SWEET CHILD O’ MINE

Guns N’ Roses

She’s got a smile that it seems to me

Reminds me of childhood memories

Where everything

Was as fresh as the bright blue sky

Now and then when I see her face

She takes me away to that

special place

And if I stared too long

I’d probably break down and cry

Sweet child o’ mine

Sweet love of mine

She’s got eyes of the bluest skies

As if they thought of rain

I hate to look into those eyes

And see an ounce of pain

Her hair reminds me

of a warm safe place

Where as a child I’d hide

And pray for the thunder

And the rain

To quietly pass me by

Sweet child o’ mine

Sweet love of mine

Where do we go

Where do we go now

Where do we go

Sweet child o’ mine

Overview. A vibrating string can produce a motion that is rich in harmonics (different frequencies of vibration). Bowing the string not only allows a range of expressive techniques, but also supplies energy continuously and so maintains the harmonic richness. However, a string on its own makes little sound (think of an electric guitar that’s not plugged into an amplifer). The bridge and body of the violin, and other related instruments, serve to transmit some of the vibrational energy of the string into the air as sound. The way in which they do so is important to the sound of the violin family of instruments.

First, something about sound.

If you put your finger gently on a loudspeaker you will feel it vibrate – if it is playing a low note loudly you can see it moving. (More about lound speaker) When it moves forwards, it compresses the air next to it, which raises its pressure. Some of this air flows outwards, compressing the next layer of air. The disturbance in the air spreads out as a travelling sound wave. Ultimately this sound wave causes a very tiny vibration in your eardrum – but that’s another story.

At any point in the air near the source of sound, the molecules are moving backwards and forwards, and the air pressure varies up and down by very small amounts. The number of vibrations per second is called the frequency which is measured in cycles per second or Hertz (Hz). The pitch of a note is almost entirely determined by the frequency: high frequency for high pitch and low for low. 440 vibrations per second (440 Hz) is heard as the note A in the treble clef (the violin’s A string), a vibration of 220 Hz is heard as the A one octave below, 110 Hz as the A one octave below that and so on. We can hear sounds from about 15 Hz to 20 kHz (1 kHz = 1000 Hz). A double bass can play down to 41 Hz or below, and the violin can play notes with fundamental frequencies well above 2 kHz. Human ears are most sensitive to sounds between 1 and 4 kHz – about two to four octaves above middle C.

The violin: strings and bow, bridge and body

Strings

The pitch of a vibrating string depends on four things.

• Thicker, more massive strings vibrate more slowly so the strings are thicker as (on a violin) you go down from the E to A to D to G strings, even though the length of the string doesn’t change, and its tension does not change much.
• The frequency can also be changed by changing the tension in the string using the tuning pegs: tighter gives higher pitch. This is what the player does when s/he tunes up.
• The frequency also depends on the length of the string that is free to vibrate. The player changes this by holding the string firmly against the fingerboard with the fingers of the left hand. Shortening the string (stopping it further up the fingerboard) gives higher pitch.
• Finally there is the mode of vibration. When you play harmonics, you induce the string to produce waves which are a fraction of the length of those normally produced by a string of that length.

The strings themselves make hardly any noise: they are thin and slip easily through the air without making much of disturbance – and a sound wave is a disturbance of the air. An electric violin or an electric guitar played without an amplifier makes little noise. It is the bridge and body of the acoustic violin that transmit some of the vibration of the strings into sound in the air.

This diagram showing the anatomy and nomenclature of the violin is provided by .

The body The body: the front and back plates, the sides and the air inside – all serve to transmit the vibration of the bridge into vibration of the air around the instrument. For this, the violin needs a relatively large surface area so that it can push a reasonable amount of air backwards and forwards. The most important part is the belly.The belly or top plate. The belly and back plates are made so that they can easily vibrate up and down. The plates have a number of resonances: ie there are certain frequencies at which they vibrate most easily. These are identified by luthiers and scientists using To make the graph at right, isolated bellies were driven mechanically at the position of the bass foot of the bridge, and the acceleration was measured. The graph gives the ratio for force to acceleration. If we were vibrating a small mass m, the ratio would be that mass, independent of frequency. However, the resonant behaviour of the plate appears here: the acceleration produced by a given force is a strong function of frequency. On this graph, each major resonance is indicated by an inset photograph of its Chladni pattern. The two curves here are for the bellies of two rather similar violins. When the violin is assembled, the resonances are more complicated. However, the resonances are very important in transmitting the varying force exerted at the foot of the bridge into radiated sound.

The complete instrument

The graph at right shows the acoustic efficiency of two complete violins. This is the ratio of the sound pressure produced (recorded by a microphone near the f hole) to force applied (electromagnetically at the bridge). The two curves are for the violins made from the top plates whose properties are shown above. (The measurements were made by Ra Inta, PhD student in Music Acoustics,

.)

The air inside and the Helmholtz resonance

The air inside the body is also important, especially for the low range on the instrument. It can vibrate a little like the air in a bottle when you blow across the top. In fact if you sing a note near D4 close to the violin, and then hold your ear close to the f-holes, you may hear the air in the body resonating. This is called the . You can see the effect of this resonance at around 300 Hz in these two curves.

Resonances increase the sound output over some frequency ranges

Of both the violin and the guitar, we might say that the lowest resonance (associated with the Helmholtz resonance) falls near the pitch of the second lowest string, and the lowest body mode falls near the pitch of the third lowest. Together theseincrease the sound radiation at fundamentals of several of the notes in the low range of the instrument. Further body resonances are distributed at higher frequencies. These improve radiation of the fundamentals of higher notes, and to harmonics of lower notes.

