Gastric's 2nd DYI

[Gastric]

Here's a link to my first DIY kit. It's excessively long but filled with all sorts of tidbits and kernels of knowledge I gained from the experience. I've yet to take the time to go back and produce a concise list of that knowledge like I originally wanted due to the non-stop buying, selling, and converting.

Which is a great segue to this new thread....

Thanks to way too much time trolling Craigslist I compiled the following kit by purchasing two different kits and selling off what I didn't want, namely a horrible, HORRIBLE Sound Percussion beginners kit that mysteriously has an near new set of Paiste 802's on it. It was like a rust-bucket car with, for whatever reason, shiny chromies on it. The drum set I'm keeping was purchased cheap off an undergrad leaving the state in a few days. Buying and selling is almost more fun for me than owning stuff sometimes. It's like the thrill of the hunt or something. I keep trying to figure out how I could turn it into a side business buying cheap and selling high. Anyway, digressing yet again...


Pearl Export Jazz (though I wouldn't know myself)
22" kick
10/12/14 toms, no ISS mounts (which I personally dislike)
14" metal snare
All older, but totally solid, Pearl hardware: hh, boom, straight
20" Paiste 802 ride
18" Paiste Alpha crash
8" Zildjan A series splash
Paiste 802 14" hats

Only thing missing is claws and head for the front of the bass, and a rubber foot on one of the bass spurs. It's also due for a seriously good cleaning. I had to wash my hands like 10 times while assembling it. I don't think it was dusted or wiped down since it was bought or something. It's not pitted or damaged, just grimy.

I plan to probably add another crash and a china and a cowbell at some point in the [probably very] near future just so it'll look cool. It's all about the looks, baby! Well, that's part of it, anyway. And so I won't have a china playing when I accidentally hit my tom rims for the 100th time. haha Though after actually learning to play I'll stop hitting the rims so much, I'm sure.

I'm hoping my knowledge from the first DIY and the fact there's no giant flappy 16" floor tom will help me achieve perfection with my triggers. I will still use a Trigger IO for the initial build, then plan to build a MegaDrum at some point shortly after the conversion is complete and assuming I'm not satisfied with the Trigger IO performance. Or if I can get with John F who also lives in Raleigh and try out his Roland module and find out it kicks Trigger IO butt maybe a Roland module would be in my future, at least for the drums themselves.

I don't plan to post 1,000 messages in this thread like I did with the last one. The only new thing I'll be doing is building my own mesh heads to start with and build a new internal hi hat slider module which I'm documenting in a different thread.

But I will post some before and after photos. And eventually some decent audio. Which will have to come from my experienced drummer neighbor playing the kit since I can barely keep a beat at this point.

And onto the pictures! Ohhh! My Trigger IO was just delivered as I wrote this. Let the games begin!!!

[Hellfire]

Here's a link to my first DIY kit.Buying and selling is almost more fun for me than owning stuff sometimes. It's like the thrill of the hunt or something. I keep trying to figure out how I could turn it into a side business buying cheap and selling high. Anyway, digressing yet again...

I think you already have a business going. You have already sold one edrum set and getting ready to sell another from the looks of it. If you really want to buy cheap and sell high, you will need to stick with the Alesis Trigger I/O. Roland modules kick butt, but they aren't cheap. (unless your lucky, but you can't run a business on luck!)

[Gastric]

I don't plan to start a business building e-drums. Way too much work. I was simply referring to buying and selling stuff in general. It's fun and can be profitable to a degree if you hone in on the right deals. But a whole drum kit for beans, keep the good parts, sell the rest for as much money as you spent on the whole thing. Nabbed a no-name steel snare drum, double-braced stand, and all those Paiste cymbals for $40 net cost that way. Cha-ching!

