only using one and it triggers very evenly around the whole rim. while i was at it i cleaned up the wiring even more as i still wasnt satisfied. needless to say i am finaly very happy the way these drums turned out. now just need to add the finishing touches to the botom of the shells, some black trim. and add cymbals. this kit was great practice to make, hmmm i just might later diy my main kit.