Where does the sound energy come from?

We have mentioned the importance of resonances in increasing the sound output of the instrument. It is worth making it clear that the body doesn’t amplify the sound in the technical sense of the word amplify. An electronic amplifier takes a signal with small power and, using electrical power from the mains, turns it into a more powerful signal. In the violin, all of the sound energy that is produced by the body originally comes from energy put into the string by the bow. The purpose of the body is to make that conversion process more efficient. In an electric guitar, very little of the energy of the plucked string is converted to sound. The body of an acoustic guitar or violin is more efficient at converting some of that energy into sound.

Timbre vibrato

An interesting, very important and almost characteristic feature of the sound of members of the violin family is timbre vibrato, which is largely due to the acoustic response of the body. We see at right that the ratio of the sound pressure to the force that the string exerts on the bridge is a very strong function of frequency, because of the many resonances in the body. (This may seem strange to someone with a background in hifi, where the aim is to produce apparatus with negligible dependence on frequency!). When one plays a note with a particular frequency, some but not all of the hamonics coincide with resonances and so are strongly transmitted in the output sound, while others are weaker.

Now consider what happens when the player rocks backwards and forwards the finger that is stopping the string. This produces a pitch vibrato: the pitch of note varies regularly up and down. As it does so, the harmonics of the note also vary up and down in frequency, and so they may move from a strong transmission (due to a resonance) to weak transmission, or vice versa. This means that the spectrum of the output note varies strongly during the vibrato. Perceptually, this makes the sound much more interesting. It is one of the two most important features that help us identify the sound of a violin. (The other is the way in which a bowed note begins.) The key paper on timbre vibrato is by J. Meyer: “On the Tonal Effect of String Vibrato”, Acustica, 76  283-291 (1992).

To get an idea of why vibrato is so important to the violin, ask a violinist to play a long soft note on an open string, or two notes simultaneously on two adjacent open strings. On the open string, it will have no vibrato. Now close your eyes? Can you imagine that it is an organ playing? Each time the bow changes direction you can tell that it is a violin, but during sustained, steady bowing it is much less clear. Now ask the violinist to play the same single note, or a double-stopped fifth, on different strings, and to play normally. How important is the difference?

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Large sound systems

Our large audio system is built on the philosophy that there is an overriding theme that we get is shared throughout the haunt. In the early days, this was the thunderstorm in our graveyard. Nowadays, several vendors sell “soundscape” atmosphere CDs that have a mix of sounds that make a good background. In the future, we intend to layer haunt our overall audio by mixing a commercial soundscape, the thunderstorm, and thunder on demand.
Once the overall sound track has been prepared, you feed it into a big amplifier, and pump it out to speakers all over the haunt.
With multiple speakers, you have to worry about speaker Impedance matching. You can avoid a lot of trouble by using a 70-Volt speaker system.

Here’s what we used for the main sound system, Halloween 2002.

There’s a dual CD deck, by Gemini. The controls are at the top; CDs go in the lower part.

The mixer is from Radio Shack.

Down at the bottom is the Samson S-1000 amplifier.

We’ll give a little more information on each type of component…

CD Players

We gave up on tapes long ago. Now, all of our Recorded sounds are either on a CD, or in solid state storage.

The main sound for our haunt consists of two layers: storm sounds that form the background, and a soft overlay of some music. We do not put them on the same disk. Each one is a CD, playing side-by-side. Then we mix the two together sound tracks.

We could use two different CD players, but we picked up a dual player that does a nice job.

This is a nice dual CD player aimed at the DJ market. The unit is built in two pieces, one for the controls, the other for the disc drives.

It mounts in a 19-inch rack

Mixer

The mixer takes several audio sources and merges them together to make a single sound track.
There are monophonic mixers that accept input from microphones, mixers and stereo that carry two discreet channels for each source.

This is a larger stand-alone stereo mixer from RadioShack. It mounts in a 19-inch rack.

Amplifier

The amplifier takes the mixed sound track and cranks it up to feed to the speakers

This is a small stereo “public address” amplifier from RadioShack. It mounts in a 19-inch rack.

If you’re new to drumming, please refer to this guide for instructions on assembling and tuning your drums, holding sticks, and finding answers to frequently asked questions. Drums are easy to start but very difficult to master so don’t get discouraged. Find a teacher, practice, and you’ll get years of enjoyment from them.

One other thing, drums and music are about having fun. That’s what your set is all about! Enjoy…

The Drums in This Set

A basic drum set consists of five drums: snare drum, bass drum, floor tom, and two mounted toms (also called rack toms or tom toms). Fig. 1 shows the five drums in an Stadium set: 14″ snare drum, 22″ bass drum, 16″ floor tom, and 12″ and 13″ rack toms.

Drum sizes are commonly indicated by their diameter followed by their depth thus a 12″x10″ tom is 12″ in diameter and 10″ deep. A 14″x5 1/2″ snare drum is 14″ in diameter and 5 1/2″ deep and so on.

Before We Start

The floor tom and bass drum are shipped unassembled. Locate the drum key and the parts to be assembled: shells, heads, rims and hoops, tension rods, and claws. Choose a clean, open area to do the assembly and you’re ready to go! One last thing, do not overtighten rods, wingbolts, and wingscrews to prevent the threads from stripping.

Floor Tom Assembly

• Place the top drumhead onto the top bearing edge of the drum (Fig. 2a).

