Bubinga drum shells

[tilinmyowngrave]

Is there any place where you can buy Bubinga drum shells? Lke the Drum Maker website, except that sells bubinga shells?

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by tilinmyowngrave

Is there any place where you can buy Bubinga drum shells? Lke the Drum Maker website, except that sells bubinga shells?

I doubt it. Bubinga is EXTREMELY expensive. Usually, they just use it as an outer ply for the finish, or like Brady Drums - they might make a snare out of it...but those are so expensive that it's really not worth purchasing it.


Here's the key to buying or building a drumkit:

Look at the environment you are going to be using the drum in, and then buy accordingly. It really doesn't make much sense to purchase a $10,000 drumkit to use in a 300 capacity bar 3 or 4 nights per week. The people in the audience won't be able to tell the difference between it and a Pearl Forum....half of them are just there to drink anyway....and listen to renditions of the songs they just listened to on the radio a few hours before while driving home.

Prime example:

My bass player played in this band that had a HUGE following called Wile E. Peyote.
They had all these songs about saving the earth, and how the Native Americans got screwed...all these songs about social issues.
And they had this one poppy, comedy song called "Dog D*ck".

I'll give you one guess as to what song the audience wanted to hear.

He and I were talking one night about it...he told me "I put all this work into writing these socially conscious songs hoping I could make a difference in the way people thought, and all they ever wanted to hear was a song about a freaking dog's d*ck!" (The song was about a shirt one of the band member's bought that had a picture of a real German Shepherd imprinted on it, and the dog's wang was visible....they all thought it was a funny shirt so they wrote this song, and the chorus went:

Dog D*ck,
It's on a T-shirt I saw!
Dog D*ck,
It's on the T-shirt I bought!

All the people in the audience would sing along to the Chorus, and I'll bet they could have played that song over and over, all night, and the drunks would have loved it.


I don't know how well that translates in this situation, but I got to tell you about a song called "Dog D*ck" anyway!

The point is - don't throw your money away on stuff that is overkill. Because every single musician alive will have the "dog d*ck song" experience at some point. If you really want a decent kit - purchase a midline kit wih Maple or Birch shells, invest in a great kick pedal, good heads, decent hardware, and the best cymbals you can buy. Because ultimately, in a club, a drumkit is a drumkit.... they generally all sound the same once "bob the tin-eared soundman" gives you his "special bar room mix" that he gives everybody else.



Tim

[tilinmyowngrave]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

I doubt it. Bubinga is EXTREMELY expensive. Usually, they just use it as an outer ply for the finish, or like Brady Drums - they might make a snare out of it...but those are so expensive that it's really not worth purchasing it.


Here's the key to buying or building a drumkit:

Look at the environment you are going to be using the drum in, and then buy accordingly. It really doesn't make much sense to purchase a $10,000 drumkit to use in a 300 capacity bar 3 or 4 nights per week. The people in the audience won't be able to tell the difference between it and a Pearl Forum....half of them are just there to drink anyway....and listen to renditions of the songs they just listened to on the radio a few hours before while driving home.

Prime example:

My bass player played in this band that had a HUGE following called Wile E. Peyote.
They had all these songs about saving the earth, and how the Native Americans got screwed...all these songs about social issues.
And they had this one poppy, comedy song called "Dog D*ck".

I'll give you one guess as to what song the audience wanted to hear.

He and I were talking one night about it...he told me "I put all this work into writing these socially conscious songs hoping I could make a difference in the way people thought, and all they ever wanted to hear was a song about a freaking dog's d*ck!" (The song was about a shirt one of the band member's bought that had a picture of a real German Shepherd imprinted on it, and the dog's wang was visible....they all thought it was a funny shirt so they wrote this song, and the chorus went:

Dog D*ck,
It's on a T-shirt I saw!
Dog D*ck,
It's on the T-shirt I bought!

All the people in the audience would sing along to the Chorus, and I'll bet they could have played that song over and over, all night, and the drunks would have loved it.


I don't know how well that translates in this situation, but I got to tell you about a song called "Dog D*ck" anyway!

The point is - don't throw your money away on stuff that is overkill. Because every single musician alive will have the "dog d*ck song" experience at some point. If you really want a decent kit - purchase a midline kit wih Maple or Birch shells, invest in a great kick pedal, good heads, decent hardware, and the best cymbals you can buy. Because ultimately, in a club, a drumkit is a drumkit.... they generally all sound the same once "bob the tin-eared soundman" gives you his "special bar room mix" that he gives everybody else.



Tim

JESUS FUCK!!! I really feel bad for that guy . Writing songs is hard... and if ur efforts are only appreciated by some dumb ass song u wrote as a joke... O well. The thingis I dont want another drum set, I'm very pleased with my current Superstar... but my drum teacher has a few drum sets made out of exotic woods and they sound AMAZING, so I was just curious.

[crankz1]

Ask around over at Ghostnote.net. I'm sure any number of the custom builders would be able to hook you up.

[travelin travis]

who the hell would want to play for a bunch of drunk bastards requesting shit like freebird over and over? i have never understood how bar bands can do it.

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

who the hell would want to play for a bunch of drunk bastards requesting shit like freebird over and over? i have never understood how bar bands can do it.

Well, not everybody is a songwriter, and some bands enjoy playing cover songs. We used to do half a Night of Black Sabbath, but we played the songs the way we wanted. We figured if we had to play covers, we were doing covers we liked.


Even if you are playing all originals, you're still playing to a room half filled with drunks....sadly these gigs usually don't draw as many people as cover bands because most people want to hear music they already know.


