Friday, April 14, 2006

cherry/maple shell

have a look at the pimpin' area



i started working on this cherry/maple shell this morning and im done with it. just needs to stay in the mold for the next 24 hours and then i will cut it down to 5". its going to be a 14x5 shell with matching wood hoops.

really proud of the seam. its straight and flat.



the shell has 2 outer and 4 inner plies of cherry. i used maple on the core. forgot how many plies i've used on this one, im guessting 12 to 14. lost count after the fifth ply.

more to come, two more days to go before this week ends.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

what a waste

lenten season...keeping myself busy by making snare shells. i bought veneers last saturday enough to make 4 shells. i got walnut, crown cherry and maple. cherry is so expensive that i decided to just use 2 outer and 2 inner plies of it and walnut while maintaining a maple core.



well i was running out of glue when i started this shell. the fifth ply did not bond well because of lack of glue that's why wrinkles and air pockets appeared on the layer.

it sucks. what a waste. the walnut grain looks great and it pains me that it will never be used again

Monday, April 03, 2006

im at it again

after a long hiatus, im back pimpin as usual. first off, a progress report on my acrylic toy. here's a shot of it with masking tape before drilling. double 45 degree bearing edges with the outer part cut smaller than the inner part. i wanted this to be a dry cracky snare so i didnt do a sharp edge. it you touch the bearing edge, you will feel a plateau.



now this one is a dry fit shot with only two lugs. i was testing the clearance between the lug and hoop. the snare beds were also sanded. so far so good.



lazer gave me the standard length screws but it wont work on my shell. the acrylic im using is thinner than the standard wood snare shell so i had to buy shorter ones. took me a couple of weeks to actually walk to the hardware store and buy the proper screw lengths and assemble this thing. well, last saturday i did, its assembled now and only two things left to do:
  • go to a lazer branch and buy another 8" head
  • drill the snare gates on the bottom hoop


next up is the wood hoop, i cant believe i've been working on this one for 4 months now. i got this down from an art to a science. my glueing-the-plies technique was perfected after 4 costly failures and for being a patient grass hopper. my shell making abilities also improved 100% learning from my past mistakes.

here's the raw hoop, still needs a lot of sanding and then its off to drilling the lug holes, routing the canal for the drum head and finally applying satin tung oil finish. it will at least take me another week to complete the finishing steps.

in closing, i give you a close up of the hoop

nice eh ... honk if you like