  
  

• Fit the rim onto the drumhead and align the ears over the lugs (Fig. 2b). The tension rods pass through the ears and thread into the corresponding swivel nuts.
• Next, turn the drum over and attach the bottom head. Finger-tighten the tension rods for now, we’ll discuss tuning later in this guide..

  

  • Insert the floor tom legs into the leg brackets and extend the legs equally (Fig. 2c).

  
  Bass Drum Assembly

  • Place the front head with the large Beverley logo onto the front bearing edge (Fig. 3a).

  

  • Fit the bass drum hoop onto the flesh hoop of the head (Fig. 3b).

  

• Finger-tighten the tension rods and claws (Fig. 3c).

Next, turn the drum over and attach the other head. Finger-tighten the tension rods for now.

Bass Drum Spurs (Fig. 4)

• Rotate the spurs toward the front of the bass drum.
• Extend the spur rods equally until the front of the bass drum is about an inch off the floor.
• You can choose spikes or rubber tips to prevent the bass drum from creeping. To expose the spikes, loosen the locking nut and turn the rubber tip clockwise. Counter-tighten the locking nut and rubber tip to prevent loosening. Caution: For safety, keep the spikes covered by the rubber tips when transporting the bass drum. Also, to prevent damage to floors, use the spikes only on protected surfaces.
• For transport, stow the spurs parallel to the shell.

Bass Drum Pedal Assembly

Slip the triangle (attached to the spring) onto the cam roller (Fig. 5a).

• Insert the beater shaft into the beater link and tighten the key bolt. About 1/4″ of the beater shaft should be visible at the bottom of the beater link (Fig. 5b).

Bass Drum Pedal Attachment

• Adhere the self-stick rubber pad into the channel of the back bass drum hoop where the pedal attaches (Fig. 6a).
• Lift the backside of the bass drum slightly and slide the pedal onto the hoop at this location. If necessary, loosen the T-bolt to widen the opening of the hoop clamp. Center the pedal so that it sits squarely on the floor. Tighten the T-bolt to hold the pedal securely to the hoop (Fig. 6b).

Bass Drum Pedal Spring Adjustment(Fig. 7)

• Loosen the Top Lock Nut and adjust the Spring Tension Nut until the spring tension feels comfortable to you. Securely tighten nut Top Lock Nut to retain this setting.

Tom Holders: Attachment & Adjustment

• Insert the tom holder, long end down, into the bass bracket and set the height about three quarters of the way up; you may need to loosen the Stop Lock to do this (Fig. 8a).
• Slide the tom onto the tom holder (Fig 8b). Approximate the height, tilt, and closeness of the toms for now, you’ll fine-adjust these later.

• Use the Stop Locks to prevent slippage and to “memorize” the height and tilt settings for quick and repeatable set-ups (Fig. 8c).

Snare Stand Assembly

• Extend the legs of the base to form a stable tripod. Insert the tube of the top section into the base and set the height about halfway (Fig 9a).
• Open the arms of the basket (Fig 9b).
• Place the snare drum into the basket (Fig 9c). It may be necessary to turn the butterfly nut counterclockwise to accommodate the drum. Tighten the butterfly nut just enough to grip the drum securely. Overtightening can restrict the sound of the drum.

Cymbal Stand Assembly (Fig. 10)

• Extend the legs of the base to form a stable tripod.
• Insert the middle tube into the base.
• Insert the top tube into the middle tube.
• Telescope the tubes about midway and tighten the wingbolts.

Attaching Cymbals

• Remove the wing nut and top felt washer from the tilter leaving the plastic sleeve and bottom felt washer as shown (Fig. 11a). Make sure that the plastic sleeve is in good condition to protect the cymbal. If not, replace it immediately with a new one.

Place the cymbal, bell side up, over the tilter peg and onto the bottom felt washer. Replace the top felt washer and wing nut. Allow the cymbal to move freely for best sound. Tilt the cymbal to your preference (Fig. 11b).

Boom Stand Assembly

• Assemble the base, middle, and top sections of the Boom stand in the same manner as the straight cymbal stand.
• The boom arm can be attached as shown in (Fig. 12a). Or as a cymbal stand as shown in (Fig. 12b).
  
  Hi-Hat Stand Assembly
  • Attach the footboard to the base by squeezing the radius rods together and inserting the ends into the holes in the hi-hat frame (Fig. 13a).
    
    
    • Extend the legs of the base to form a sturdy tripod with the hi-hat frame just touching the floor-the hi-hat should feel solid without rocking (Fig. 13b).

    
    
    

    • Thread the pull rod into the receiver in the base (Fig. 13c).

    
    

  • Slide the upper tube over the pull rod and insert it into the base (Fig. 13d). Secure the upper tube about halfway up for now.
    
    Attaching and Adjusting Hi-hat Cymbals
    • Place the heavier cymbal (sometimes marked: Bottom) over the pull rod and rest it on the felt washer of the seat cup (Fig. 14a).

    
    

    • Remove the lock nut and the bottom felt washer from the clutch. Slip the clutch through the hole in the top cymbal and replace the bottom felt washer and lock nut. Note: If you have difficulty attaching the lock nut, reverse it and try again¾it only threads from one side. Slip the clutch and top cymbal onto the pull rod and space the cymbals about an inch apart (Fig. 14b).

    

  • Turn the bottom disk nut on the clutch to adjust the play of the top cymbal. Counter-tighten the top disk nut to retain the desired setting (Fig. 14c).
    
