To all drummers and percussionists

[SymbolCymbal]

Figure id give a solid title to get your attention.

Are you a drummer or percussionist that has ever created a rhythm/percussive instrument?

Do you have knowledge of how these are made that can be duplicated on a small budget and the skills of a handy man?

Basically i need suggestions for creating these types of instruments. Any hands on knowledge or suggestions would help.

I dont care if you tell be how to turn a salt shaker into a bell or an old snow shovel into pitch pipes. im looking for low down home engineered stuff.

your help is much appreciated .

[Chaz]

Just bang on an exmpty luchbox, job done

[Rucklo]

At 8/30/09 06:41 AM, Chaz wrote: Just bang on an exmpty luchbox, job done

or fill it up with keyrings

[ZStriefel]

THE POOR MANS SHAKER
go to your local pizza place. buy one of those 50 cent toys that come in that plastic case. play with toy, give to dog, then get some bb's or maybe some rice and fill up the little plastic container and you got a shaker!

but thats not as cool as THIS!

and the Instructions (very thorough)

[SymbolCymbal]

At 8/30/09 08:04 AM, ZStriefel wrote:

but thats not as cool as THIS!

and the Instructions (very thorough)

THANK YOU, thats the stuff im looking for. I still need ideas for stuff that can either mounted to a drumset or placed near my drumset. that propane tank drum is an awesome idea.

BTW i thought i would just list the tools i have to work with. Well not really a list but the capabilites i have with my current tools.

I can cut through metal ( even thick steel) with a grind wheel my friend lent to me. and i have regular tools for drilling cutting sanding pounding bending and any other adjective i could think of to wood, thin metals,(like REALLY THIN)

What i cannot do is drill through thick metals since i dont have diamond bit drill bits.
i also cannot cut thin glass, (the grindwheel will just shatter it) but thick glass i think it will cut through.
I cannot weld, braze, or solder any metals since i dont have the tools but i can get it done. My friend can do it at work as long as it isnt a huge job. (His boss will get pissed).

So please keep those suggestions coming. I plan on making tons of percussive instruments since i will be playing on the street for money,
Also after my show this last thursday the 27th of august we had such a great response and talked to other musicians and we are in the workings of talking to the club and making thursday night improv jam musician night. Sort of like an open mic for improv jam musicians.

As of right now i am collecting what i need to make marimba blocks. but im definitely working on that propane drum next. I just need to get a really good tuner for the marimba blocks since i have been tuning them to a piano. I would rather have a tuner. Plus im sure it would help out alot with the propane tank because metal can trick the ear since it rings so much.

[loansindi]

At 8/30/09 02:11 PM, SymbolCymbal wrote:
I can cut through metal ( even thick steel) with a grind wheel my friend lent to me. and i have regular tools for drilling cutting sanding pounding bending and any other adjective i could think of to wood, thin metals,(like REALLY THIN)

Tuned idiophones are as simple as a decent square tube stock, I'm often struck by how toneful the 1" OD square tube we're using in the shop right now can be.

i also cannot cut thin glass, (the grindwheel will just shatter it) but thick glass i think it will cut through.

I wouldn't use a grinder on glass. Glass really should be scored and snapped.

So please keep those suggestions coming. I plan on making tons of percussive instruments since i will be playing on the street for money,

Look at 'drum shaped' objects. 5 gallon paint buckets can have some really nice tonality without any modification at all.

On a more general note, some of the steel assemblies I've made (this includes welding so it's not really applicable in your case) are really neat, tone wise.

[nathanallenpinard]

Make sure the propane tank is full, and slightly leaking. Make sure you're smoking a cig while drumming on it. If you do this, your beats will have explosive proportions.

[ZStriefel]

this also pretty dope probably not what your looking for, but its badass anyway.

[SymbolCymbal]

At 8/30/09 02:16 PM, loansindi wrote:

Tuned idiophones are as simple as a decent square tube stock, I'm often struck by how toneful the 1" OD square tube we're using in the shop right now can be.

