UPGRADING THE JELLYBEANS

It is time to re-visit a previous project which which I was not completely satisfied.  This Ludwig Vistalite "Jellybean" kit looks pretty dang awesome and it truly is, believe me, but I think I can upgrade it just a little bit.

DOUBLE-HEADERS ARE BETTER
The toms I purchased for this kit are single-headed "concert" toms which, in my opinion, don't look or sound as good as traditional double-headed drums.  But if you go searching for Vistalite drums on Ebay you will quickly find that concert toms are much easier to find and much more affordable.  Add to that the fact that I needed a yellow or an amber drum to serve as my floor tom, two colors which are extremely difficult to find, and my only solution was to go with the concert toms.

Once I completed the Jellybean arrangement, I was very happy with its appearance but not so much with the sound.  The snare sounds fine, the massive 26" bass drum is phenomenal but those concert toms?  They sound a little better than cardboard boxes, and I knew what the problem was: a lack of resonance.  I needed bottom heads on those two toms.  Everyone knows two heads are better than one.

THIS CONCERT WILL BE A DOUBLE-HEADER
So how do I convert my Vistalite concerts into double-headed drums?  Though the shells on my toms already had "bearing edges" around their bottoms, I needed to install a second set of lugs, which meant I needed a second series of holes drilled to hold those lugs.  How should I go about drilling these holes into the acrylic shells?  Would I need a special drill bit?  A certain kind of drill?  How could I make sure to line up the holes exactly?  What if I cracked, split or scratched up the drum in the process?

There were just too many things that could go wrong.  Time to consult a professional.  I contacted my friends at RCI Starlite International, a company that specializes in acrylic drums, and asked them for help.  After all, they made the green acrylic snare for this kit and drilled it perfectly for Ludwig parts.  It's what they do.  They would have the specifications.  They would have the right tools.  They would have the expertise and "know-how."

STRIPPED AND SHIPPED
They were happy to accomodate me, and gave me the address to send the shells right away.  They knew exactly what I wanted done and said they do it all the time.  After my two Vistalite toms were stripped of all their hardware down to just the shell and the badge, I carefully boxed them up and shipped them away to be drilled.

Next it was time to go shopping.  I had parts to round up.  I needed lugs, lug screws, tension rods, rims and heads.  Everything to hold those bottom heads on which could all be found on Ebay.  This I accomplished quickly, being the professional Ebayer that I am (100% Positive Feedback, Purple Star Rating of 622), and soon everything I needed was on the way.  But there was one item that gave me trouble...

A TISKET, A TASKET, I NEED A VISTA-GASKET!!
Because a Ludwig Vistalite shell is transparent acrylic, it has a unique piece of hardware called a "lug gasket."  This is a small plastic stencil that fits between each lug and the shell.  Wooden drums do not employ gaskets but Vistalites do in order to hide the hollow backsides of the lugs which can be seen through the clear plastic shell.

These little white plastic "thingys" proved most difficult to acquire.  Ludwig small classic lugs are prevalent and easy to find.  Rods, rims and heads?  Standard items available from innumerable sources.  But those plastic gaskets?  Nobody seems to sell them!  Does Ludwig even still make them?  They are a hot topic on many vintage drum discussion forums, that's for sure.  Which is where I got the idea of making my own.

What I needed was a thin sheet of white plastic, some scissors, a marker pen, a hole punch and an existing Vistalite lug gasket.  Except for the lattermost, which I obtained from an existing top lug, all of these items I found at Hobby Lobby.  The plastic sheets can be found in the section where they sell all kinds of stencils.  These were called "blank stencils" and can be used to design your own patterns and whatnot.  The other items are fairly common office supplies that any half-awake moron should be able to track down if they exercise a little effort.  Try Staples or some place similar.

Now the rest of the procedure should be pretty obvious given the simplicity of the set-up and the complexity of the tools, so I won't ramble on and on in boring detail of how this is done like it's so freakin' difficult or something.  I trace the existing lug gasket onto the plastic sheet, I cut it out with the scissors, I punch the holes with the hole-puncher, and there I have my new imitation Vistalite lug gasket that no one will ever know is not an actual Ludwig unless perhaps they are a nit-picky vintage drum expert who completely disassembles the drum and looks at it closely.  Most people don't even know Vistalites have lug gaskets, for cryin' out loud, so I'm not going to worry too much about it.  I'm just going to sit here and admire my Jellybean kit while singing "Plastic Gasket" to the tune of KISS' "Plaster Caster."

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART
Yes, as Tom Petty once declared in song to the delight of many, the waiting is indeed most difficult.  All my parts are assembled and ready to install but as of yet the shells have not returned from their drilling site in Maryland.  Whenever they arrive back home and I get them back together, I will update the blog.  Until then the Jellybeans will remain under construction.