    • Sometimes while playing, the cymbals “air-lock” and make practically no sound. Tilting the bottom cymbal with the screw under the seat cup can remedy this situation (Fig. 14d).

      

      • The Hi-hat is equipped with a spring tension adjustment. Loosen the key bolt on the tension adjuster and slide it up or down to your preference. Retighten the key bolt to retain this setting (Fig. 14e).

        

        The Completed Drum Set

        Arrange your set to look similar to the completed set in Fig. 1 at the beginning of this article. Reverse the drums if you’re left-handed.

        Adjust the height of the Drum throne so that it carries most of your weight. Position the throne so you can reach the bass pedal comfortably.

        Place the snare drum in front of you and adjust the height to a comfortable level. Experiment with the tilt of the snare drum to find an angle that feels best to you.

        Adjust the height, tilt, and closeness of the toms so you can switch from drum to drum quickly and easily. When done, slide the stop locks into the notches in the tom and bass drum brackets and tighten. The stop locks prevent slippage and “memorize” the position of the toms for quick set-ups.

        Position the hi-hat within easy reach of your hi-hat foot. Your legs should feel relaxed and balanced, not too close and not too far apart.

        Position the height and tilt of the ride cymbal so that it is easy to reach and not obstructing the any drums. Position additional cymbals similarly.

        Note: The above instructions are only suggestions. There is no right or wrong way to set up drums; the only thing that matters is how the drums fit you!
        

  
  Tuning Your Set

  Drum tuning is not bound by specific notes like guitars or pianos but instead can be tuned to your preference. However, if you want your drums to sound their best, they need to be tuned carefully. Follow the suggestions below and you’ll have great sounding drums in no time!

  1) Tune each head to itself: Choose any drum and finger-tighten the tuning rods on one side. With a drum key tighten each rod 1/2 turn using a criss-cross sequence similar to the diagram in (Fig. 15). Repeat until the drumhead is free of wrinkles and a tone is produced. Tap the head at each tension rod and listen to the sound. If the head has the same pitch all the way around, this is what you want, the head is tensioned evenly. Chances are, however, that the sound will be “high” at some tension rods and “low” at others. To tune the head evenly, locate the tension rods where the sound is “high” and loosen these rods by 1/8 turn. Similarly locate the tension rods where the sound is “low” and tighten these rods by 1/8 turn. Repeat this procedure until the head has the same pitch all around, or in drummer talk, “is in tune with itself. “

  Once the head is in tune with itself, you can raise or lower the pitch of the head by tightening or loosening each tension rod by the same amount. Usually, the head will stay in tune with itself however if it should change, simply repeat the tuning procedure above.

  Turn the drum over and tune the other head. When you get to the snare drum, tune the top head in this manner, we’ll deal with the bottom head later.

  

  
  2) Tune the heads to each other: The top and bottom heads can be tuned relative to each other three ways: 1) they can be tuned to the same pitch; 2) the top head can be tuned higher than the bottom; or 3) the top head tuned can be tuned lower than the bottom. There is no right or wrong so experiment with all three methods to see which sounds best to you.

  3) Tune the drums to each other: You’re now ready to tune the whole set. The pitches descend as the drums get larger. Many drummers like to tune their toms a 4th apart. If you want to try this tuning, sing the first two notes of the wedding march, “Here Comes the Bride.” “Here” and “Comes” are a 4th apart. Use these notes as a guide.

  If you prefer a more free-form method of tuning, go right ahead. As mentioned before, there are no right or wrong notes when tuning drums. Every drum however has a range of pitches where it sounds best. When tuned too high, drums tend to sound “choked” and constricted. Tuned too low makes them sound “flappy.” Experiment until you find the notes that sound best to you.

  Tuning and Adjusting the Snare Drum

  The snare drum can be tuned to its own “voice” regardless of how the rest of the set is tuned. However, each snare drum has a range of notes where it sounds best and should be tuned accordingly.

  For most applications, tune the bottom head (the snare head) slightly tighter than the top head. This keeps the sound crisp and minimizes buzz from the snares (the wires that make the snare sound).

  The snares are turned on and off by the strainer (Fig. 16). A knob on the strainer controls the tightness of the snares. Adjust the knob to achieve a crisp snare sound. Overtightening the snares can choke the sound of the drum and shorten the life of the snares.

  

  How to Hold the Sticks
  There are two basic stick grips: matched grip and traditional grip. To learn about each and to choose the best grip for you, we suggest consulting a qualified drum teacher. Ask your authorized Pearl dealer for a list of teachers in your area.

  (Fig. 17a) shows the matched grip. As the name implies, the sticks are held similarly or “matched.” Grip each stick between the thumb and first finger to form a pivot. The pivot point should be about two thirds from the tip of the stick. Complete the grip by lightly touching the remaining fingers around the sticks as shown.

  

(Fig. 17b) shows the traditional grip. The traditional grip was developed for marching but is still popular with many drumset players. The left stick is cradled in the “V” formed between the thumb and first finger and rests on the fourth finger as shown. The thumb and first finger surround the stick for control. The middle finger lightly presses against the stick and acts as a guide. The right stick is held in the matched grip.

Note: The above examples are for illustrative purposes. As you learn more about drumming, you’ll find that there is no right or wrong way to do anything. What works best for you is what matters!

Cymbals

Proper Cymbal Playing Techniques
Allow your cymbals to move freely to produce maximum resonance. Keeping them too tight or angling them too steeply restricts the sound and puts strain on the bell of the cymbal. Replace worn plastic sleeves and felt washers to prevent metal-to-metal contact from damaging your cymbals.

