Written at the start of
2005...
Yes, it is that time of year again
when one must prise that monster Drum out of the attic, and try to
get it working again just as if you'd lavished a Winter's care on
it. I spend so many hours each Spring of a muster evening sorting
people's neglected drums you'd think the things were cheap and not
worth caring for. There are detail differences between construction
methods of the main Drum Manufacturers, particularly regards skin
attachment, but all drums are fairly similar in principle. Here are
my tips to avoid your embarrassment at asking for Foxy's Curative
Touch!
Carefully check each drum part in turn, wiping clean with a
slightly moist soft cloth as you go - avoid chemical cleaners &
polish if you can.
BARREL: Check for damage, splits, signs of joints opening
up. If upgrading the finish, I recommend stains (which allow the
wood to breathe) & Acrylic Paints for crests. Do not use chemical
strippers to remove old paint, but scrapers and fine glass-paper
(used along the grain).
HOOPS: Check for damage, splits, distortion, particularly
area around rope holes (the danger area on drums is above the hole
to the hoop edge!)
ROPE: Should have been left with Buffs in off position. Is
the rope frayed badly, ends all loose? If so a bit of nifty binding
with strong thread might avoid replacement for a while.
BUFFS: Need to wedge the rope freely, check and renew if
need be the cord/thread tie. If leather/rope wearing through, is now
the time to re-new?
SKINS: Synthetic skins (Foxycrafts type) are pretty robust
and rarely need attention. Modern plastic drum skins are much less
so and should be avoided. Odd wrinkles especially around the edge
are of no matter, in fact inevitable; even tiny perforations are
often acceptable. The deciding point is, does the skin sound ok when
beaten? Vellum skins are more prone to damage. Check carefully for
any holes, cuts, abrasion. Really bad wrinkles are usually cured by
wetting the whole skin face - keep wet for half hour until skin soft
- then pulling buffs to stretch the wrinkles out, and leave skin to
dry naturally (no hair dryers!) Humidity affects animal skin so
expect variations in the surface even during the course of a day - a
heavy dew overnight and a hot afternoon often results in dimples &
wrinkles, that miraculously have gone next morning. Carefully check
skin is securely attached all round. With 18th Century style skins
(with a separate skin hoop under rope hoop) a major problem with
age/over tensioning is the rope hoop stretching out of alignment -
jumping off the skin edge. This requires a rebuild! (But, you might
bodge it for a while - see me!)
BEATERS: These must be smooth and rounded where they
strike the skin, a bit of sandpaper should resolve problems. If
leather tipped, ensure no hard creases or edges - most torn skins I
see are the result of beaters in a poor state (or inappropriate
design - there are some awful ones sold at Traders Fayres so check
your guarantee)
TENSION: Ah, yes, well, here is the rub!! Rarely do I see
even very experienced drummers getting skin tension right. After
checking skin, and only after, the buffs should by slid down the
ropes a small amount every third one, then recheck skin, and only
slide again if required. Skin wrinkles may well be caused by uneven
buffs, so ease off opposite side to wrinkle, and increase pull
alongside. When you cannot obtain a good sound even with buffs
pulled all the way down, it is time to take up the rope slack.
ROPING: Every drummer should understand
how the ropes work, with detail variations between makes the
principle is the same. Ropes running from skin to skin (down the
drum) are Tension Ropes - NEVER tie anything (other than a buff) to
these (except as below). Ropes running around the drum are Hoop
Ropes, and can be used for attachment purposes. In fact, usually
only two lengths of rope are used, a long one which runs up and down
forming the tension, then around once or twice as the top hoop rope.
The second, shorter length runs once or twice around the bottom as
hoop rope. However, only the tension ropes are vital, some drums
dispense with hoop ropes. You should study the rope "route". The
basic rule is the rope threads over then under other rope on its
"journey". Often one can loosen the rope sufficient to pull any
slackness out, working around the drum. In bad cases removal of the
buffs helps in this, the worst scenario is a complete strip and
start again, replacing with new rope if required. In the 17th
Century, on campaign, with the very "stretchy" rope then current,
one can imagine the poor drummer struggling to maintain tension day
after day. As the buffs reached their limit, and no time to re-rope,
an expedient (just as appropriate today) is to return buffs to top
(off) and tie adjacent tension ropes together, maybe a quarter or
third way up from bottom, thus taking much slack out. Then the buffs
would again obtain tension. The resulting "ties" - maybe odd bits of
thong or ribbon - would hang down and have been shown in paintings
as if they were "decorative", whereas in fact they are taking up
slack in the ropes. Ah, they exclaim! Yes, an interesting point to
make when you see drummers decorated like modern Morris Men...
I trust I will now see many well turned out Drums this spring -
obviously if you find problems you are welcome to discuss with me
(bearing in mind that wearing my Foxycrafts hat, I only repair my
own make of drum - if it really has come to that)
Foxy (Brian Osborne)
BACK TO TOP
BACK TO
ARTICLES
