NEW BASS DRUM PROJECT GOES IN DIFFERENT DIRECTION

Not one to rest upon my laurels after successfully completing a restoration project, I have already lined up my next job.  This time I have decided to go in a completely different direction.

Just as I prefer a woman with smaller breasts, I am usually attracted towards bass drums of smaller sizes.  The boring, typical diameter is, of course, twenty-two inches, but I have found much enjoyment playing the smaller 20's that I have restored.  Eighteen-inchers get snatched up quickly on Ebay.  By the way, sorry about the boobie analogy but I was just seeing if you were really paying attention or not.  Based on the number of comments I get, I guess you're not.

For my next project I have decided to go in the opposite direction and build a kit based around a larger bass drum.  Just for the heck of it.  I soon discovered that this is not as easy as I had anticipated.  Twenty-four-inch bass drums are pretty popular and quite desirable to my fellow Ebay bidders.

The problem with the way drum sizes are trending these days is in the depth.  It is only my personal preference and matter of opinion concerning the appearance of drums, but I can't stand deep drums.  You know, tom-toms that are deeper in length than they are in head diameter?  A twelve-inch tom that is fourteen inches deep and so forth?

The average 22" bass drum used to be 14" deep.  That's the way God and William F. Ludwig intended.  Nowadays a dang bass drum is EIGHTEEN inches long, and it drives me crazy!  These drums just look silly and stupid to me, like a big ugly tube.  For this reason, I don't want a modern 24" bass drum that is almost as long as it is round, I want a vintage drum that stands thin and tall.

As it turns out, I could not find a vintage 24" bass drum for a reasonable price unless it was missing too many parts.  I did a complete rebuild on my last bass drum and didn't feel like going through all that again.  But I did want a challenge.  What I ended up selecting was this vintage Ludwig marching bass drum that measures a monstrous 26 inches across but only nine inches deep.

While this drum does need a lot of work, it does not require me to track down a bunch of replacement parts.  The lugs, T-rods and claws are all there.  This big boy just needs some serious restoration.  As is rather obvious, someone painted this drum white and rather sloppily, which is why it was so cheap and unwanted.  They even painted over the Ludwig badge, a traitorous act ensuring certain death for a vintage drum.  I am hoping to be able to re-wrap it, most probably silver sparkle, and bring it back to its intended usefulness.  Maybe I can salvage the badge or replace it.

But we shall see when it arrives.