Hi,
I finished this kit tonight! Yesterday I had half a tom ready. I cut and burned my left hand many times on knives and scorching hot soldering irons. I haven't even had time mopping the blood from the floor yet:
This is Blitzkrieg DIY building!
I am a poor student, so my budget was tight! I live in the worlds richest country, Norway, and the economy is adapted for oil sheiks. Therefor I shopped a lot on the Ebay, buying stuff from the soon even poorer Americans. If some of these prices seem high, have in mind that everything is about twice the price of what it is in the States. Petrol 95 octane is $2,5/ Litre. And we drill our own oil.
A Walk-Through:
Toms A, B: One new Tama Tom 10" $70 (sawed in three) + a large robust wooden plank cut to about 20 cm + 35 mm head piezo and 27 mm rim piezo. The logic behind the 27mm is that they are less sensitive than the 35mm and seems to reduce the events when a hit generates a too strong of a signal. I tried to isolate them further by screwing through a layer of doublesided tape. I wanted such a heavy wooden plank so it would not move. Fredarl said that his aluminium L-rod Toms got better when he held on to them, indicating that it moved. A heavy wooden plank would gain momentum slower than a light aluminium rod. And, the Tom itself was wooden and it looked nice to ha similar materials.
Toms C, D: two Pintech drums $150, cone adjusted to a wedding cake (Oh, come on it is what it looks like!), by the very helpful Fredarl.
Kick: My own design: Roland KD-8 ($140) + section of a Tama tom 10" + metal plate + screws and nuts, 2 sandpaper foams glued and later cut to form cones 38 mm high and 38 mm wide. Never touched the wiring. I glued the hole plate with foam and piezo to the metal plate holding the 10" Tama section.
Snare: Pearl chrome snare $80 + metal U-bar I found in a dumpster. Adjusted the lenght, drilled some holes, female 1/4 in, two rim 35mm piezos, one 35mm piezo. The rim likes to be muffled with a benzine hose to reduce the events when the head piezo activates. I was careful to isolate the piezos with 3-4mm doublesided tape and also cardboard. I rather cut away some from the cone to have room with proper isolation, and I only let the cone be 3-4 mm above the rim edge. The mesh head should be flat with only a hint of the cone beneath it. The U-bar rests on a little packing foam for isolation, which I screwed through.
Hi-hat: A most ordinary PD-6 found on ebay for $20. My TD-6V is most in love with it, since they are about the same vinage.
Hi-Hat pedal: Alesis or Korg keyboard pedal works fine. Note! Mono male 1/4 works fine.
Cymbal: Yes, that is a mouse mat. A ten year old mouse mat, which smells kind of funky. I found a 14" hi-hat for 15 dollars at the discount shelf at the local store. The arm I bought for $30 on ebay with the rack. I was lazy and waiting for Fredarl remembering the correct koll-ID for the package, I bought a $15 finished single zone 27mm piezo with a ready output. Works great and it is already covered with rubber. Double sided tape and it sticks.
Rack Clamps: Me being very poor helps my ingenuity. Try $5 dollar for stable rack clamp. "Caahtching!" Note! For extra stability and less wobbling - Use two pairs of each rings, and not single rings like I have done. I am lazy.
Rack: Found it on ebay for $50, ordinary V-drums rack. Does its job.
Module: Roland TD-6V. 11 inputs. Several dual trigger. I have tried the Roland TD-20 and I cannot figure out why someone would want to pay that for only a slightly better product. If not the expansions are absolutely incredible, I wouldn't bother. $250 from England.
Cables: I'm so poor I even have to make my own cables! Look at the chrome/black ones. Sexy *****es. $4 each.
-----
Oh, the bass is also DIY painted by myself - "Flames! It has to have flames!", my girl said. So I said, "Then let there be flames."
(not the girl on the picture)
The guitar is a cheap ass J&D I have had since I was 16, now with rediculously nice pickups - Seymore Duncan Hot Rails neck pickups and the classic Superdistortion humbucker used by Bad Religion, etc.
