Lookin good Mitch, looks like you got it! Are you going to wrap it with regular drum wrap? I would think if you glue the wrap entirely that it will add a lot of reinforcement to the butt joint. Wish I could have fun today, I have to work,lol.

Well, we did a little bit of work today, but it was just running some Super8 film, so...:)

I have some very nice dark blue sparkle and dark red sparkle MIJ wrap I am planning to use [I mean one or the other]. Silver sparkle from precision would be nice too, might see if I can get that purchase authorized...

So, currently thinking I'm going to run a threaded rod through this whole deal to close it tight and kill the peak at the join. Big plates [from the CS shell] on each end, and the inner plate will have to have a hole in it too...I'll take pics if I get that set up tonight...

The threaded rod idea works like a charm. The tightening action worked just as I'd hoped and slowly but firmly brings the ends of the cut shell together. I had to put it together for a dry run to line up and mark my "half-holes", [pic #1], that I will have to dremmel out of the shell on the one side, to accommodate the rod and allow the ends to meet up. What's missing in the pics is the actual plate that will be glued in place - it will also of course have a hole in it for the rod to pass thru. Wax paper will be inserted wherever I don't want stuff glued together, and maybe a bit of Vaseline on the rod to avoid gluing it to the shell.

I called up to the local music store and they have some cheapo 13" snare wires. My wood plugs that I had lying around are the right size for the existing casing holes. I'd say I'm good to go....more to come...

Well, she's all set up and the glue is drying. This came together relatively painlessly I'd say. And while the glue dries let's wax philosophical on 13" snare drums...

With a Club Date kit, a 13" snare means no repeat sizes - 13snare 12tom 14floor 20kick. I really like that vibe. It's funny also how big that one inch difference turns out to be, especially on a real small stage, like a restaurant etc. And finally, the smaller size really focuses the note - the Dixie 13" snare I owned was a real firecracker, sounded just super...tho that one was 13X4"...

Back to this mod - the section of CS shell/overlap-plate, brings the inside of the shell flush with the re-rings, so I think I will fabricate a metal plate that covers everything, plate, re-rings and all, and actually screw that on there, just so there is no question of integrity.

Pic 1 shows half-holes carved out and resulting meeting of the ends.

Pic 2 shows everything ready for glue - I pre-moistened all surfaces and made sure there was glue on the facing edges.

Pic 3, 4 & 5 show the shell glued and set to dry.

I had no clamps that would reach in far enough, and so settled for bolting the plate down in the middle. Not perfect but I'm pretty sure it'll hold just fine. More to come...

So the threaded rod was used just to pull the joint inward and take the peak out? This interesting, keep the pics coming, your doing great!

Zeggzackly Jeff. Zegg...zackly. Plus clamping/bolting the inner plate down as it happened. Proper clamps would be better, possibly proper forms etc. too...but I had that threaded rod lying around heh.

It was a controlled and pleasing method to bring the shell in form I must say. Maybe it's an actual good stand-alone method - I mean it's a thing to do with a shell that already has issues, so a couple more holes...no biggie.

Still thinking on possible re-enforcement - the only thing that seems worth doing is counter-sinking small *bolts* from the outside of the shell in. Leaning toward doing nothing, take the dare-devil approach, and save all that work for only if I have to do it [shell pops].

Definitely more pics to come. I am loving this project so far...

Very cool Mitch! Great job and some smart thinkin too.

Thanks Glenn! It's turning out pretty durn nice if I do say so myself...

Since I didn't think ahead about making the inner plate short enough to go between two lugs, that meant I had to put a lug somewheres on that plate...this meant longer mounting screws but okay no big deal, I got em at the hardware store first try...so, where to place that lug? Did you guess?

That's right - right smack dab in the middle, right on the join! This gives me my bolt-on rigid integrity, using the lug, which had to go on anyways, so no extra plates were needed. Just gotta love how things work out sometimes...! I happened to have two Ludwig snare mounting-screw spacers, a couple big washers with small holes...it's kinda perfect.

Pics 1 to 3 show lug in place, keeping that join real! Pic 4 shows "snare side" reso head, which drops onto the shell with zero binding or any issues...it's kinda perfect. :)

Now I'm going to plug all the existing casing mounting-holes, tomorrow I'll sand the plugs down while waiting for the strip of silver sparkle wrap I just ordered from Precision [yay!], then it's just a matter of sourcing one single stupid 13" triple-flange rim, which for some reason hasn't appeared in my life yet...:) More to come...

Glad the project is going "perfectly", dont ya just love it when things go smoothly. Your gonna end up with a real cool snare drum!

Thanks Jeff! Things went even better than I knew - I thought these Pioneers really didn't have a snare bed, but they do just real shallow. When I went to make the original cut, I did think about the best place for it, but to be honest I couldn't figure it out, so I just went for it. Turns out I was lucky and the beds are still intact and I was able to line everything up. Very lucky. If anyone is thinking about trying this, it's important to put more thought into it before cutting than I did. :)

I got a 13" rim from Century Drum Shop today. Anybody visiting or living around Toronto should check them out - it's a real candy store! I put the drum together tonight for a test run until the silver sparkle wrap shows up. A couple of my lugs are a tiny tick off, placement-wise...but nothing as bad as from the Ludwig factory. :) [the BD spur mount on the right side of my Club Dates is so far up the drum, that if I wanted to have the front of the BD off the floor, the spur is simply not long enough to cover the distance! [well that's why I replaced them with gull-wing fold-out spurs]]

For now my snare gates on the bottom rim are just slits I cut with the Dremmel tool. They need to be expanded so the snares can fall completely away from the head when thrown off. I need more robust cutting wheels...

Here's a pic of the drum all put together. Just one because no daylight. More to come...