Completed my A to E

[John F]

And now.... Drum roll please! (sorry) Completed my A to E practice kit conversion yesterday. The drums are Ludwig Rocker Elites that I've had for about 8 years. Cymbals are all Pintech practice cymbals. All drum triggers are reflection plate designs. Heads are Pearl mesh over Remo muffle rings. So far, so good. Still dialing in the exact sound that I want but everything seems to be working OK. I was so fired up after getting everything working that I played on them till midnight - and no on complained! Thanks for all the great ideas on this site!

[daveybabes]

Hi hat info

Hi

Nice job, can u tell me how you did the hi hat? maybe some pics sometime ?

Dave ...

[Gastric]

Looks nice and clean. Once upon a time you asked to compare notes. Two DIY'ers in Raleigh, one with cross-bar-and-cone and Alesis, another with reflector and Roland module. Should be some good notes to compare. I'll be available in 2-3 weeks to do that if you're interested.

[vjboc]

John nice job on the drum kit. Before I got my Rolands. I had the pintechs practice cymbals ( I installed my own triggers)
Did you install the triggers on the cymbals or did you buy them with the triggers in them already? Either way them cymbals can take a beaten.

[Navare]

Looks good John nice shells can't be traditional look.

Keep up the good work

N.

[John F]

Hi

Nice job, can u tell me how you did the hi hat? maybe some pics sometime ?

Dave ...

The hi hat is made from 2 14" Pintech cymbals mounted on the top 1/2 of a real hi hat stand. I have a 27mm piezo on the top cymbal (under side) and an edge switch contact. The other edge switch contact is mounted on the bottom cymbal. The cymbals are separated by about 1/8" or so such that with normal striking only the piezo is activated. Striking the edge causes enough deformation for the edge contacts to close. The top 1/2 of the assembly mounts into the lower 1/2 of a straight cymbal stand, so it looks like a regular hi hat stand without the foot pedal. For the foot pedal I'm using a Roland FD-8. This setup seems to work well, except for the well-known lack of "chick" volume, which is unfortunate because I like to play 1/4 notes with my foot on the HH while playing tom fills and solos, ala "Sing, Sing, Sing". I'll put up some pics in the next few days. Thanks for the kind feedback!

[John F]

John nice job on the drum kit. Before I got my Rolands. I had the pintechs practice cymbals ( I installed my own triggers)
Did you install the triggers on the cymbals or did you buy them with the triggers in them already? Either way them cymbals can take a beaten.

My triggers are homebrew, Digi-Key 35mm piezos stuck to the back side with 3M double stick foam tape. I'll agree with the Pintechs taking a beating on sizes up to 14". My 18" ride is starting to take on the general shape of a potato chip and when I received my 16" it looked like it had already taken a beating and lost!

[vjboc]

John what type of module do you have? I have a Roland TD 8 and it has a volume adjustment for the foot pedal. I also like to play with notes on the hi hat with my foot. I raised the volume a little to make it stand out.

[John F]

John what type of module do you have? I have a Roland TD 8 and it has a volume adjustment for the foot pedal. I also like to play with notes on the hi hat with my foot. I raised the volume a little to make it stand out.

I have the TD-3 and I don't think I can adjust the "chick" volume. At least I haven't found any setting that does.

[PumaPhreak]

Great job, John. Everything looks very clean.

[John F]

OK, I've played my A to E for 3 days now and have found a few things that need to be fixed or redesigned. First problem - although the snare triggers great for the head and rimshots, I don't get a cross stick sound. I suspect that maybe the rim piezo output is too hot, or that there is too much coupling between the head and rim piezo. Adjusting the module settings does not help. Second problem - the hi hat needs a bit more integrity. It's a bit too flimsy. Next problem - the Pintech 18" ride cymbal is looking more and more like a black Pringle's potato chip. Works well, just looks warped. Last problem - my choke switch metal strips have come loose from my crash cymbals. Looks like I know another brand of glue that doesn't work. I replaced one of the switches with copper foil tape and it works well so far. Other than that, so far so good.

[cheapthrill]

Hey John, your conversion is looking nice!

You are getting rimshots and you have tried adjusting the cross-stick and rim sensitivity values yet can't get cross-sticking...maybe the snare drum you are experimenting with doesn't even produce cross-sticking. I have noticed on my TD-8 that, while most snares have rimshot sounds, some of them don't have a cross-stick sound. Maybe experiment with a different snare from the soundbank?

My choke actually came off again today too! Too funny. I have used various tapes and glues, but none offer good adhesion with good flexibility. I am thinking that I will just bolt it on with a couple nuts and screws. I generally try not to bolt things on my cymbals, but since it is on my crash that will be OK...the screw heads will just give me an accurate zone to hit between anyway.

By the way, sorry to hear about your Pintech potato-chip.

[Gastric]

I've used both Killer Red (very thin) and Locktite GripTite (probably 1/64 to 1/32 thick) on my acoustic cymbals. They're the only thing I've found that successfully adheres to brass, aluminum, and PVC (haven't actually tried the Locktite on the PVC yet). I also successfully used some Locktite caulk-tube adhesive (5507 I think) but it's hard to work with and takes forever to fully set so you have to leave everything clamped.

[John F]

I've used both Killer Red (very thin) and Locktite GripTite (probably 1/64 to 1/32 thick) on my acoustic cymbals. They're the only thing I've found that successfully adheres to brass, aluminum, and PVC (haven't actually tried the Locktite on the PVC yet). I also successfully used some Locktite caulk-tube adhesive (5507 I think) but it's hard to work with and takes forever to fully set so you have to leave everything clamped.

I don't know what the deal is with getting something to adhere to Pintech cymbals. I tried several different glues and they didn't hold well, so I thought I'd use my trusty Pliobond. I once built a PVC cart for moving canoes around and used Pliobond to glue rubber strips onto the PVC - worked like a champ. So I thought that's sorta what I'm doing gluing a rubber pad onto the Pintech cymbal. It worked even worse than all the other glues - peeled right off. Near as I can tell the Pintech plastic is very oily and that probably causes the adhesion issues. I received a deformed 16" Pintech cymbal as part of a pack and it was going to be such a PITA to return (had to return the whole pack, not just the defective cymbal), so I decided to "reform" it by heating it up in the oven placing it on a flat surface and allowing it to cool (by the way, this did not work, it ended up even more warped). Anyway, as I heated the cymbal up, it got very shiny and the surface felt greasy (and hot ). So I'm thinking that my gluing issues are related to the cymbals being oily, whether that's the plastic formulation or the mold release is fused into them. Long story short, the only thing that seems to be holding up well is Elmer's spray adhesive. I masked off the area to be sprayed on the cymbal and gave both the cymbal and the rubber pad a serious soaking before joining them together. Seems to be working OK - well, longer than any other glue so far.

[cheapthrill]

My choke actually came off again today too! Too funny. I have used various tapes and glues, but none offer good adhesion with good flexibility. I am thinking that I will just bolt it on with a couple nuts and screws. I generally try not to bolt things on my cymbals, but since it is on my crash that will be OK...the screw heads will just give me an accurate zone to hit between anyway.

I recently tried screwing on the switch. It works great, it will never fall off, and the screw heads show exactly where the "grab zone" is...I wish I did this in the first place.