Percusize Me!: Modification of a Premier bass drum (1)

This project is a consequence of a larger one; namely, to provide myself with the proper drums to recreate as close as possible the original sound, character and looks in I. Stravinsky´s "The Soldier´s Tale".

For the bass drum I used a 28"x12" Premier (model 188) from the 70s. Here you have a photo from the catalogue and a technical description:

It was finished in "Burgundy Pearl" and it featured "Everplay" heads:

Here you can see the bass drum when I used it in "Pagliacci" at the teatro Campoamor in Oviedo:

This is the bass drum ready to be modified. As you can see, the finish was not specially beautiful.

The first thing I did was stripping off the shell, a task which was not very difficult, as the wrap was glued only in a narrow band.

The next step was sanding the shell until it was perfectly smooth. Once done, I applied several layers of tung oil.

These are the original lugs. Although I like very much their "Art Déco" style and I have already used identical lugs on some of my drums, it was not the look I was looking for (apart from the fact that they were not in perfect condition).

In order to get a more antique and simple look I got some tubular lugs at STDrums:

I also added some leather gaskets (STDrums) to avoid contact/friction noise. They look beautiful!!!

Here you can see everything already mounted on the shell:

I then started working on the counterhoops. I got rid of the red wrap and the black paint (not from the central "channel" as it would get covered with the new wrap). I sanded them until they were perfectly smooth and, again, I applied several coats of tung oil. The next photo shows two different stages of the process:

I glued a strip of white marine pearl wrap (STDrums) I had from previous projects. Because I was going to fit the drum with natural heads, I susbstituted the original square-headed tension rods with tap-style ones. Changes in temperature and humidity greatly affect natural heads, so you have to constantly adjust the tunning of the bass drum. Tap-style rods are much more practical. I got these "Paris style" tension rods at STDrums:

Here you can see the original claws and the new tension rods on the counterhoop:

With everything ready, I only had to put the goat skins on (Baena Sonido) and mount everything. Here you have some photos:

This bass drum features the measures, character and look I was looking for for my project; on top of that, it sounds fantastically well! Also, apart from being a perfect chamber-music-bass-drum, it can also be incorporated into a trap set (remember this article on Milhaud´s concerto), so it is doubly useful.

A future article will show the different mounting possibilities of this bass drum. Stay tuned, as this has just began 😉.

…et in Arcadia ego.

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Percusize Me! en español.

Saturday 13 August 2022

Modification of a Premier bass drum (1)

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