So tonight I spent a good bit of time looking at Drumakers colormatch colors on their website. Thinking how the heck am I going to be able to pick a accurate shade to match my yellowed WMP. Computer screen colors are reproduced in RGB (Red-Green-Blue) and not accurate at all vs TRUE color. So I'm looking at the colors and the numbers and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Son of a B~! They use the PMS (Pantone Matching System) for their colors! This is the universal color match system used in printing, design, textiles just about anything dealing with specific color. Working as a printer for 35 years I know this system VERY well using it on a daily basis. What does it all mean Basil?? Well now instead of picking a color and hope it matches I can pretty much pinpoint the color of my wrap to a specfic PMS color in the book I have. Give it to Drummaker and hopefully have a pretty darn good match for my yellowed WMP. My only question to them is if they reproduce the colors by digital copy (which is my guess) or by actual pantone colors. Digital color is reproduced by CMYK (Cyan blue-Magenta-Yellow-Black) the standard four colors used to reproduce color photos and such we see printed. And the digital breakdown of the PMS color is used with different percents of CMYK vs Standard pantone colors for spot color in printing. So I use a Pantone CYMK to PMS conversion book if indeed the use a digital printer to reproduce the wrap color used inside the pearls. Copier calibration comes in to play slightly depending. While this may be gibberish to some those in the know should understand. Once I get more details I'll know more and post my findings. But long story short it should help those looking to match a specific color to a wrap. I'll post more details and pictures tomorrow night. G.

LMAO! Glenn, I finally figured out why we hit it off so well... I made my living as a 4/color offset film stripper for 22 years in N.Y.City!

We've both got ink in our blood.

Noble trade. Allowed me to support my family, buy a home and send my kids to private schools. I'm always grateful to that trade. Great way to make a living. I take great pride in being a journeyman printer.

Most guys here think PMS stands for pre-menstrual syndrome!

Damn! It's starting to look like you're going to finish your kit before I finish mine! The race is on! LOL

John

LOL yep that must be it John~! Ink in the blood brothers for sure!! It's a trade that takes a special person and a true craftsman to do. It's not for everyone. Like you it has been a good trade for me and provided for my family. More so in past years but I'm still hangin in there!! My wife was a stripper (film LOL) too and we met at work. Since everything went digital she has changed jobs. But she cut a mean rubylith. Laughing H

Yep people give me a funny look when I mention PMS colors. So I had to explain slightly here. You know the deal though!!

I'm still a LONG way off buddy yours will be done way sooner than mine. Yes Sir

Ok I'll try to explain a bit further on the process Drummaker uses for the color match system for wraps. Hopefully it'll help some down the road to better match color wraps. I'll show examples that are a pretty simple match and some where things can go wrong. Earlier I mentioned the PMS book (Pantone Matching Ststem) The basic color system uses 14 standard colors. Where there is a formula for each color made up from the 14 standard colors. There's also Pastel, Metallic and Florescent colors but we'll stick with the basics here to keep things simple. There are hundreds of colors in this system.

The first pic is your basic PMS book.

Second pic is the 14 standard colors used to mix these PMS colors. On the right side you'll see the CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-back) colors. These are the 4 basic colors used in 4 color process printing you see in books, mags, brochures etc....

Next we'll choose a simple red color from Drummakers pearl color charts. We'll use 185 as the example.

First pic is the DrumMaker pearl color swatch in 185. *this picture was taken from DrumMakers site* Just to crredit them as it's not my picture.

Next is the Pantone guide swatch of PMS 185. In printing it calls for 75% warm red and 25% rubine red.

The third picture show the standard mix 185 (left) and the CMYK conversion (right) of PMS 185 and breaks down as follows.

Cyan-0

Magenta-92%

Yellow-76%

Black-0

Note the color is screen percents of Magenta and Yellow. A Pantone color bridge guide shows the PMS color using standard colors and also the CMYK color right next to it. You can see there is some difference. Add looking at the colors on your computer screen in RGB (red-green-blue) and you may not get the exact color your seeing on your screen vs the color wrap you choose and get. But some can be close as seen here.

Now here is a few examples where things can go very wrong. From simply looking at color swatches on your computer and what the actual color looks like in both PMS and PMS CMYK conversion.

First I chose 3 colors from the DrumMaker color match swatches I thought might be possible matches for a yellowed WMP wrap. The 3 colors I picked were....

365

372

373

First 3 pics are the swatches from DrumMakers site. 365, 372 and 373. Again these are not my pics they are DrumMakers and only being used as color examples here.

Next is the actual PMS colors 365, 372 and 373. (black dots on color) You can see they are actually a green color and not a very good match for yellowed WMP.

Last is the PMS colors and CMYK conversions from the color bridge. Again even in CMYK nowhere near a yellowed WMP.

In summary the main point of this is if your trying to match a special color and viewing it online it can be very different from what you may actually get sometimes. Your basic reds-blues- and some others can be pretty simple as shown in the 185 example. But some can be not even close to what you think they are. DrumMaker charges $163 per sheet of colormatch wrap. So be sure you get a sample before you buy. It can save you bigtime down the road. If you have access to a printer and PMS books by all means use them as a basic guide if your going with a unique wrap color from DrumMaker. I have to give DrumMaker a lot of credit for offering all these different wrap colors. it's great to choose from. I would think (though I haven't looked) this would all apply to the sparkle wraps the sell as well. If anyone ever has any questions down the road I'd be happy to help anyway I can. I also have a spare PMS book I'd be happy to loan out to forum members. Should someone need to see an exact color match. All I ask is it be returned as is and no pages removed when your done. I don't have a spare CMYK Bridge just the standard book which will get you close. I still need to confirm with DM which color process they use. When I do I'll post the results here. Sorry to go off the beaten path there. But I thought it might be interesting for some to see the differences. Help2

Useful info, Glenn. Thanks for posting all that material and photos. When I was trying to match a vintage blue sparkle, it was pure hell. Bev has a good eye for color as well, and we were both frustrated by all the charts and offerings. I got so pi$$ed off about not finding a good match, I ended up covering the entire kit in red glass! lol

John

Thanks John, I hope some find it useful. Now that I understand the process they use it helps narrow things down. Everything I'm finding so far is either too yellow or on the orange/greenish side. If all else fails a sheet of aged WMP it is and call it good. LOL.

Well it's going to be a while before I can get back on these. I need to feed the piggy bank a bit before I can buy the next wave of parts.

Wrap and glue needed for the 13".

Hoop clips.

T rods.

Heads.

Diamond plate tom mount.

1 floor tom leg.

2 mufflers.

A good $300 at least. So it'll be a few months until it's on again.

Here's a shot of inside the 13" tom after the feed-n-wax. Looks so nice it's a shame to hide them with heads. ;)

As always more to come~!........................