Avoid direct hits to the edge of the cymbal. Use quick glancing blows especially on splash, crash, and Chinese cymbals to obtain optimum sound while minimizing the possibility of damage.

Hi-hats should be loose and slightly tilted to eliminate “air-lock” and to keep the sound consistent and crisp.
Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

Q: How can I make my bass drum less “boomy?”
A: One of the simplest ways is to put a pillow or blanket into the bass drum so that it touches one or both of the heads. Many commercially made muffling products are available.

Q: How can I get the snares to stop buzzing when I hit my bass drum or toms?
A: This is caused by sympathetic vibration and unfortunately can’t be eliminated completely without altering the natural sound of the snare drum. Muffling helps but excessive muffling can cause the snare drum to sound dead and constricted. To reduce sympathetic vibration try tuning the drums to different pitches or move your drums into a larger room and/or experiment with sound absorbing objects such as rugs, sofas, drapes, acoustic tile, etc.

Q: How come when I try to turn the knob to tighten the snares, it won’t turn?
A: The snare tension knob is tightened as far as it will go. To correct this, turn the strainer to the “off” position and loosen the strainer knob a few turns counterclockwise. Loosen the bolts holding the snare straps or cords and take out about 1/8″ of slack on the snares. Retighten the bolts. Turn the strainer back “on” and check if the tension knob is functioning normally. For best snare sound, the snares should be centered on the snare head.

Q: How often should I replace the snares on my snare drum?
A: Most snare drums use “snappy snares” which are spring-like coils of wire. When new, the coils are resilient and flex as the drum is played. Over time, however, the wires loose their resiliency and cause the drum to sound choked. When this happens, replace the snares.

Q: How often should I change the heads on my drums?
A: Change them when they are damaged, stretched, sound dead, or don’t keep in tune. Even though they’re not hit, bottom heads, especially snare heads, should be replaced periodically for best sound.

Q: How do I keep my bass drum and hi-hat from creeping while playing?
A: Play on a carpet or rug. If your bass drum and pedals are equipped with spikes, use them too for maximum slip-resistance.

Q: How should I clean my drums?
A: Use a quality drum cleaner or non-abrasive furniture cleaner/wax. Follow the manufacturer’s directions and use a soft cloth to prevent scratching the finish. A feather duster is great to keep the drums dust-free between cleanings.

Q: Is it OK to put oil on the moving parts of my drums and hardware?
A: Yes. Use quality oils, used sparingly to keep pedals, wingbolts and wingnuts moving smoothly.

1) Assembling the Bass Drum

Figure 1 (bass drum parts)

Figure 2 (placing the drum head on the drum shell)

Place the white (or clear, normally the one without a logo) batter drum head on the side of the bass drum that will face the drummer, making sure that it is firmly seated on the drum shell. This would be the side furthest from the bass drum leg mounts.

Figure 3 (placing the hoop or rim on the drum)

Place the hoop on top of the drum head, also making sure that it is firmly seated.

Figure 4 (attaching the tension rod and claw hook to the drum)

Finally attach each of the tension rods and claws to the mounting lugs.  Hand tighten each tension rod evenly around the drum head.  Using the drum key, and keeping the drum head evenly seated on the drum, tune the drum.

Now repeat this entire process for the opposite end of the drum using the other drum head which will normally be the one with the logo on it.  Place the drum head so that the logo will be in the correct position when the drum is placed in playing position.

Next attach the bass drum legs to the bass drum. Note: Some models already have the legs attached. Set the bass drum upright in the playing position.

Figure 5 (attaching the tom drum mounts)

Place the tom drum mounts into the top of the bass drum and tighten loosely.  Set this assembly aside and proceed to the tom drum assembly.

2) Assembling the Mountable Toms

You may have one or two mountable tom drums depending on which set you have purchased.  Assembly is the same for each drum.  Be sure that you match the right size drum heads and rims with each tom.

The pictures shown below are for a 12-lug tom drum (6 top and 6 bottom). You may have more or less lugs depending on which drum set you have purchased.

Figure 1 (tom drum parts)

Figure 2 (placing the drum head on the drum shell)

Place the white (or clear, normally the one with a logo) drum head on the top of the tom drum, making sure that it is firmly seated on the drum shell.

Figure 3 (placing the hoop or rim on the drum)

Place the rim on top of the drum head, also making sure that it is firmly seated.  Be sure to line up the holes in the rim with the mounting lugs on the tom drum.

Figure 4 (attaching the tension rod the drum mounting lug)

Finally attach each of the tension rods and washers (if provided) through the holes in the rim, to the mounting lugs.  Hand tighten each tension rod evenly around the drum head.  Using the drum key, and keeping the drum head evenly seated on the drum, tune the drum.

Using the same procedure assemble the bottom end of the drum, using the other drum head which will normally be the one without the logo on it.

Now repeat this entire process for the second mounted tom if you have one.

When the mounted toms are finished, attach them to the top of the bass drum as shown below.

Figure 5 ( attaching toms to top of bass drum)

3) Assembling the Floor Tom

Assembly of the floor tom is basically the same as the mountable tom, except that it has legs to support it.

Figure 1 (floor tom parts)

Assemble the floor tom using the same procedure as for the mountable toms.  When finished, attach the legs and adjust to the height you wish.  See picture below for completed floor tom.

Figure 2 (floor tom assembled)

You have now completed all the drum assembly. Let’s proceed to the hardware.

Attach the drum pedal to the bass drum.  Assemble the throne, cymbal stands and cymbals.  If you have a High Hat Cymbal, see the instructions below, otherwise enjoy your drum set.

