Weird Drum #1...

In the Spring of 1994 I made this hour-glass shaped drumas part of an experiment in 'Urban Materials Utilization'. There was a need to be outfitted with a drum of some kind so that I couldattend a 'Shamanic Workshop' held in Carbondale, Co. in the Summer. I wantedto build the drum myself so that my spirit would be part of the drum.I also thought that it would be interesting to design a drum that was madeout of materials that I had around the house. In doing so, I somehowcreated what one might call a 'plywood' drum made out of broad sectionsof wood composite (the kind used in floor underlayment). Basically, I cutrings out of this material with a band saw and glued them together. The hour-glass shape of the drum body was an important factor, because I used the 'donut hole'from each inside ring cut to make a smaller ring, thus reducing the amountof waste material. An enlarged view of the drum with the heads removed willgive you a better idea: [Drum Picture]

You can see the layers of wood inside the drum. The outside of the drum issmooth; it is coated with several layers of sealer and painted. You cannot see any of the wood plies on the outside of this drum.
But, this is old data... This drum was wear tested-- I beat the hell outof this drum for a year and it didn't break.... but I saw the need to continue. I was driven to build a BIGGER, LOUDER drum!

This Here Experiment

OK, so I plan to build another drum. What I plan to do here is updatethis list every week to show how far I got with the drum during it's construction. I will be taking pictures of the work in progress. I will be using a digital camera to capture most of the action (Yup, I don't have to go to the drugstore to have the pictures developed!). And I will reportany new ideas and design changes AS THEY HAPPEN! (Well, as soon as Ican, anyway).
So, THERE!

Click here to go on to the next chapter (New Drum Design) in this experiment or here to go back to the main DRUM page.