pimp my maya

did i say this was going to be a picture-filled blog? yes? no? oh well i dont have a digital camera at the moment.

should i build a 3-piece acrylic kit or get with my dream kit of 4 toms and a 20" bass drum. this is bugging me since may of this year and still could not really finalize anything. i am leaning on building an acrylic set but the shells are expensive. anyway i'll surely rack my brain and my pocket on this once i get the money to buy them.

in the meanwhile, im pimping my 5-piece maya kit. its nothing special really, its an entry level kit with black wrap, crappy wood and faded chrome hardware. i ordered a 12" and 13" rims-style mounting from vinci (the first dude i have the pleasure of meeting on the pinoydrums group) and got my hands on them just last saturday. i tried them on and those toms sounded REALLY nice so im going all the way and plan to refinish the kit with gloss lacquer to match the white-pink fade snare drum.

i already started on the 12" and 13" by removing the black wraps last monday evening. damn those shells are ugly on the inside. the 13" has a crack on the outer shell which was repaired with wood glue and then they slapped the wrap over it. if i knew then what i know now, i would never had bought that kit, quality assurance suck. well i cant really complain coz i got it brand new for 7500 pesos from jb music about 7 years ago, its cheap and you get what you pay for. . .

anyway, since im going to use the new rims-compatible mounts on the toms, its only logical to cover the holes of the previous pearl-type tom mounts. i first tried to get pros to do it, i went to 3 sash/woodwork shops and nobody wanted to do it. they said it couldn't be done. say what?! WTF? i just wanted them to cut a 2x2 lumber, taper it by using a planer into a dowel that will fit the holes. willing to pay. i just want it done faster. no deal.

if you want something done best, its best to do it yourself, so they say. im not really good with a planer so i used a swiss knife to create the round dowels to plug the holes with. i used pioneer powder-based wood glue to permanently hold the inserts in place. its strong stuff and it serves as wood filler too. its already dry but i dont want to cut it yet because i have to take pics first.

i'll borrow my cousin's digicam first, dont go away, be back later. . .