4) Assembling the High Hat

Figure 1 (bottom felt and washer)

Figure 2 (installing bottom felt and washer)

Figure 3 (bottom high hat cymbal)

Figure 4 (top high hat cymbal and parts)

Figure 5 (top high hat cymbal assembly)

Figure 6 (top high hat cymbal assembly)

Figure 7 (attaching top high hat cymbal assembly to high hat stand)

]]> http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/assembly-drummer/feed/ 0 cau12 http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/parts-of-the-bass/ http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/parts-of-the-bass/#comments Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:27:17 +0000 cau12 http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/?p=30 ]]>

1. Neck: The neck is one of the two fundamental pieces that make up the bass (the other being the body). Inside the neck is a threaded metal bar called a truss rod, which is used to make adjustments to the neck. An old bass that may seem damaged or unplayable can often be fixed with a simple neck adjustment, so if you buy a used bass, it’s advisable to have the neck professionally adjusted.
2. Body: The body of the bass guitar is the other fundamental piece of the instrument to which the neck is attached. It is either a solid piece of wood or a box carved and assembled into a shape that allows for great resonance.
3. Headstock: The headstock is at the top of the neck where the tuning machines are installed.
4. Tuning machines: Each tuning machine consists of two parts: a string post, where the string is attached, and a tuning peg, which tightens or loosens the strings, thereby raising or lowering the pitch. A standard bass has four independent tuning machines.
5. Nut: A piece of ivory (or similar natural or manmade material) that’s located at the top of the fingerboard and acts as a node at one end of the vibrating string. The other end terminates at the bridge.
6. Fingerboard: A maple or rosewood panel that’s attached to the front of the neck. Frets are inlaid on the fingerboard, and strings are pressed against it.
7. Frets: Thin strips of metal set in the fingerboard. Frets are placed precisely so that when a string is pressed directly behind them, a specific pitch is produced.
8. Fret markers: Decorative mother-of-pearl or painted dots or shapes that appear at certain intervals to help a player locate notes. Smaller dots are often placed on the side of the fingerboard so that the player doesn’t have to look on the front of the bass.
9. Pick guard: A protective cover over the electronic components of the bass, such as the wiring that connects the pickups and input jack. (Not all basses have a pick guard.)
10. Pickups: Magnets that read the magnetic waves generated by the moving metal strings. An external amplifier (or amp), connected to the bass by a cable, converts these waves to sound. The sensitivity of the pickups is a critical factor in the bass’s sound.
11. Strings: The strings traverse the neck and body, stretch­ing between the tuning pegs, anchor­ing on the nut at the top of the fingerboard, and terminating at the bridge.
12. Bridge: A piece of metal that acts as a node for the vibrating strings. A good bridge allows for very fine adjustments to insure consistent tuning on all parts of the neck. As with the truss rod, the bridge of your bass should be professionally adjusted. (This type of neck/bridge adjustment is called a setup.)
13. Input jack: The port where the amp cable plugs into the guitar. It is usually located toward the bottom of the bass’s body.
14. Strap pegs: Two sturdy pegs, located at the bottom end of the bass and the top cutaway, where the guitar strap connects to the guitar. The strap you attach to the pegs must support the weight of the instrument (see “Bass Gear,” below).

Bass Gear

• Strap: The bass is a heavy instrument, so the strap you choose should be wide and durable enough to support the bass completely. Nylon straps that are 2–3″ wide are easy to find; leather straps are a little more comfortable.
  
• Picks: Picks vary in style and thickness. Avoid thin picks—they’re not very effective on thick bass strings. There’s no difference between a bass pick and a guitar pick, though some manufacturers claim that certain picks are designed specifically for bass.
  
• Bass amp: A bass amplifier is designed to handle the powerful low frequencies of the bass. A small practice amp is adequate for when you’re first starting out, but if you’re playing with drums and other instruments, you’ll need much more power. Classic bass amps such as the Ampeg B-12 and B-15 are available in original and reissued models. The Ampeg SVT series is also very popular.
  

Outstanding professional sound quality and styles at unprecedented price points mark out new Yamaha keyboards

Sweet ! – Live ! – Cool ! – Natural !- and other great voices

• Sweet, enjoy delicate nuances such as the vibrato
• Live , stereo samples that encapsulate the acoustic instruments
• Cool reproduce the subtle shades of electric instruments
• Natural, use huge amounts of memory to create faithful reproductions of original sounds

Simultaneous Style & Song Playback

Great Organ sounds

Explore a new world of keyboard enjoyment with the new Mega-Voice-Technology in PSR-S700!

All in all more than 800 instrument voices are built in PSR-S700. Many of these voices are coming from high end models – for example, the 14 Live! Voices, 18 Cool! Voices and 11 Sweet! Voices as well as 10 Mega! Voices.