I finished this kit tonight! Yesterday I had half a tom ready. I cut and burned my left hand many times on knives and scorching hot soldering irons. I haven't even had time mopping the blood from the floor yet:
This is Blitzkrieg DIY building!
I am a poor student, so my budget was tight! I live in the worlds richest country, Norway, and the economy is adapted for oil sheiks. Therefor I shopped a lot on the Ebay, buying stuff from the soon even poorer Americans. If some of these prices seem high, have in mind that everything is about twice the price of what it is in the States. Petrol 95 octane is $2,5/ Litre. And we drill our own oil.
A Walk-Through:
Toms A, B: One new Tama Tom 10" $70 (sawed in three) + a large robust wooden plank cut to about 20 cm + 35 mm head piezo and 27 mm rim piezo. The logic behind the 27mm is that they are less sensitive than the 35mm and seems to reduce the events when a hit generates a too strong of a signal. I tried to isolate them further by screwing through a layer of doublesided tape. I wanted such a heavy wooden plank so it would not move. Fredarl said that his aluminium L-rod Toms got better when he held on to them, indicating that it moved. A heavy wooden plank would gain momentum slower than a light aluminium rod. And, the Tom itself was wooden and it looked nice to ha similar materials.
Toms C, D: two Pintech drums $150, cone adjusted to a wedding cake (Oh, come on it is what it looks like!), by the very helpful Fredarl.
Kick: My own design: Roland KD-8 ($140) + section of a Tama tom 10" + metal plate + screws and nuts, 2 sandpaper foams glued and later cut to form cones 38 mm high and 38 mm wide. Never touched the wiring. I glued the hole plate with foam and piezo to the metal plate holding the 10" Tama section.
Snare: Pearl chrome snare $80 + metal U-bar I found in a dumpster. Adjusted the lenght, drilled some holes, female 1/4 in, two rim 35mm piezos, one 35mm piezo. The rim likes to be muffled with a benzine hose to reduce the events when the head piezo activates. I was careful to isolate the piezos with 3-4mm doublesided tape and also cardboard. I rather cut away some from the cone to have room with proper isolation, and I only let the cone be 3-4 mm above the rim edge. The mesh head should be flat with only a hint of the cone beneath it. The U-bar rests on a little packing foam for isolation, which I screwed through.
Hi-hat: A most ordinary PD-6 found on ebay for $20. My TD-6V is most in love with it, since they are about the same vinage.
Hi-Hat pedal: Alesis or Korg keyboard pedal works fine. Note! Mono male 1/4 works fine.
Cymbal: Yes, that is a mouse mat. A ten year old mouse mat, which smells kind of funky. I found a 14" hi-hat for 15 dollars at the discount shelf at the local store. The arm I bought for $30 on ebay with the rack. I was lazy and waiting for Fredarl remembering the correct koll-ID for the package, I bought a $15 finished single zone 27mm piezo with a ready output. Works great and it is already covered with rubber. Double sided tape and it sticks.
Rack Clamps: Me being very poor helps my ingenuity. Try $5 dollar for stable rack clamp. "Caahtching!" Note! For extra stability and less wobbling - Use two pairs of each rings, and not single rings like I have done. I am lazy.
Rack: Found it on ebay for $50, ordinary V-drums rack. Does its job.
Module: Roland TD-6V. 11 inputs. Several dual trigger. I have tried the Roland TD-20 and I cannot figure out why someone would want to pay that for only a slightly better product. If not the expansions are absolutely incredible, I wouldn't bother. $250 from England.
Cables: I'm so poor I even have to make my own cables! Look at the chrome/black ones. Sexy *****es. $4 each.
-----
Oh, the bass is also DIY painted by myself - "Flames! It has to have flames!", my girl said. So I said, "Then let there be flames."
(not the girl on the picture)
The guitar is a cheap ass J&D I have had since I was 16, now with rediculously nice pickups - Seymore Duncan Hot Rails neck pickups and the classic Superdistortion humbucker used by Bad Religion, etc.
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