I sit in front of a computer all day so it's not much effort to browse my local Craigslist periodically and contact peeps that post interesting equipment or deals. Almost got a whole 5 piece kit of unknown branding with hardware and cymbals for $100 but a preacher got to it 5 minutes before me. But it probably had something worth keeping and you can sell even the cheapest of beginner kits for $200 without any cymbals.

This kit I plan to keep and learn to drum on. I just wanted something a bit more durable and long lasting than the Groove Percussion kit.

[Gastric]

Some progress photos.

I opted to use the Beatnik style crossbars again since I had nearly all of the parts I needed leftover from my last DIY. The only thing I've done differently is to make sure the L-brackets were mounted below the crossbar, and I used a flat 1" aluminum bar and cut-and-drilled my own piezo plates. I did that simply as it was the less expensive method for getting plates plus it makes the overall bar more uniform and attractive than a big ass electric box cover like in my last kit. Ace simply doesn't carry small metal covers and I always forgot to look at Home Depot on my trips there. I did my best to make sure my bars were all orientated in the same general direction for aesthetics instead of haphazard like with my last kit. Devil is in the details!

I'm also installing two rim piezos on the toms where I used one before. It should hopefully eliminate the mild hot spot I had with my last kit. The snares will have 3-4 rim piezos.

I have two steel snares and opted to try to paint one of them a hammered copper color. Without much success. It looks more like a brownish/greenish than a gold color. I've yet to find paint that gives that dark rich copper color. You get gold or not gold. Easy enough to repaint or wrap over it. We'll see what I end up with later on, or I can just stick the steel snare on there.

Lastly I cleaned the cymbals, shells, and hardware. Whew! What a freaking difference! With the exception of a couple of minor scrapes on the top of the bass drum the kit now looks nearly brand new again.

Variation on JMan;s KISS kick mounting. Still isolated via bonded washers and expansion nuts.


Nice, clean crossbar with most everything mounted under the bar. I don't plan to ruin any mesh heads with too-long-screws and crap sticking up too high this time.


How Zen having everything orientated the same way. Well, Zen would probably have them horizontal rather than pointing at you. But hell if I'm taking them out and reorienting them again.


2 rim piezos on each tom towards the playing side. Or at least the side I play them on now. Easy enough to add more rim piezos in the future.


Two steel snares. Left is a chrome finish, though it shows black with the camera flash. Right is the "hammered gold" which looks like crap IMO. Certainly not gold, more of a brown/green, particularly without the flash.

[Gastric]

Kick and two toms are wired and usable. Here's some photos of the two toms and the wiring in case it gives anyone some ideas on how to route the wires to keep them pretty. From the top you really don't see much of anything wiring wise unlike my last build which had gobs of wire all over the place. I also found some nicer black-and-white wire that is a little more subdued in appearance to the bell wire I used last time.

Two zip ties and a few small strips of velcro keep it all in place and under the crossbar.

[ratindahat]

Looking good. Quick question for you though. Are those well nuts available at like Lowe's, etc.? I'm ready to start building mine soon. trigger I/O should be here by monday.

Thanks,
-Dusty-

[Gastric]

I've bought nearly all of the hardware at Ace Hardware or Home Depot, with the b&w wire and soldering needs at Radio Shack since I always forget to order them online with my piezos/boxes. The only thing I bought at Lowe's was the Pet-D-Fence for the DIY mesh heads, though I'd buy Home Depot's pet screen next time as it's polyester fiber instead of fiber glass based.

[ratindahat]

sweet. hopefully i can get started on mine really soon. you've given me hope for not ordering all the hardware online. Should have my 30 peizos(spelling is probably wrong) in a couple of days.

[ratindahat]

one more quick question. Where are you sourcing your foam? is that an in-town item as well?

thanks,
-Dusty-

[Gastric]

My entire build is an exercise in searching this forum for the information. With the possible exception of putting the HH pedal sliding pot inside the hats I've generated no unique ideas nor sourced any products myself.

