As I tightened the resonator to 'table top' tightness, the snapping of skin was heard as if not possible, and I stopped. In a couple of days I found what I had lying around to replace it.
In no way do I use the word upcycling to imply resale value, but pure curiosity and frugality. The curiosity of the world outsisde what I grew up being taught, i.e. 'you get what you pay for', 'newer is better', 'everything's better in the arcades', etc, only grows in my music making mission, the more I know what I want.
The result of using a cheap old worn out and stretched ddrum batter as a resonator on the Liberty Birch Custom, is a thick chunky attack and more obvious decay, a thick sound which suits my personality, a strange clash of cheapness and snappy birch definition, and a robust ring that I've come to expect from ths drum. It is quite a harsher ring than it was before, would sound better on Buzzcocks than Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, perhaps.
I can never watch enough rdavidr, who is a name in DIY drums and percussion maintenance, and saving money. He does a lot with old drum heads.
But eventually I will probably replace the head with something 'hazy' that will be stronger than what was there anyway, and it will sound better than ever. But I'm not in a rush.
9 сен 2024