what?!

I found the following quotes on the website of a religiously affiliated school (which shall remained unnamed...) under a list of rules and regulations that the students must adhere to. I've got to give them credit- at least they put the information out there up front, so it shouldn't sneak up on any prospective students...but theologically, it certainly seems to contradict itself completely...thoughts?

"All faculty, staff, and students are required to go soul winning weekly."

"We do not fellowship with liberals, but instead take a strict separatist stand from the world and apostasy."

"We believe in students’ learning and practicing propriety. We oppose the paganistic, barbaric humanism that prevails on many campuses. We believe in refinement, dignity, courtesy, proper manners, and Christian grace."

i think i injured my brain trying to logically reconcile those statements...i'm going on the 15 day DL

New Design Blog

Team-

I've created a new blog- Andrew Heck Design - that will function as a space for me to post some of my work, both new and old, and as a forum for me to discuss design related topics, get feedback and hopefully promote and develop my career...

I would really appreciate it if you guys could take a moment to check it out and leave me some feedback-

my hope is to develop the "blogfolio" into a place where I can post not only finished work- but work in progress so that I can get feedback along the way-

Thanks!

drumroll please... i give you the "new" dcf drumset....

i will post more photos soon...but i wanted to give you all a sneak preview...

dcf drums v1.2

here's a list of things things i've already done to the dcf kit:

1. removed all original hardware and wrap
2. filled any gaps in the shells with wood putty
3. light sanding on all shells with 220 grit paper/blocks
4. filled holes on the kick where tom mount was with dowels (now it will look like a virgin drum)
5. cleaned any hardware that will be re-used with parts cleaner (warsol)
6. selected flat black and a brown textured paint for new look (see sketch)
7. drill .5" air vent hole (enlarging previous hole) in each wooden shell
8. taped up all mounting holes and bearing edges so that they did not take on any paint
9. prime all shells with 1-2 coats of primer depending on how it is absorbed
10. paint all wooden shells flat black
11. tape off a .5" stripe at the bottom of each shell and paint the stripe with a brown textured paint
12. (do the inverse on the snare- predominantly brown texture, with a flat black stripe)
13. create new logo kick drum head (Evans EQ1 coated white, with black Pearl logo (vintage-smaller) and white 4" reinforced mic port



still left to do:

1. finish painting the new wood hoops flat black
2. finish the stripe on the kick and the floor tom
3. apply 3 coats of minwax ploycrylic semi-gloss on each wooden shell/hoop for protection/finishing
4. fill all replacement hardware with cotton (to deaden any potential rattles)
5. assemble drums with new hardware/heads
6. acquire "new" cymbal stands (probably used on ebay- to save $)
7. set up and play!

another project...

I have undertaken a new project. I have embarked on a quest to refinish the dcf drumset and breathe new life into a kit that sounded only marginally better than pickle buckets and looked considerably worse.

i know very little about the history of the kit other than that it is a pearl export kit- probably made in the late 70s or early 80s. it was purchased used...and likely was a third or fourth hand purchase. It has what pearl refers to as a chrome finish which really amounts to some hastily made drum shells covered with sheet metal using industrial strength double sided tape.

There is a decent debate on the intra-webs as to whether or not the double sided tape method produces comparable sound quality to wrap that is attached with contact cement over the whole surface area of the shell. Personally, I prefer stained shells with no wrap at all (both aesthetically and acoustically) but in reading up on both sides, and despite the best arguments of the tape crowd, it stands to reason with me- that the contact cement method is far superior.

When the double sided tape method is used, tape is typically placed at the seam. No matter how tight the wrap is pulled, there will always be some dead air between the shells and the covering. Coincidentally, one of the best ways to kill sound is to create a double wall with dead air in between...which is exactly what the tape method produces...at least this is what i'm counting on! I am quite hopeful that removing the old "wrap" (sheet metal) and freeing the shells, will automatically improve the sound by leaps and bounds.

i actually decided to refinish the kit some time ago- the idea was born out of my desire to ultimately build my own kit. the dcf kit represented a perfect practice specimen- since it could never sound any worse, and working on it would help me practice some of the skills i will need to build my own kit. It hasn't been used regularly at dcf in the last 8-10 years because the drummers that play at the church have kits that sound considerably better than the old pearl tubs. an added bonus to the project is that a refurbished kit would free up the dcf drummers to keep their own kits at home and not have to tie them up at the building. Plus- I felt like this would be a worthwhile contribution to the church- one that could potentially last for several years.

initially i decided to re-wrap the kit using high quality materials and have the bearing edges re-cut. (the bearing edge is the part of the drum shell that the drum head is in contact with. a precise bearing edge will sound better and hold its tuning better than a poorly cut one.) but in the interest of saving money- i elected instead to recover the drums with a wood veneer and put the bearing edge work on hold (i could get wood veneer cheaper than plastic drum wrap)...but that idea too, faded away as i went to my handy dandy excel spread sheet to calculate the costs.

there are certain improvements that were non-negotiable and had to be done (new lugs, wood bass drum hoops, new heads all around, new mounting arm, new hardware...) and as each of these items was added to the list- the total continued to climb.

using wood veneer was 1/3 of the original costs...but using paint (the existing wood of the shells is not in good enough shape to stain- in fact i had to use wood putty to fill gaps in the outer plies) was about 1/4 of the wood veneer cost.

Even though the final product will not be quite as high a quality as I had originally planned- I remain hopeful that it will still represent incredible improvement.

I'm about half-way done at the moment and things are starting to take shape...its at this point that i have to focus on being patient and take my time with the finishing process...i could very easily get excited and rush through the last few steps.

unfortunately i did not take pictures of the original kit- but i did find some on ebay of a kit that looked very similar to the dcf kit. the only difference is that the dcf kit had full length lugs (3 piece lugs that appeared to extend from top to bottom of each drum) I found replacement lugs on ebay that are the shorter ones as seen on the kit pictured.

my goal is to have the "new" kit in place by easter...