Drums for sale | How to choose | Tuning system | Maintenance | Frames | Drum stick / beater | Drum bags | Build your own drum
How to choose a drum
Often people know which one is their drum when seeing it. But here are some (also practical) aspects to consider:
Sound and general appearance
This is a very personal choice so there is not much advice to give. The rule is
the bigger the drum the ‘bigger’ the sound.
Size/Weight
Are you going to travel with it? Does it need to fit in a cabin luggage (It is possible to use it as a storage for clothes,though), can you hold it comfortably for longer periods of time?
Affordability
If you feel like there is an instrument that you really want and you can't afford it in the moment let me know and we can find a solution (paying in smaller amount for ex.)
Tuning System
The skin is a living organism and its keeps accommodating itself to the surrounding conditions all the time. Too humid = the skin softens = sound goes down.
Too dry = the skin gets harder/tenser = the sound goes high.
Traditionally fire or sun would be used to bring a drum into playable conditions.
To adjust the sound in an easy way I add a bike tube put in between the frame and the skin (with the valve sticking inside the drum). By blowing air in you tune it up, by letting air out you tune it down.
In case all the air is out and the sound is not low enough yet, little bit of water could be by applied over the skin surface. With couple of minutes sound begins to lower.
Maintenance
It is a rather sturdy instrument but there is still few things to keep in mind:
-
Do not leave it unattended exposed to strong heat (fire, stove, car parked on direct sunlight..), it may break the skin or frame by over tensing.
-
After playing in very humid conditions (and so having it pumped a lot), release the air before coming to dry conditions (for ex. moving from forest to a house). If you feel uncertain about this just have the air released always when not using the drum.
-
A drum bag, fabric, scarf will prevent your instrument from scratches.
-
Once a year apply cream/fett onto the skin front surface. Could be any fett you won't mind the smell of-coconut works great.
Frames
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin mi nulla, rutrum vel turpis et, varius iaculis est. Suspendisse nec accumsan eros, ut congue metus. Etiam vulputate, tortor vel aliquet cursus, eros lorem ultrices ex, in tincidunt diam turpis non risus. Vestibulum dignissim lobortis auctor. Sed malesuada, sem a porttitor fringilla, velit enim tempor sapien, nec vulputate nunc augue eu quam. Quisque risus felis, malesuada non mi vitae, blandit laoreet nunc.
Drum stick / beater
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin mi nulla, rutrum vel turpis et, varius iaculis est. Suspendisse nec accumsan eros, ut congue metus. Etiam vulputate, tortor vel aliquet cursus, eros lorem ultrices ex, in tincidunt diam turpis non risus. Vestibulum dignissim lobortis auctor. Sed malesuada, sem a porttitor fringilla, velit enim tempor sapien, nec vulputate nunc augue eu quam. Quisque risus felis, malesuada non mi vitae, blandit laoreet nunc.
Drum Bag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin mi nulla, rutrum vel turpis et, varius iaculis est. Suspendisse nec accumsan eros, ut congue metus. Etiam vulputate, tortor vel aliquet cursus, eros lorem ultrices ex, in tincidunt diam turpis non risus. Vestibulum dignissim lobortis auctor. Sed malesuada, sem a porttitor fringilla, velit enim tempor sapien, nec vulputate nunc augue eu quam.
Build your own drum
Let me know if have interest for making a drum yourself and we see how can we meet.