LOL i had no idea what an idiophone was until now. Gotta love wikipedia.
Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think ill be touching glass anyway unless i can find an Awesome way to utilize it.
Im sure making anything percussive from glass that is worth while would require some glass blowing abilities. Im always down for trying new things in fabrication but i dont think i can afford the supplies anyways:p

Oh and about those square tube stocks, my friend anton (guy that lent me the tools and can help with welding) was telling me about these thin brass tubes that have an awesome ring to them. i might make one of the dream chimes out of them. ill have to figure out how to cut them to tune them though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiophone
just posting that link for anyone that doesn't know what an idiophone is. Until today i had no idea. Now that i think about it i don't think i have ever heard the word hahahaha

[loansindi]

At 8/30/09 02:35 PM, SymbolCymbal wrote: Oh and about those square tube stocks, my friend anton (guy that lent me the tools and can help with welding) was telling me about these thin brass tubes that have an awesome ring to them. i might make one of the dream chimes out of them. ill have to figure out how to cut them to tune them though.

I don't have a link handy, but I -think- a tube will follow the same rules as a string. If you take a tube and a tube that's half the length, they should be at octaves. It bears some experimentation with measurements from a guitar neck, which is layed out in a very specific way (if I remembered specifically I would tell you).

[SymbolCymbal]

At 8/30/09 02:29 PM, nathanallenpinard wrote: Make sure the propane tank is full, and slightly leaking. Make sure you're smoking a cig while drumming on it. If you do this, your beats will have explosive proportions.

Shit dude i was gonna cut it open when it was full with the grinder (the grinder makes tons of sparks).
Ill probably do the cutting in my shed outside made completely out of thermite bricks. The roof shingles are in the style of those red clay ones you see in the south west but mine are made compressed chlorine, iodine and magnesium powder. Then i painted them with dope made with diesel fuel. You know the stuff they painted the hindenburg with but with just more fuel added to the mix.

ill post a vid :)

Zstriefel wrote some stuff as well:

this also pretty dope probably not what your looking for, but its badass anyway.

HAHA thats more funny than helpful, but now i have a nice arts and craft project i can do with my baby nephew. My family is filled with musicians so ill start him off early on the drums hehe

[TwilightNecrosis]

The drummer in my first-ever band took an aluminum baseball bat and cut the round end off, shaved it down toward the handle, bit by bit, to tune it how he wanted, then mounted it to a cymbal stand and used it in a ride/cowbell-esque manner.
Sounded pretty badass, and cheap.

[Gloudas]

There's a cool way to modify a crash or ride cymbal to give it a unique ringing sound. Drill holes every few inches around the edge of the cymbal. Then put a metal nail, point down, in the hole. Assuming the hole is big enough to comfortably hold the nail, it will allow the nail to jingle on the top of the cymbal anytime you hit it. If you do this with a lot of nails, it almost sounds like a rain stick. It's like having reverb for your crash hits :D

[imnotaustin]

Look up Moondog. Aside from being awesome and a percussionist, he was a genius. You can probably find schematics to his instruments on the web somewhere.

[MmmCake]

I've found that an upside-down bucket can sound a lot like a cowbell.

[SymbolCymbal]

At 8/31/09 12:33 PM, Gloudas wrote: There's a cool way to modify a crash or ride cymbal to give it a unique ringing sound. Drill holes every few inches around the edge of the cymbal. Then put a metal nail, point down, in the hole. Assuming the hole is big enough to comfortably hold the nail, it will allow the nail to jingle on the top of the cymbal anytime you hit it. If you do this with a lot of nails, it almost sounds like a rain stick. It's like having reverb for your crash hits :D

Lol i already have one of those. Its called a sizzle cymbal. i do have more cymbals (lots of hit hat symbals)

i might torch one and pound it out thinner and toss some rivets in it.

