JLee
09-05-2005, 11:48 PM
Well, except for figuring out what I am going to do about a dual zone ride. I am finished with my edrum set.
Early today, I went to Radio Shack and picked up what they call a Project Enclosure (3"x2"x1"), drilled it out for a 3/4" jack, and glued the brass side of the piezo to the underside of a Pintech practice cymbal and closed the whole thing in. Pretty tidy, actually.
I had ordered a 12" x 24" sheet of gum rubber from McMaster-Carr (man, that is some fast shipping over there!) and cut out a wedge to mount just below the bell, a la Alesis. Would you believe it, the cymbal actually works! It will make a perfectly acceptable crash cymbal, but for a ride it is not quite responsive enough for my liking.
I even did a fairly good job of approximating the Alesis style playing surface in the tan color (if I do say so myself).
Overall, it has been a really fun project. The toms, snare, and kick trigger work perfectly. I can get a buzz roll on the toms with no problem, and they are velocity sensitive enough to approximate the real thing. I guess, the Alesis was not the problem after all. The mesh heads lose tension pretty easily (Pearl Travellers, so what would you expect?) and the cymbal itself, because of its extreme lightness, does not feel much like a real cymbal.
But, for practice it is really cool. I have a little more tooling around on the module to get everything exactly how I want it, but it came out pretty well.
Still not sure what to do about the dual zone ride though. I might try my hand at modifying the other (16") Pintech i bought, but I am also wondering if the gum rubber I bought might not be a little on the thick side, thus dulling the piezo response.
Thanks for all the input I received from this forum while putting this thing together. It really helped a lot.
Early today, I went to Radio Shack and picked up what they call a Project Enclosure (3"x2"x1"), drilled it out for a 3/4" jack, and glued the brass side of the piezo to the underside of a Pintech practice cymbal and closed the whole thing in. Pretty tidy, actually.
I had ordered a 12" x 24" sheet of gum rubber from McMaster-Carr (man, that is some fast shipping over there!) and cut out a wedge to mount just below the bell, a la Alesis. Would you believe it, the cymbal actually works! It will make a perfectly acceptable crash cymbal, but for a ride it is not quite responsive enough for my liking.
I even did a fairly good job of approximating the Alesis style playing surface in the tan color (if I do say so myself).
Overall, it has been a really fun project. The toms, snare, and kick trigger work perfectly. I can get a buzz roll on the toms with no problem, and they are velocity sensitive enough to approximate the real thing. I guess, the Alesis was not the problem after all. The mesh heads lose tension pretty easily (Pearl Travellers, so what would you expect?) and the cymbal itself, because of its extreme lightness, does not feel much like a real cymbal.
But, for practice it is really cool. I have a little more tooling around on the module to get everything exactly how I want it, but it came out pretty well.
Still not sure what to do about the dual zone ride though. I might try my hand at modifying the other (16") Pintech i bought, but I am also wondering if the gum rubber I bought might not be a little on the thick side, thus dulling the piezo response.
Thanks for all the input I received from this forum while putting this thing together. It really helped a lot.