Mega! Voices

• feature various playing and performance sounds, for example finger slides and fret noises on guitar voices. These Mega! Voices are used in the programming of the 205 internal accompaniment styles, giving your performances a new level of realism.
• For each Style there are four One Touch Settings so that you get the perfect instrumental setting by pressing just one button.
• The OTS-Link-Function allows you to change automatically through the One Touch Setting just by changing the Style-variation.
• If you want to play a certain song and don’t know which style to choose, the powerful Music Finder feature can help. Simply select a song title or a keyword, all appropriate panel settings are reconfigured to match the genre, including the appropriate voices, style and effects.
• Music Finder+ also works with the Internet Direct Connection (IDC) feature, allowing you to download additional free Music Finder records and collections in addition to the wide selection built in to the instrument.
• The large LCD display shows the song notation of a MIDI file (score) as well as lyrics (for MIDI songs that have score and lyric data).
• In addition, PSR-S700 features both Pitch Bend and Modulation Wheels, allowing the player to have more control over instrumental and synth voices.
• A powerful Bass-Reflex-speaker system and 2 x 12 watts amplification make the PSR-S700 outstanding in sound quality, whilst the integrated Network-connector (LAN-Port) ensures ease of use with Yamaha’s unique Internet Direct Connection (IDC) feature.
• The USB-to-device connection opens the possibility to connect USB storage devices such as thumb drives to the instrument, giving you virtually unlimited memory capacity for user registrations, styles and songs.
• In addition, the PSR-S700 also features a huge range of onboard recording and creativity unmatched by any other keyboard at the price.

• Incredible Music Styles

• ---

• The PSRS700 contains a wealth of fully arranged music styles, including specially designed Pianist Styles, to backup your musical performance. Yamaha style makers around the world have been working very hard to create some wonderful new styles for this release of the PSRS700. Each style has 3 Intros, Main A/B/C/D variations, and 3 Endings, as well as four fill-in patterns for added musical expression. You can change the instrument part settings of any music style, or even create your own custom styles.

• Exceptional Sound

• ---

• Dynamic two-way stereo speakers effectively reproduce the PSRS700′s high quality voices with rich, full-range sound. The keyboard’s built-in ports enhance lower frequencies.

• One Touch Setting

• ---

• The One Touch Setting (OTS) function automatically configures keyboard parameters, such as melody voice selection, tempo, and accompaniment volume, to optimally match each music style you select. This feature has been improved on the PSRS700. You can, if you like, have the OTS advance automatically with the 4 Main Sections of a style for ultimate hands-free operation.

Large Full Dot LCD with Song Lyric Display & Score display

Music Finder

16-Track Sequencer & Lyric Editor

Editing is easy and intuitive and offers cut, copy and paste features, just like a computer! Once you enter the Song Creator mode, you’ll notice that we have a new section that allows you to input lyric data into songs. Very cool. Once you enter the lyrics, they scroll by as the song plays back — you just have to follow the bouncing ball.

Chord data from standard MIDI files can be imported into the style section for further editing, which is perfect for songwriters and arrangers.

In addition to MIDI connections, the PSR1100 and 2100 feature a USB port enabling effortless computer connection, opening up a whole new world of educational and creative possibilities. Expand your musical possibilities by connecting the keyboard to external MIDI devices or even to a personal computer.

Digital Effects Processor

Specifications Yamaha PSRS700

The first stain is complete. Next I’ll sand this back to leave the stain in the grain.

I split the leftover stain (which I purposely made a lot of) into two jars. 1 jar

is going to remain the same. The other jar I will thin and add Lemon Yellow

to for the final color. The reason I am saving the stain is that I will have to

use it on my Warmoth neck when it comes. I want to make sure the

colors are the same.

Now I sand the color back with the

Ryobi finish sander with 240 sand paper to help bring the finish down

a little quicker, then I block sand by hand with 240 then 320 and finally 400

sand paper. The field of the wood is all most back to natural but the grain

is still dark as you can see in the picture. This will help the final color

get that deep reflective three dimensional look.

Next I took one of the jars of stain and thinned it more with denatured

alcohol and added some Lemon Yellow to give it that burnt orange tint

and then I stained the guitar to its final c

I decided to give the canned lacquer a try, spraying out of the can is very convenient.

I put a couple coats of Colortone Aerosol Guitar Lacquer on just to see what

it is gonna look like. And it looks like the spray can stuff just may work. It does not

flow like painting a car, but it seems to level after a few minutes.

Here is another shot of the guitar on the stand.

I wanted a nice way to clear coat the guitar without hanging it. So I

went to Home Depot picked up some red oak, a handle, a dowel and a

couple brackets and presto I made a stand to paint with. I saw something

similar to this somewhere on the web when I was researching for making

this build. The idea is not an original.

I taped the guitar for the 1st coats of the black burst over. The 1st coat is gonna be

very tight to the edge and solid black. For the 2nd coat I will have to retape the guitar

for the actual burst.

I tried to do the black burst with the Colortone Black Lacquer from Stew-Mac.

It seems to be to heavy to work correctly. I’ll have to figure out how to make this black

burst work without me having to purchase a airbrush. Its Christmas and I can’t spend

money on the guitar right now.

I tried to sand the black back to get a smooth burst transition. Sanding is

not working for me. I’ll figure this out.

A-B Comparison between the original Variax body and the

I cut a small block of lucite to use as a level sanding block.

All the clear nitrocellulose coats are completed. I shot 5 coats with the Colortone

Aerosol Guitar Lacquer and changed over to the compressor and paint gun and

shot 7 more coats.

You can see the dinning room chandelier reflection pretty clearly in the clear coats.

Now I play the waiting game. Today is Sunday Dec 18th, I have to give the guitar 14 days

for the Lacquer to cure. That means that on Monday January 1st I can start the final sanding

and buffing. I called Warmoth about my neck this past Thursday and they said the

neck was in finishing and should be shipped in about 2 weeks.

Well the 2 weeks is up and I am almost through sanding, polishing and buffing. I just have to do a little

more swirl remover and final polish then I am done. These last two days have been pretty

labor intensive for the final finishing. Click here for details of what I did.

