Jeff - Gorgeous hunk of wood! See if you can work out using the 'eyes' in the pattern on as many of the drums as you can. That eye pattern is a really neat feature in the grain. I would place one top/center on the bass drum for sure. Beautiful, interesting piece of veneer. The kit is going to look killer. Can't wait to see it!

John

PS - I'm a huge fan of wood finishes on drums. Although it's not considered 'traditional,' I really don't know why more guys don't use veneers to finish drums rather than wrap. I think adding another ply of real wood to old 3-ply project drums warms them up, makes them look better and makes them sound better. I play the mahogany kit Jeff veneered for me every day. Wonderful sounding drums. But that's just my take on it. J

Wood is good-

Thank you for your kind comments!

I got some work done tonight. I cut the marching shell down to 7". It was a 10" shell, I first set the fence at 7 3/4" and placed the batter end against the fence. Then set the fence on 7" and cut the other end off. This allowed me to use one hole for each lug. I then filled all of the unwanted holes. After dinner, I ripped my veneer up into strips, each one is 1 1/8" over sized, in depth. As you can see by my rough drawing I was unable to get all of the drums out of the sheet if I were to go horizontally. I like the look of grain running vertical on drums anyway, so there it is. Still need to do the edges on the shells, I am thinking that should be done before the veneer.

And So Far, So Wood..

Zebrawood?

Yep, Zebrawood.

The name zebrawood is used for wood with a figure that resembles the striping of a zebra, with dark stripes on a light background. The name originally applied to the wood of Astronium graveolens, a large tree native to Central America. In the 20th century, the most important source of zebrawood was Microberlinia brazzavillensis, a tree native to Central Africa.

It's a shame those pesky termites got to the snare. "Ludwigicus Rivetii Ridiculosum"

Sure is! lol!

Going to work on edges today. The 18" floor tom had some really bad edges so I started with that one. Here are some before pics of the edge.

Wow! Looks like 1/16" to an 1/8th" has to go before you hit dead level all around! How do you take it down, Jeff? With sandpaper on a flat surface, or with the router? If you use the router... how do you keep the round-over bit from plunging deeper after each trip around the drum? Stop the cut early and finish by hand???

Man, I wish I could just hang out in your shop and watch you do this project. (Although, you'd probably have to muzzle me to keep me from asking 1000 questions!) Top to bottom make-over... fun stuff!

John