So, many of you know that I'm an MIJ fan from way back. Some of you also know that I've only recently started cutting my own edges. Well I've done more than a few now and I've run into some tricks I thought I would share.
I've heard people complain that it's hard to cut a bearing edge on the Phillipine Mahogany shells the old MIJs use. It's true, rather difficult to prevent splintering. However my simple trick is to just tape up the edge all the way to the top. The router is going to cut through the tape anyway so it does not impact the edge cutting, but it does reduce or eliminate splintering.
The results are nothing short of spectacular. Once you re-cut the edges to a modern double 45 on these drums they sound absolutely stunning. I guess the thinner edge carries fewer unwanted overtones because the drums I've done that way, have a very pure and focused sound. They still retain the dark warm character of the Luan wood shells but without the nasty overtones they used to have. I then mounted with isolation mounts and timed the resonance. A minimum of a full nine seconds before the sound faded to inaudibility. I think that's mostly because these older shells have dried out and the pores tightened up, making the drum more resonant than when fresh cut.
I also compared with my one of Maple shelled Slingerlands. Amazingingly the length of resonance was almost identical, but where the Slingy still had a few overtones I could not get rid of with tuning, the MIJs were pure toned at the shell fundamental and lacked overtones. In a word, they really sounded better.
