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Imagine: it's the morning of the year's first major contest, and your band drew the third spot. You now have the dubious honor of playing massed bands and have a very narrow window to get a few run-throughs in before the contest.

Scenario one:
All five tenors and the bass drum were reconditioned during the off-season. Each drum has been polished and waxed, all threaded parts are lightly lubed, all heads are fairly close to being evenly tensioned, and each drum is fairly close to being in tune with itself. We're looking at about 10 to 20 minutes for a reasonably experienced person to get the job done. Final tuning will be a snap.

Scenario two:
One drum is ready to be tuned. Two people haven't arrived as of yet. Three of the tenor drums were not overhauled during the winter and have a number of tension rods that are a bit rusty and hard to turn. The bass drum isn't even close to being in tune with the pipes, and the heads are producing different pitches, almost two full steps apart. Needless to say, all of the drums are out of whack and require a good deal of work. Some unfortunate soul will be sweating and swearing over the drums in the final tuning circle until the last moment before entering the competition arena.

I would imagine that there's no point in asking which scenario you would prefer!

From what I have witnessed in various competition grounds here in North America, and "on other side of the pond", the second scenario is still fairly common. If you're not close to being in the first category, then it is time to get familiar with your instrument, inside and out. Yes, fellow drummers, even though the band may own the drum, it is yours to maintain. Not many bands have a dedicated drum technician to overhaul their tubs every season. Sure, it'd be nice...so would nickel beer. When the season is over, it's time for you to take care of business. A well-cared for drum can last for decades. Ok, the lecture is over. Please hold the tomatoes!


The end of the season is the opportune time to take your drum apart and give it the tender loving care it deserves. The entire procedure should take you about two hours. It's a good idea to have a few plastic containers available to keep all of the parts safe. Assemble your supplies and tools: drum keys, mini-wire brush, small vice-grip, ‘00’ steel wool, chrome polish, old toothbrush, lithium grease, WD40, car wax, polish (if necessary), Q-Tips, mild household cleaner, clean rags, soft polishing cloth, paper towels, and a plastic drop cloth to protect your work surface.

Now would also be the perfect time to have a new set of heads ready to install.

You may not need all of this stuff; read through this article and decide for yourself.

Before you disassemble your drum take a picture of it so that you will have a reference point for the proper positioning of hardware, logos, vent holes, etc. Having "before and after" pictures isn't a bad idea either. If you have a floating shell style drum like the Hosbilt, disassembly is a very quick process. Remove all threaded tension rods and soak/spray them with WD40 to loosen any dirt. Take a Q-Tip moistened with WD40 and clean all interior threads on your lugs or tubes. Turn the Q-Tip as if you were tightening a tension rod and take it as far in as you can go...without losing your Q-Tip. Take it out by twisting the opposite way. Don't pull it straight out as you may leave fibers in the threading. Repeat the process until you see the Q-Tips coming out nice and clean. (Air compressors, if available, are very handy at removing dirt.) Take a clean Q-Tip and coat it with lithium grease and twist it in and out of each lug.

To clean your tension rods with the mini-wire brush, take the vice-grips and adjust them so that they firmly grasp the rod where the drum key fits. Do not use vice-grips on Hosbilts. The 'claw' is easy enough to grasp so that you can clean the threads with the mini-wire brush. After you scrub the rods, soak/spray them in WD 40 and repeat, as needed. Dry each rod with a folded paper towel, twisting each to remove any grime that may be hiding in the threads.

Check all of your chrome parts for rust. Avoid using rust remover on chrome. It may discolor it. Use the '00' steel wool to remove rust and loosen dirt. Steel wool will leave marks or ‘cloud’ chrome finish, so test it out in a small area and decide if this is something you, your drum sergeant and quartermaster can live with. Remember: rust never sleeps. And don't forget how it got there in the first place! Now polish all of your chrome parts. If you’re really ambitious, consider removing all of the lugs from the drum. Check your rims/hoops by placing them on a flat surface and check for warping or other defects. In those cases you need to choose between repair or replacement.

Soak a rag with the mild household cleaner and clean your shell, avoiding the freshly polished chrome. If your drum shell's finish is scratched, consider using an auto polish with very fine grit. Test a small area to make sure that it won't cloud the finish. Wax your drum as if it were a new car. The more coats, the better.

Check the bearing edges for marks, nicks, and any dirt. Set the drum on a counter or a glass table and look for warping or 'gaps' on the bearing edges. Go over the edges ever so lightly with the steel wool to remove any old wax or buildup. Now lightly wax the bearing edges so that they allow the drumhead to move easily during tuning. If you are keeping the same set of drumheads, inspect and clean them thoroughly before installation. Drumheads, like reeds, need to be replaced if they are defective.

Take a good look at the picture you took earlier and reassemble your drum.

Congratulations, you are now the master of your gear. It will serve you well.

Go ahead, take another picture and Facebook it!

 

Mike Cole is the former bass drummer and mid-section instructor for Scotland's Inveraray and District Pipe Band. When Inveraray's bass drummer left the band in November of 2009, he was asked to step in, play the majors, and train his replacement. Mike lived in Scotland during the summer of 2010. He was the first North American bass drummer to have played all five major contests with a Grade One band. Mike is the now the bass drummer for the Grade One City of Chicago Pipe Band. He is a faculty member and judge for the Midwest Highland Arts' Winter Storm and an instructor for the Celtic Arts’ Foundation's Winter School in Seattle.

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