Hi. Yesterday I went check the bearing edges of the tom shells.

I put them on a flat surface (marble) and applied some force with hands, on oposite sides, to check if the shell moves. Some edges aren't flat, the shell moves slightly.

I check with a card sheet arround the shell and in some spots it passed passed through below the bearing edge. This indicates that the edge has some depression points.

What do you think? Will it affect the tuning of drums? Should I test as it is first or work the edges?

I am thinking glue some sandpapers on a flat surface (maybe a glass), place the shell evenly and turn a couple of times. This will remove a thin wood layer of the edge and turn it flat. On the other hand, the edge will loose some sharpness and maybe should be sharpen or rounded to minimize the head contact area.

Please share your knowledge. Thanks.

The drums look great.

Just my opinion- the bearing edges would have to be re-cut or re-sanded if you leveled the shells. Unless the bearing edges were already bad I'd leave them alone and leave the drums original if possible. I've found that uneven and out of round shells are pretty common in older drums, but they can still sound good as they are. I think those defects are over emphasized by some.

Having uneven shells might make it harder to tune evenly across the head. You could use a tune bot to help with that. They're pretty neat to have anyway.

I'll post photos later so you can see the edges.

Thanks

I have seen/heard some shells with OOR shells and/or imperfect edges that actually still can sound great. In those cases, the shell is just one of those that happened to be REALLY resonant - where all it takes is to get in the ballpark and the resonance of the shell will compensate for the bad edges/OOR.

At the sane time, I have seen/heard some shells that absolutely require the edges be perfect. The OORoundness seems to be less of an issue, as I understand that it has to be quite extreme to be much of a significant problem. then, in some of those cases, it might not even be the OORness that is the culprit, as the edges might not be perfect and you would not even know it necessarily.

Anyhow - point is, it really is hard to tell - until you try some NEW heads to tune it in. It introduced quite the quagmire - because once you install a new head and tune it up to an edge - it molds to that edge. Therefore, it is never wise to install a new head, then decide to recut the edge and expect to be able to use that head again - it already has been seated to the imperfect edge! To really do it right (and to prevent buzzing*) you have to recut, then install the new head. DON'T waste a new head if you intend on recutting.

See the quagmire?

IMHO - if you already know that the edge is not perfect, recut it, then use new heads. Then it is DONE for good.

If you care not to do that - you are risking problems if it eneds up the roundness/edges are not good enough - then you are committing that new head, etc. See the buzzing issue below.

** Buzzing - if your edge is bad enough, you can end you end up with buzzing no matter how you tune it up. One time I was restoring a FT and it sounded great. BUT, I insisted with myself to sand up the edges and make sure they were perfect, and installing a new head I had bought for the project (this started with sanding on a board of sandpaper (taped down to a flat piece of glass). After I was done (doing it all by the naked eye and all by hand, as I had no router to use) I tried reinstalling that new head on it. BUZZ. It sucked because just days ago I had the old head on it and had no buzz. It was my insistence (with myself) to make sure all was just perfect that got me into trouble. MORAL of the Story: If it's not broke, don't fix it. If you need to fix it, make sure you have the right tools needed to fix it right/"true" "Perfect".

Sorry if this comes as no good news - at least hopefully it can give you some insight into all the issues at play here.

If you have access to the tools, I would recommend getting the edges right before committing new heads - which you WILL want new heads on this newly restored kit anyway (unless it already sounded great with the old heads and they were not too wore out).

BTW - you can post pics of edges showing gap and leaking light and so on and son on - but it is not something we can see and make the call. It is really hard to predict if an edge is good enough or not. The symptoms are perceivable when heads are on and only confirmable / confirmed fixed by a recut with the proper tools.

WOW - I sure have rambled.....hope some of this thinking outloud is some help -

To further follow up - if your edges are not perfect - in the case where you decide to reinstall the old head as it sounded great before you removed it - you have to reinstall it in the exact same position so the contours of imperfection realign up just the same. Otherwise, you will have problems.

THEN, realize that this (going with the old heads) will only be a temporary fix, because eventually the heads will wear out and you will want to install a new head for improved sound - and you will still be working with imperfect edges. See the problem?

Whatever you do - realize that imperfect edges will always be a problem unless you recut them and then use new head(s).

I had a 12 in tom on a kit for over 20 years and was always frustrated with the sound of it. Then eventually I learned enough about this stuff to understand I needed to get the edges recut. Once I did - EUREKA! the problem was fixed and the tom sounds great today! If I only had gotten it done years before.......(poor old thing is now on a couple CDs and I can't ignore it - bugs the crap out of me when I hear it!)

Put the kit together with whatever you have. It will sound great.

Not happy than recut edges or whatever... A light sand and beeswax applied to the bearing edges was all mine needed. I didn't check for exact flatness. Tuned up in no time and makes a respectable 80"s boom.

These are no where near top of the line but not bad drums at all.

Creighton

Hello Creighton. Thanks for your advice. Actualy I'm afraid of reworking the bearing edges. Some folks did it, but I prefer just sanding them lightly, to remove any imperfection and leave them smooth, and apply some kind of wax as you said.

Cheers.

Thanks Drummerjohn333 for your comments. I read them all. I'll keep them in mind. Cheers.

congratulations on the great work. I am impressed with what you done on those Tamas. Can't wait to see them assembled and to see the snare drum cleaned.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Clapping Happy2

Thank You! Sure, I'll keep you updated. Cheers