How did you adhere it to the shell?I am ready to do my Remo Acousticons-

It looks great! So its upholstery vinyl in gold sparkle? I didn’t realize that such a thing exists. And I’m like Tom, what did you use to glue it down with?

Jeff C

Your kit looks great! Is that the Sparkel Vinyl from Mendel's? I have an orphan kit that is currently on hiatus, but when I have the time to finish it, this is what I had in mind.

Great job!

Hello gents,

I used 3M brand F2 spray contact adhesive.

Remove all the hardware and clean or sand and prepare the shell

Cut the vinyl to suit the shell size and create a 1 inch lap under a lug

Then contact the fabric back of the cut vinyl and also spray the shell

Roll the drum onto the fabric asap after spraying to seat the vinyl in the correct place before the contact adhesive sets

I then used normal contact adhesive gel along the whole vinyl seam/join and clamped it with two clamps and a length of timber for like 2-3 hours or something

Yeah its a fabric backed gold sparkle vinyl. I think its the same as that used to cover bar stools in like a 1950's themed diner.

See my other post for some basic instructions. If you google "vinyl drum re-wrap" i think that the original post from the pearldrummersforum should come up. thats a good resource

Thanks man

Im in NZ so im not familiar with Mendels. However its highly unlikely the vinyl was made in NZ so I would assume that the same vinyl is readily available elsewhere in the world.

Traditional Vinyl would normally only have a vinyl backing and be more inflexible than the fabric backed stuff that I used. That in itself should be a pretty good clue if you are looking at fabrics on a stand at mendels.

You will need some that is quite flexible so that it will conform to the shape of the drum without the risk of cracking.

The fabric backing I think is there to provide the key for the contact adhesive to grip properly.

Forum member Fayray got this for me from somewhere close to where he lives and apparently there was green and silver sparkle also. All three would have a place depending on the finished result. Green would suit a "Ludwig" look and silver or gold for the "Rogers" or "Gretsch" look.

Nice job! Looks great!

I know that the vinyl is thicker than drum wrap. Did you wrap it all the way to the bearing edge? If so, do the heads still fit on normally?

How prone is the vinyl to scratching? Also, is there a noticeable difference in sound? I would think it would muffle the drums more than standard drum wrap.

Here is the link to the US product. They have quite a few colors and will send a certain number of samples for free.

Hello there.

Thanks for your positive comments. Please excuse my novel below.

I think its really important to give as much info as I can.

I think its best to echo Fayrays comments that you would never do this to an expensive or rare kit.

This wrap is not a substitute for a period correct actual reproduction drum wrap in BOP or WMP or what have you.

Fabric backed vinyl wrapping is an ALTERNATIVE.

At a LOWER cost.

And you always get what you PAY for.

Like I mentioned earlier its a really good way of bring together an orphan kit for resale or just to make an ugly kit great again.

Seating of heads:

On this particular set of drums it wasn't an issue that couldn't be resolved by some careful trimming of the vinyl after it had set. Having said that I am using Remo Coated Emperors. There may be some issues with other heads that are a tighter fit. Its a little trial and error and each drum was different.

Durability/Scratching:

I would say that you would actually need to be really clumsy or careless to scratch normal drum wrap. This fabric backed will have some give to it but is probably going to scratch more easily than the regular hard surface wrap.

Change in sound:

I guess this is all subject to what you are already used to in a drum and looking for in the sound from your kit.

I don't believe that this kit has been affected however it is possible that it could affect the sound on another.

Why would you do this to a nice 3-ply/re-ring open sounding desirable kit anyway?

I am a fan of a middle of the road sound. Not 70's disco muffled and not bebop jazz ringy and open. Naturally where the drum sounds is right. Ive found that that point is somewhere in the middle of its tuning range.

The drum sounds the same as it did before.

I hope that this was clear enough for you?

Regards Lucas