[Trypno]

Take an empty 5 gallon bucket, and just drum on that, or if you want to get fancier, cut the bottom out and stretch something over it. If you wanna get even fancier, stretch something over the open end, run strings from one stretching to another in a cross over pattern all the way around the bucket. Now when you drum on one of the sides, pull up on the crossed strings and you can get a cool change of pitch as you're playing :D

[Trypno]

Take an empty 5 gallon bucket, and just drum on that, or if you want to get fancier, cut the bottom out and stretch something over it. If you wanna get even fancier, stretch something over the open end, run strings from one stretching to another in a cross over pattern all the way around the bucket. Now when you drum on one of the sides, pull up on the crossed strings and you can get a cool change of pitch as you're playing :D

[SymbolCymbal]

At 9/2/09 10:54 AM, Trypno wrote: Take an empty 5 gallon bucket, and just drum on that, or if you want to get fancier, cut the bottom out and stretch something over it. If you wanna get even fancier, stretch something over the open end, run strings from one stretching to another in a cross over pattern all the way around the bucket. Now when you drum on one of the sides, pull up on the crossed strings and you can get a cool change of pitch as you're playing :D

Hmmm. a talking bucket drum, sounds like a good idea.

Im not sure what i would stretch over it. For it to even be worth while i would have to use actual animal skins. I have no idea how to process animals skins and stretch them the right way. i guess i could get the skin from a bongo but i wouldn't rip apart a bongo to make a bucket drum. I would just use the bongo lol.

Plus the fact is that a bongo skin is not cheap and it usually is installed by a professional. With the right tools and some luck i could find a suede or leather couch on the curb and cut a section of it off and experiment with it. Maybe even pleather (fake leather) would work but still, cutting holes in it and attaching it to strings around a bucket might not even be worth the time for the quality of sound i would get from it. Plus my weaving skills have never been tested so i would probably end up fucking it up or having the "skin" rip where the holes are. Im pretty sure i could re-enforce it with my favorite tool (duct tape) but again, it might not even be worth it.

[Trypno]

At 9/2/09 08:02 PM, SymbolCymbal wrote:

At 9/2/09 10:54 AM, Trypno wrote: Take an empty 5 gallon bucket, and just drum on that, or if you want to get fancier, cut the bottom out and stretch something over it. If you wanna get even fancier, stretch something over the open end, run strings from one stretching to another in a cross over pattern all the way around the bucket. Now when you drum on one of the sides, pull up on the crossed strings and you can get a cool change of pitch as you're playing :D

Hmmm. a talking bucket drum, sounds like a good idea.

Im not sure what i would stretch over it. For it to even be worth while i would have to use actual animal skins. I have no idea how to process animals skins and stretch them the right way. i guess i could get the skin from a bongo but i wouldn't rip apart a bongo to make a bucket drum. I would just use the bongo lol.

Yeah you definitely gotta point there. What about that plastic type material they use in those toy paddles, you know the ones for smacking balls over rooftops, they have a real nice percussive *thok* to them.

[curriemaster]

I came across a website describing how to make your own tube toms (Octobans basically) and Ive always wanted to make a set as they sound great. This tutorial has you buying all the gear for the drum heads but there may be some way to stretch a material over the head of the tube without buying that stuff....

http://www.arrickrobotics.com/tubetoms.h tml

Enjoy and good luck :)

[SymbolCymbal]

At 9/3/09 07:07 AM, curriemaster wrote: http://www.arrickrobotics.com/tubetoms.h tml

Enjoy and good luck :)

Thanks man, i think i will acctually make those properly but its gonna be time before i can afford stuff like that. i played at a studio that had a complete 8 set on a rack system. I instantly fell in love. It looks ALOT cheaper to build them then to buy a whole set. Also the mounting of the drums is expensive but i have become very good at building apparati to mount stuff.

TO ALL THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED WITH IDEAS

THANK YOU!!!
As soon as i get my camera fixed ill post some HQ pics of everything i made with a desription of all the steps taken to make them. Just in case any other drummers or percussionists here would like to create what i have made.
I might even make some HOW TO videos with the video function on my camera so its easier to follow what im doing.

Im going to get to work on the tutorial for creating a smaller drum from a bigger drum to increase pitch and style of the sound.

[acharacter]

Hey man, not sure if you're still looking for ideas, but if you can find a decently proportioned plastic buoy or float, they give a nice *crack*, almost like a kevlar marching snare or a super-tight piccolo snare.