finish for drums?

[Wood_workur]

I'm looking at building a drumset, and I"d do a dyed burst finish, and I'm wondering what would be a better finish to get a high gloss super smooth and durable finish: lacquer, or varnish. I'd have to brush/rub it on, and I"m not sure about what to use. I know varnish is more durable, but would it work better for this?

[Rand]

Lacquer is the finish of choice for most musical instruments. (I think).

I would probably buy some lacquer in a spray can and apply it that way. My brother refinished a guitar (an old Gibson SG) and it turned out great.

Good luck with the drums and post pictures when they are built.

Here are some ideas for you:
http://dwdrums.com/drums/custom.htm

You could probably email them and ask what they use.

[savatom]

Laquer is the way to go

I've built a few snare drums over the years and to keep it simple stupid I used spray laquer from a can and got great results.

[Tom Slick]

spraying is the only good way to do laquer. as savatom mentioned it works surprizingly well out of a spray can.

[Pappy]

My youngest son is a drummer. We bought him a set of Pearl drums when he was 13. Remembering the 8 years or so he lived at home after that, my suggested finish would be flames!

[guycox]

Most stringed musical instruments use shellac as the finish. Shellac doesn't polymerize; this makes it easy to repair. The carrier from the latter (repair coat), alcohol in the case of shellac, dissolves the previous coat and blends the two coats together. You can build up lots of coats with shellac very quickly – it’s a very forgiving finish . Then use the French Polishing technique to flatten it and get the desired level of sheen… --- Just don’t hit is with a buffer because the shellac will melt at a fairly low temperature..

[sparkeyjames]

Most stringed musical instruments use shellac as the finish. Shellac doesn't polymerize; this makes it easy to repair.

I must beg to differ with this assessment. Most stringed instruments that are not guitars may use a form of shellac but guitars being that they are arguably the most popular of stringed instruments have had many different finishes put on them. From Nitro-Cellulose lacquers, automotive type lacquers, polyurethane blah blah etc. The finish on most of the bow played stringed instruments seems to be a much more critical component in how they sound. They all want that Stradivarius sound and will putter with wood coatings till they think they have one thats close.

[Wood_workur]

My youngest son is a drummer. We bought him a set of Pearl drums when he was 13. Remembering the 8 years or so he lived at home after that, my suggested finish would be flames!

I'm actually gonna go with something like a miox between this:

and this:

[drumpriest]

Spray Laquer is what you want to use, you can tone it w/ colors. Spray, wait, rub out, that's how DW does it.

[Wood_workur]

okay, I'll probably end up using spray cans of lacquer, since that seems to be the finish used and the most economical and effective way to appy it.

looking at that finish, I'd need to get blue and turquoise dyes. Trans tint dyes do not come in turquoise. anyone know of a good supplier for alcohol soluble aniline dyes that have a blue and turquoise color?

[Tom Slick]

When I worked for a guitar manuf. we used translucent paint to get bursts. the wood was completely sealed with a clear then the trans paints applied.

[drumpriest]

Hey Tom, were they electric or acoustic guitars? Drums do need to resonate more than a guitar does, and I'm not entirely sure how that is affected by the finish. I am guessing that Laquer is both easy to apply and economical in terms of time, but it's also REALLY hard, and should not dampen any of the shell resonance.

[Tom Slick]

They were electric. the basic overall color of the wood would be dyed. then it would be sealed with polyester resin (same stuff as for fiberglass work) then a translucent laquer and finially a clear coat. most of the stuff we used was the same or similar as automotive paints. they had QC and longevity issues with pure laquer in previous years.

I have no idea how drums are finished or what effects their tone. they probably don't worry too much about picks, straps and belt buckles.


This is some of their handywork. It's Deep Purple Burst... Its Steve Morse's guitar.

[drumpriest]

The finish is definitely a consideration when choosing drums, as it affects the sound. A plastic sleeved drum sounds pinched off when compared to a lacquered drum. Also a natural oil shell will sound different, as the finish penetrates. So there are some considerations there. We don't have straps, but we do have things bolted to the shell, tension hardware. Lately the big move has been mounting the drums from the tension hardware in a suspension system so that the shell can move and resonate more than the older mounting style. For a snare, this doesn't really hold true, as they were never mounted rigidly anyway.

[sparkeyjames]

I like what the person who built that did with the head stock. Redesinging the lower outcropping of the Fender headstock shape and installed 2 tuners for the b and e strings. Consider the idea stolen if I ever get the time to build one.