Some of you might remember I cut some 25" BD hoops down to 22". Well, that left a 25" shell, didn't it? :)
I have this 25" bass drum for free, and the heads are rotted out anyway [basement flood]. It's from the 30's, as the hand-written date on the middle re-ring suggests. It's a section shell, so I was anticipating problems. A section shell might be expected to crack inward away from the outer ply as the shell is "tightened" to a smaller size.
My first thought was to do it like the cut-down hoops - use an outer form to squeeze the shell into. First pics show I taped rubber shims all around the shell to use 22" hoops - the ID of the hoops would make the shell too big if used alone. The plies did not separate, but the re-rings wanted to pop out. So I popped em out. At this point the "skin", or plies, collapsed inward, coiling into itself. Interesting...
Fumbling on ahead, I had my partner Michelle help me clamp the plies to the right size cylinder, using a drum head for a guide. The cylinder dried up quite misshapen, however when I inserted the first re-ring things looked good - the plies took the shape and we were in round, on one end anyway.
Today I glued in the center ring and remaining outer ring, and it looks like she's a go! It's extra awesome because I can use the single tension rods that came with the drum, which work only on a 12" deep shell. I'll be marking and drilling holes for 10 rod holders, since the original holes are all whacked now with the re-sizing. I guess I'll fill those.
The outer ply is mahogany, so when I strip it it will work nicely with the "Rustic Mahogany" Club Date kit. This is good since I have to sell my blonde Gretsch/Ludwig kit, and I did want a 22" BD to go with the Club Dates.
