Percusize Me!: January 2018

Friday, 19 January 2018

"Do It Yourself" tamt-tam/gong.

Not very happy about it (I DO HATE shopping malls), four days ago I went to IKEA to buy some stuff for my daughters´ bedroom. Fortunately, and because it was Tuesday morning, it was not too busy.

Believe or not, there are many things there a percussionist could make good use of, and today I´m going to write about one of them: the STOCKHOLM 2017 tray, article number 103.452.47, which you can find HERE. It´s made of stainlees steel, it´s 40cm in diametre (15.5") and features the same flange tam-tams have (4cm). Taking into account that artisans like Lance Campeau, Matt Nolan, Dave Collingwood, Greg Keplinger..., have (or have had) stainless steel instruments in their catalogs, it was not too crazy thinking this tray could end up as a musical instrument... Also, because it was 15€, it wouldn´t hurt my pocket much should the experiment failed.

Here´s the tray fresh from IKEA:

I need to hang it in order to play it, so the first and only thing I did was drilling the flange so I could pass a rope through the holes. Taking into account the orientation of the logo (if we are going to do it, let´s do it right... 😊), I draw a line from its centre to the edge. From that line, I moved 7cm to each side (totally random, it was the measure I felt was OK), and then marked the centre of the flange with a felt pen.

I marked those two points with a single blow of a nail so as to make way for the bit (use a bit for metal and not the first one you get your hands on... 😉) and to prevent it from sliding while drilling. I started with a size 1 bit, progressing up to size 9 (the one allowing the rope to comfortably pass through).

I did so with both points on the flange. When done, I used this tool to get rid of imperfections and shavings.

In order to avoid the rope being damaged by the rough inner surface, I wrapped the size 9 bit with grade 500 sand paper and worked the inside of both holes untill they were smooth like a baby bum.

I passed a cotton rope through them...

... and the tray became a tam-tam.

And yes, same we go around with Paiste, Zildjian, Sabian..., logos, I´ll go around with an IKEA one right in the centre of my instrument 😆.

How does it sound? Pretty well... Here you have a video (recorded using an iPhone). Headphones or good quality speakers are recommended. I have played dead centre, very close to the flange and half way between both so you can check the different sounds it can produce (very much noticeable live), Surprisingly enough, you can sometimes here the glissandi opera gongs are capable of.

What can I say? For 15€ and a couple of holes, the result is spectacular. If you give it a try (no pun intended), maybe the article "Do It Yourself gong beater" is a good start to make your own beaters.

If you feel adventurous, I´ll be happy to see and hear what you come up with.

…et in Arcadia ego.

Thursday, 4 January 2018

DIY historic rope tension drum (II).

On "DIY historic rope tendion drum (I)" I showed you the shell, counterhoops and their characteristics. Today I´ll show you how I finished them.

First thing I did was sanding the shell (both inside and outside) with 000 steel wool to remove all traces of sticky residue left by the masking tape and, also, to prepare the surface. I highly recommend using a mask in order to avoid breathing the suspending small steel particles liberated during this process. With regard to sanding, it´s of vital importance to do it following the wood grain.

Once the shell was perfectly smooth, I used a gauze I bought at Leroy Merlin to apply tung oil to the inside. Tung oil has been known for centuries to treat wood, specially musical instruments.

Jars containing tung oil. © David Valdés

Gauze © David Valdés

Piece of gauze ready for spreading oil. © David Valdés

The piece of gauze is slightly moistened with oil and spread over the shell (always following the wood grain!). My personal experience is that using small quantities produces better results because it gets almost dry once applied. If we use too much oil we´ll get blobs and stains. On the following photo we can see how the first coat was applied.

This is the first coat still wet.

Once the oil has been applied (remember... not much!), I inmediately rubbed a piece of clean gauze. This way the coat gets very uniform and almost dry. If you do this well, you may not have to sand before applying the next coat. Use the same 000 steel wool we used for preparing the shell before aplying a second one (the previous coat has to be completely dry before doing so, which normally entails 24 hours).

This shell got nothing less than 10 coats of tung oil (blame my inexperience... Remember this is my first building attempt). I really like how it looks, with a very nice dark colour, but an expert I got in touch with told me four coats were enough to cover the pores and protect it from xylophagous. From that day on, all of my interiors get nothing more than four coats... :-D. Here you can see the result:

On the next photo you can see the inside already finished and the outside still "raw". There´s a big difference, isn´t it?

My idea for the outer part was to stain it using chestnut colour, as I saw some historical drums finished this way and I really liked them. Before starting the staining process I covered all parts already treated to avoid accidents (stains, splashes...). As always, Leroy Merlin was my supplier.

I used water based tint I bought at Leroy Merlin (I know, I know... They are going to make their principal shareholder :-D ).

I mixed different quantities of tint and water untill I got the desired colour and tried it on a piece of maple.

Then I moistened the gauze with the mix and stained the shell using the same technique I used for applying the oil to the inside. I used the table described on "Rotating table for working with drum shells".

On the next photo we can see the process of aplying the first coat of stain.

And this is the result after that first coat.

Once dry, I sanded it with 000 steel wool to even the finish.

Then, I applied another coat of tint. The next photo shoes the shell right after it was applied, the tint still wet.

This is the result once dry.

©David Valdés

After two coats I was happy with the result, so next thing I did was applying some wax I got you already know where... :-D

©David Valdés

This is the shell after the first coat.

©David Valdés

I repeated the waxing process three times (I went the easy road: I liked how it looked and, as I was told, three coats is more than enough to protect the wood). I let the wax get dry for 24 hours before applying every new coat. This is the final result.

©David Valdés

Regarding the counterhoops, I had to work on the shavings and imperfections they had because of the drilling. It seems that, when drilling at an angle, they are unavoidable, as the fibres do not break homogeneously.

I used a paste to cover imperfections, pores and equal the surface.

©David Valdés

On this photo you can see the paste before drying and sanding.

©David Valdés

On the following ones counterhoops are perfectly smooth.

©David Valdés

Now they were ready to get their finish. I used tung oil to get a nice contrasting tone with the shell.

On the next photo you can see the upper hoop already has one coat while the bottom one is still raw.

©David Valdés

Both counterhoops after getting their first coat...

And this is the result after 10 coats (I promise the photos do not do them justice. They are gorgeous!)

©David Valdés

The nex photos show both the shell and the counterhoops once finished. I promess they look much better live.

©David Valdés

With all the parts ready, it was just a matter of assembling them, but that´s something I´ll show on a future article.

What techniques do you use for staining/waxing? What colours would you have chosen? Let me know!

…et in Arcadia ego.

Posts by themes

Percusize Me! en español.

Friday, 19 January 2018

"Do It Yourself" tamt-tam/gong.

Thursday, 4 January 2018

DIY historic rope tension drum (II).