Tim

[I M Green]

That's why I stopped carrying an eight piece kit with about a dozen cymbals to the hotel lounge. Now I just lug a four or five piece kit with two cymbals stands. It took me a decade to wake up though.

Iain

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by I M Green

That's why I stopped carrying an eight piece kit with about a dozen cymbals to the hotel lounge. Now I just lug a four or five piece kit with two cymbals stands. It took me a decade to wake up though.

Iain

Tell me about it.
Back in 1985, I was doing "Van Halen jr". carrying four 24" Slingerland Kicks with 6 mounted toms, 3 floors, a few simmons pads, and every single cymbal I could scavenege! It took me over an hour to set all that crap up.

I finally cut the kit down to the bare minmum that I need -which is 1 rack, 2 floors, and two kicks. If I could find a Double Pedal that actually FELT like two kicks to me - I'd go with one kick drum, but I still prefer the feel of the two drums....which, really doesn't take up anymore space than if I were using the double pedal because my foot spacing would be the same - it's just a pain to carry it. LOL


Tim

[tilinmyowngrave]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

Tell me about it.
Back in 1985, I was doing "Van Halen jr". carrying four 24" Slingerland Kicks with 6 mounted toms, 3 floors, a few simmons pads, and every single cymbal I could scavenege! It took me over an hour to set all that crap up.

I finally cut the kit down to the bare minmum that I need -w hich is 1 rack, 2 floors, and two kicks. If I could find a Double Pedal that actually FELT like two kicks to me - I'd go with one kick drum, but I still prefer the feel of the two drums....which, really doesn't take up anymore space than if I were using the double pedal because my foot spacing would be the same - it's just a pain to carry it. LOL


Tim

LOL Tomorrow I'm gonna get part 2 of drum set... so ill have 2 kicks, 6 toms, 8 cymbals (which I need to get more of, i want 15) and one snare (i want 2)

[cobradenim]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

Even if you are playing all originals, you're still playing to a room half filled with drunks....sadly these gigs usually don't draw as many people as cover bands because most people want to hear music they already know.


Tim

Ain't it the truth brother?! It's like all these classic rock bands that write new songs and release new albums and nobody cares! Take AC/DC for example. Know one wants to hear new shit, Everyone wants to hear "Hells Bells" "Highway To Hell" "YSMANL" "TNT" "Let There Be Rock" "Back IN Black" ect ect. All the old bands have to deal with that. I saw ZZ Top in June and they played some new stuff that was great but nobody cared. They all wanted to hear the 3 big hits off Eliminator, the 3 hits off Tres Hombres, Cheap Sunglasses, I'm bad I'm Nationwide, Pearl Necklace ect. They played a song from their first record and nobody reconized it exept me!

I hear you about your friend with the dog dick song. We wrote a song kinda like that and everyone liked it and wanted to hear that one over all the other ones. Drunk people in bars just want to hear their favorite songs and they want to be able to reconize them as well. Any good cover band can pull it off but it can be frustrating when you write something clever and no one cares.

[drossfile]

tama makes a starclassic kit that is 100% bubinga. they even have the bubinga "omni-tune" kit which allows you to tune both batter and res heads from the batter side. seems like a ridiculous thing to do, but i suppose if price isn't an option and you're lazy about tuning or in a hell of a big rush to tune, it may make sense...?

[ez_willis]

Originally Posted by tilinmyowngrave

Is there any place where you can buy Bubinga drum shells? Lke the Drum Maker website, except that sells bubinga shells?

A friend of a friend sells bubinga shells by the sea shore. And the shells she sells are surely bubinga shells. Since she sells shells by the sea shore, I'm sure the shells she sells are bubinga shells.

[zed32]

Originally Posted by ez_willis

A friend of a friend sells bubinga shells by the sea shore. And the shells she sells are surely bubinga shells. Since she sells shells by the sea shore, I'm sure the shells she sells are bubinga shells.

not your best work, but i will give it a sympathy laugh out of respect.

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by Tim Brown

Tell me about it. Back in 1985, I was doing "Van Halen jr".

yikes that's a lot. there's something to be said for the fact that it ONLY took you an hour to set that up. that's a testament to repetitive action.

the worst part is breakdown, though....b/c the guitarist and singer are over at the bar chatting up the hotties having packed up their gear in 10 minutes while the drummer's breaking down his crap for an hour. THAT sucks. and then there's the unload at home at 4am (or the next day). that sucks more.

these are the reasons why i'm not playing drums in my band anymore--all i need is a strat and an amp and i'm golden.......let someone else schlep the skins.

still, though--there's something COOL about seeing a massive drumset on stage. i don't know what it is, but it's great.

but like the rest of you, i stopped bringing my big kit with a dozen cymbals to gigs (it now sits in the studio) and by the end i was bringing a kick, rack, floor, hat, 2 crashes and a ride. smaller = better unless you've got someone else as your roadie.

as for bubinga shells? great sound.....but probably not worth it in terms of playing gigs or recording. i'm with the other folks--get a birch or maple and call it a day. unless you're in the room with the drums, i would hazard to say that the tonal qualities of bubinga just won't shine through. but if you want to put together a "dream kit", have at it!


cheers,
wade

[travelin travis]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

who the hell would want to play for a bunch of drunk bastards requesting shit like freebird over and over? i have never understood how bar bands can do it.

funny i said that. i played with a bar band a year later.

[zed32]

Originally Posted by TravisinFlorida

funny i said that. i played with a bar band a year later.

FREEBIRD!!!