I haven't had the time to fully document everything but here's a short list pulled from my ongoing notes:


Trigger Foam for DIY: Page 3435: 3/8" thickness Is:86375K143 1/2": 86375K144 http://www.mcmaster.com/

http://www.mcmaster.com

This is the gum rubber for the striking surface 87145K83.
This is the PVC dampening for the underside 87875K37.

Tiny project boxes MB-96 http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...X0.9-/-/1.html


Most everything else should be documented in the Beatknik mirror page and the sticky at the top of this forum. But feel free to ask questions.

[ratindahat]

I saw the links for the poron foam which is why i asked.

thanks,
-Dusty-

[bakerboy]

The build looks awesome, Gastric! You need to give us a video demo when it's complete

[Gastric]

With the arrival of another TRS snake from Seismic Audio I've finally wired my kit to the Trigger IO and have the ability to play e-drums again. With the exception of the fact my latest Trigger IO seems to have exceptionally ramped up GAIN to the point where I have to run everything at GAIN=0 instead of GAIN=15 or more with my old kit it's generally working well.

I've implemented basic 1-zone crash/splash cymbals and a simple 2-zone ride with no chokes at this time. All toms are wired for 2-zone but are running 1-zone into the IO for right now. Like with my other kit I dislike having the bow piezo directly under the playing surface as it generates a significant hot spot so I'll move the bow piezo to the opposite side for my hihat and ride.

My last kit I had to employ XTALK on the ride to get bow/bell separation. This
kit I have XTALK on the default of 1 and have seemingly been able to negate crosstalk with GAIN and THRESHOLD settings. I attribute this to the cymbal quality more than anything, though that's just my guess. Also, I have absolutely no crosstalk between the mounted toms and bass, the last kit I had XTALK=5 on the toms to kill the massive bass-driven crosstalk. This kit even has a floor tom hanging off the ride stand, and a splash on an accessory arm on the crash stand, again no crosstalk.

I do however have the same overall issue where I have to apply heavy RETRIGGER settings to kill double triggering. I'm assuming it's the Trigger IO as opposed to my build or components as this is my 2nd kit, I'm using 27mm Digikey piezos on the heads this time, and 2 different types of mesh heads. So I've run the gamut of components, though both kits have used Beatnik crossbars.

I don't have a non-Alesis module to test with. I've PMed John F who lives in Raleigh to see if I can impose on him to bring my snare to his place to test via his TD3 to compare performance to rule the IO as the culprit or not. John F are you reading this?

Anyway, here's the pictures. It looks like a black Pearl Export drum kit with some wires and mesh heads.

I'm supposedly picking up a couple more black Pearl toms on a Pearl double-tom stand tonight to add to the kit, purely because the price was super cheap. And I can't stop myself.

I plan to figure out a way to get some matching blackness to the cheap steel snare. I've failed with my spray-painting so I'll have to buy a black-wrapped snare, or find some inexpensive wrap to do it myself. Probably cheapest and easiest to buy a 14" black snare and sell the ones I have.

[PumaPhreak]

Awesome conversion. I have that same kit.

[Hellfire]

I do however have the same overall issue where I have to apply heavy RETRIGGER settings to kill double triggering. I'm assuming it's the Trigger IO as opposed to my build or components as this is my 2nd kit, I'm using 27mm Digikey piezos on the heads this time, and 2 different types of mesh heads. So I've run the gamut of components, though both kits have used Beatnik crossbars.

I don't have a non-Alesis module to test with. I've PMed John F who lives in Raleigh to see if I can impose on him to bring my snare to his place to test via his TD3 to compare performance to rule the IO as the culprit or not. John F are you reading this?

Good job Gastric! I have both a I/O and a TD-8 and I can tell you (referring to your re-trigger statement), it is the I/O. I've had the same problem. I'm in the process of adding control pots to the head piezo's because of the heavy built in gain the I/O has. I am just now getting, what I consider, good playability out of the I/O. One definitely needs to build their DIY to the I/O if that is what you plan on using.