Wednesday, May 28, 2008
I peeled the wrap off the 10" tom today without any issues. Now, I just get to spend and hour or so scraping off glue. I hope to get them all done before the 4th of July for the Quo show. I don't want to look like a goober on an unmatching drum set. My instructable for the refinish also got featured on instructables, which is cool I think.
I think work is about to get busy (more than usual) since we have a deadline coming up again, unless it gets pushed back. They also let someone go today. I don't know the story, but apparently there has been an issue with this person for a while. Best of luck to them.
Posted by Mark at 8:58 PM Categories: Life :: |
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I just finished refinishing the 8" tom for my DW drum set. I stained it green and out on a clear coat. I also documented it at instructables.com, so you should go check it out and give me feedback either there or here.
Posted by Mark at 10:13 PM Categories: Life , Music :: |
Monday, May 19, 2008
Besides digging a stump out of the backyard yesterday, I peeled one of my drums. I decided to see what lay beneath the wrap that is cracking on my DW kit.
I slowly peeled back the wrap after prying free the seam which seemed to have a thicker adhesive, similar to liquid nail or something. After doing some research online I decided I would sacrifice my 8" tom to the cause since I don't use it at the moment. I was afraid I might need to get a heat gun or something to get it off since it was glued to the entire drum shell but it peeled of on it's own rather slowly. It took about 8 minutes.
Now I am up in the air about how I want to redo it. I thought about rewrapping it, but I can't afford to drop $200-$300 on wrap at the moment. I was thinking about staining it with some colored stain, either green or black. The shells are maple, so either would look good, I just have to test it out I guess.
Posted by Mark at 9:58 PM Categories: Life , Music :: |
Sunday, May 18, 2008
I decided to change the layout a little, which took me about an hour and a half last night. Now I am just trying to figure out how to add the little favorite icon to the address bar. That is the real reason behind this post to see if it works, cause I have reload the index.
Posted by Mark
at 10:33 AM
Edited on: Sunday, May 18, 2008 10:40 AM
Categories:
Life
:: |
Saturday, May 17, 2008
The past couple of days have been fun, I suppose. We got our stimulus rebate in, so I paid off some credit cards, and turned around and put more stuff on them. I guess that is how they are supposed to work though.
Last night, we went to the mattress stores looking for comfy, but affordable, mattresses. The last time I bought a decent mattress was 8 years ago, and I think it cost around $400 for a queen size set. The whole time we owned it, it was never on a frame. I had planned to make one, but never got around to it.
The first place had one person working there, and she just sat there and answered a couple of questions. She didn't bother to go out of her way to try and sell anything or help. At first, that didn't bother me cause I don't like to be bugged of harrassed while shopping. Then we went to another store.
We went in, and went straight to the outlet center. I'm cheap, or at least try to be a little "frugal". The salesman come over and starts helping us. He shows us what would work for what we want, and then takes us out on the floor to try them all out. He explains the differences in all, and we order and leave.
Too bad for the lady at the other store who didn't even try. I guess she didn't want to have to work 30 minutes until close. Did I mention we went rather late?
Today I drove an hour to Ikea to finally buy a bed frame. I decided I probably wouldn't get around to doing it anytime soon. We also just got a mattress, and I didn't want to sleep on the floor with just a mattress.
I make my way through the maze that is Ikea. I look at a few different and pick the one that best goes with our room and is up to my construction standards. Then it's off to the pick up section, pay, and head back home to assemble.
Once I start to assemble, the mattress place calls and lets me know they are on the way. Crap, I just started, oh well. They drop off the new and pick up the old. I finish assembling the bed frame, almost. Apparently online the bedframe comes with the center beam, but at the store it does not. I was told when I called that they don't offer the beam at the store so people don't get confused. Huh? I end up going to Lowes and getting a couple of 2x4s and some brackets.
I made my own center beam for the same price, and I didn't have to make another hour trip to and from Ikea. Crackheads. Anyway, I have a bed that is off the ground now. Maybe I can clean up the garage tomorrow and bring in some cubicle panels to convert it partially to a practice room/ studio for my music, or the band if they so choose.
Posted by Mark at 9:19 PM Categories: Life :: |
Saturday, May 10, 2008
I finished Evan's guitar last weekend. It turned out pretty good for an old cheapo guitar. I got it from a friend back in high school. The electronics still work, but the only real issue is the bridge. It was made similar to a strat, but not as good. I ended up putting a couple of screws on the back side of it to hold it flat an void the "whammy" bar use. That kept it from staying in tune, and the springs are tight enough to hold it in place.
I suggested to Evan that since we didn't have any knobs for it maybe we could use some wing nuts. He told me to put them on upside down, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. Here are the completed shots.
I have a couple of new projects I am considering. One is and old 3/4 scale bass guitar that I have had for a long time as well. It is an SG shaped body. The neck actually weighs more than the body, so when you have it on the neck wants to go down - very unbalanced. I figure I can laminate a piece of plywood to it to add weight and even it out. The bridge is also a piece of junk. I'm not sure I could find a replacement that fits easily since the neck is barely as wide as a guitar neck. I might try and make one - might
The other project I am considering is refinishing my drums, or re-wrapping them. A couple of the toms have cracks in the wrap. The largest tom has them all over. I'm hoping it is just the wrap, and not the shells, cause that would suck big time. The cracks do seem to follow some of the lines in the wrap, which is sort of a psychedelic marble pattern. I guess the grain of the shells could be coinciding with those, but I highly doubt it.
The hard part is going to be getting the wrap off without ruining the shells. From what I have read online, the wrap on DW's are pretty much glued on totally - not just in certain areas of the shell. I believe that is true, since where the cracks are I am not able to pick any of the wrap off.
I am going to test it out on the 8" tom I don't really use to see what will happen. I'll still be upset if I ruin that one, but it needs to be done. I think it will cost me more than I can afford to have it done. To do that, they would have to be shipped somewhere if I can't find a place locally, which I haven't yet.
Crap!