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Anyone ever hammer their own snare?


cearleywine

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I have an early 70's acrolite that's a bit out of round. I'm going to try to even it out with a rubber hammer, but I also had the thought of taking a ball-peen hammer to it. Anyone have any experience and/or tips?

 

I remember Marko working on a yamaha or something, can't recall if that got finished or not. The forum's search is currently not working.

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I find it easier to take the heads and hoops off, measure for where the out of round spots are (wide and narrow), mark them (tape is easiest), place the metal drum on a carpeted surface, and press the wide spots using my hands and body weight. Banging away with a hammer (even rubber) is near impossible from the inside so you are stuck with hitting the outside IN A SMALL AREA which can easily make for marks and odd shaping. Using hands and body weigh spreads the force over a greater area and is easy to control.

 

The ball peen hammering requires a rounded shape to be used (be it cut wood or an anvil) that the drum rests on so the hammering doesn't drive it out of round. Hammered finishes do dry out the soun. If you set up a rounded mount for this, I'd try it out on a cheap steel snare from a yard sale or pawn shop before a decent Acrolite.

 

Boomerweps

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Yep.

 

I was driving down an alley while in college and saw a drum next to someone's trash.

Grabbed it.

Tiawan-grade generic metal shell missing hoops and strainer and a bunch of other parts, and a shell that somewhat resembled a Rhythm-Tech tambourine.

 

But I had hoops and a strainer and a bunch of other parts sitting around, and more importantly, spare time, so...

 

 

Took the shell and a small trimmed down piece of 2x4 covered on one end with a carpet scrap, and hammererd away; small sections at a time.

Got it close enough to round, parted up, and playable. Used it as a back-up for a year or so until I bought another drum. It sounds passable.

 

I'll never gig with it again for sure, but I don't think I'll ever part with it either.

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Yep.


I was driving down an alley while in college and saw a drum next to someone's trash.

Grabbed it.

Tiawan-grade generic metal shell missing hoops and strainer and a bunch of other parts, and a shell that somewhat resembled a Rhythm-Tech tambourine.


But I had hoops and a strainer and a bunch of other parts sitting around, and more importantly, spare time, so...



Took the shell and a small trimmed down piece of 2x4 covered on one end with a carpet scrap, and hammererd away; small sections at a time.

Got it close enough to round, parted up, and playable. Used it as a back-up for a year or so until I bought another drum. It sounds passable.


I'll never gig with it again for sure, but I don't think I'll ever part with it either.

 

 

You have any pics?

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I find it easier to take the heads and hoops off, measure for where the out of round spots are (wide and narrow), mark them (tape is easiest), place the metal drum on a carpeted surface, and press the wide spots using my hands and body weight. Banging away with a hammer (even rubber) is near impossible from the inside so you are stuck with hitting the outside IN A SMALL AREA which can easily make for marks and odd shaping. Using hands and body weigh spreads the force over a greater area and is easy to control.

 

 

Thanks for the tips! I have it really close now, luckily it was mainly one large flatish spot on the bottom(I'm guessing it was dropped at some point). I'm also working on customizing a bracro that's in perfect shape, so putting te shells next to each other was a big help as well.

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