On drums...

Think of auto body work as hiding ugliness. Think of wood finishing as revealing beauty. That might help.

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Gregory

Gregory, as the Shellac apparently takes around a week to fully harden, would you wait a week to put the drum back together, as in re fitting lugs mounts etc...or would you do it sooner?
I can't wait to see this thing assembled, but I know there's no point being hasty now if it is going to effect the finish.

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Jeff
Gots ta luv da Beech
Australia

I'm a little reckless with shellac, and I put things back into service after a day. But then I've never bolted anything to a shellac finish, and that might make me more careful. If you want my advice, wait. If you want to do what I'd probably do... don't do that.

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Gregory

I pretty much had a screwdriver in my hand whilst typing.
I think I'll wait a day or 2.

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Jeff
Gots ta luv da Beech
Australia

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Cliff

River City Trio

What if we did all have the same opinions?

I cant wait to read this whole thing. Those drums looks amazing Jeff.

Finally , fully assembled.
Thanks so much to Gregory for all his advice. The shellac is a bit heavy, but I'm happy.
Enjoy

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Jeff
Gots ta luv da Beech
Australia

Really really nice Jeff. I like it a lot.
I wanted to do a kit in Ebony but found the veneer was stupid expensive.

Goodonya, Jeff! Now we're talkin!

That finish color is really lovely. For my taste, I'd loose the black reso because it's one too many (and overwhelming) thing going on. A white, coated (non-reflective) head would allow my eyes to rest easier, but what a stunning job! I also like the hoops.

Difficult to tell from the photos - did you knock the gloss back and wax it?

I am really impressed that you went into this process and then saw it through. Veneering and finishing was my profession, but I never imagined - and still don't - doing a drum kit. You and Kelly are more adventuresome than I.

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Gregory

Thanks guys.

Kelly, I bought the veneer 4-5yrs ago on Ebay USA. The whole batch cost $40USD, and $55USD to freight to Australia.
The seller was named rjfritz123 or something like that. He's still sells nice veneer batches on Ebay, but I haven't seen any reasonably priced batches that will do a whole kit for a while now.

Gregory, The shells have 3 coats, then cut back and another 2 thinner coats applied. No buffing or wax.
The hoops have 3 thinner coats, cut back, and another 3 coats, with an extra (7th) coat on the outside.
This helped to darken them up a bit, and they have that typical Beech flavor.

Gregory, have you veneered much Rosewood.
I have my eye on this batch.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pre-ban-Brazili ... 463130d216
The middle stack has a kinda skull and almost a partial skeletal wrist/finger. My wife has a bit of a thing with skulls, and wants me to veneer a jewellery box for her with that section of veneer. 2 of those pieces book matched facing eachother could have this skeleton with his hand on a mirror kinda vibe.
And quite coincidently ,I have worked out that I can do my workhorse Phonic/Performer 12,16,24 kit with the remaining veneer. Fancy that, who would have thought.

What do you think, would you use hide glue or just use the same method I just did?

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Jeff
Gots ta luv da Beech
Australia