Next here are a group of pictures of the finish from various angles both front and back.

I’ll start putting the guitar together tomorrow.

This is not the finished product. I’m still waiting for my Warmoth Pro neck

which is due in this week.

My Warmoth Pro neck arrived today it looks great. It’s a shame I have to strip the

headstock face, dye it, burst it and clearcoat it to make it match the body.

Striped, dyed, bursted and a few clearcoats are on at this point.

Logo applied

I decided to make a custom truss rod cover out of 5A quilted maple.

I’ll dye it, burst it and clear coat it to match the guitar.

StrataVariax – One

I guess it really got a name now

Sperzel locking tuners installed with Earvana compensating nut.

Rose W. “SV – 1”

Completed

I had the inserts installed by a luthier here in South Jersey.

I drilled the hole for the volume, tone and selector switch, then I used

a 1-1/4″ Cove bit with the bearing removed to add the recess.

I made another template for the Dremel tool to rout for the 5-way switch.

The pots and the switch needed a little less top depth, so I routed the

pots to a depth of 3/16″ and the switch to 1/8″. I did not use jigs for these

extra routs. I just drew the shapes in with a pencil and eyed it.

Once again I used a 1-1/4″ Cove bit with the bearing removed

for the thumb screw recess on the battery cover.

I used this dremel scouring pad to clean up the recesses. They

fit the recess perfectly.

Now that all of the routs are done I needed to assembly the guitar and

give it a dry run to see if everything is copesetic before I continued on

with all the finishing. So I put in all the electronics, hardware, and

then strung her up. The intonation only needed minor adjustment.

I did spend about an hour dialing in the string height and

setting the tremolo to float. The best part was that when I plugged it

in, it all worked………….what a big relief!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is what she looks like with the stock Variax 700 neck. I am still waiting for

my Warmoth maple/maple neck to arrive. Its due early December. Next

I have to tear it all apart again and start the finishing.

Neck, bridge, string alignment looks really good. I was extremely

concerned about this since I had to make all my own templates.

You know nobody has Variax 700 templates. But it came out pretty dang good.

I taped some of the openings before applying the grain filler, which fills

in the pores on the mahogany. The maple on the top does not need the filler

because the pores are very tight on maple. I tried to use the Colortone grain

filler but I could not get it to work for me. Jeff pointed me toward Devcon Epoxy

for the grain filler. It works really good and is easy to use. Just make sure

to work in small areas at a time, just a few inches, and put the epoxy on

very thin and work it into the grain. I used an auto putty spreader and cut it

into a 1-1/2″ piece. I would force the epoxy into the grain scraping across the grain.

The body is finally ready for staining.

Here is a close up of the brass threaded inserts for the tremolo studs. I spent all

day looking for them at about 10 stores and could not find them. It dawned on me

late in the day that I know exactly where to get some.

Another donor. I bought this Samick guitar 4 years ago at a flea market for $50.00, I took

all of the electronics and hardware off back then, polished the guitar up and its been sitting

in a corner in the studio for 4 years. Well it is finally going to be used.

GOT INSERTS NOW !!!!!!!!!!

Making the templates (jigs) was extremely time consuming but that is where

the time is spent making them perfect. There are Variax 300/ 500 routing kits available

on the web that I will be using in the future. The Variax 700 main cavity is smaller

that the other variax models, so I won’t be using my templates again.

Here is the 700 and the side by side.

Here is a close up of the routed cavities. I still have to rout the side of the

guitar for the jack and I have to finish the battery box.

The 700 jack assembly and the rout from the factory.

I created a template for the jack plate rout.

The Jack rout is done along with the connecting holes between the cavities

and the holes for the recessed neck mounting ferrules. You can also see the neck

heel contour I sanded in with the naldiiFinish Sander.

Next I sanded in the tummy cut with 60 grit on a drill and 60 grit on the finish sander.

I kept alternating between the two tools. The drill would take material out of the body pretty fast

and rough. The finish sander would then smooth it back out and contour the shape nicely.

The tummy cut is complete. It came out very nice. The contours are starting

to make the guitar look like a professional piece. I am very pleased at this point.

]]> http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/assembly-part-3/feed/ 0 cau12 http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/assembly-part2/ http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/assembly-part2/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:05:30 +0000 cau12 http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/?p=12 ]]> in this second part we will continue the way of making the guitar on 1 good luck

I cut the body out flawlessly as you can see I was right on the outside of the marker lines.

This should make it a lot easier when I start the routing next.

Next I used a 1/4″ round-over bit to round the edges, both front and back.

Here is a shot of the 700 electronics.

This is the 6 pin flat connector from the Bridge to the motherboard.

The motherboard disconnected from it’s 3 connectors. I guess there ain’t no

turning back now!!!!!!

The 700 Trem without the motherboard.

The motherboard and the tremolo.

The  along side the new body. If you look real close to the lower horn

on the new guitar you will see where I am doing a repair from the router taking a

chunk out of the wood when I was routing the body. Jeff said only take 1/8″ off

each pass when routing. He knew what he was talking about. I’ll be more careful

when routing in the future.

I had to make about 5 templates before I got one right for the neck and

tremolo rout. The reason I had to make so many templates is that each one

was just a little off and they have to be almost perfect especially between the

neck and bridge. I don’t want any mistakes here or the intonation or/and

the string height can be really off. I measured everything multiple times to make

sure it is correct and then I would cut the template and if it was not dead on, it

went in the trash and I started again.

]]> http://caumusicgue.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/assembly-part2/feed/ 0 cau12