Please critique this bearing edge

[Marshall]

Hi guys (and gals)

This is a drum I'm preparing to re-head. I got it this way, with no skin, and I never heard it or felt it play before, so I don't know this edge from experience... only how it looks.

My only concern, as you may guess, is it appears to have a wide flat portion, which I've learned is not desireable. However, the edge is excellently formed in terms of being consistent and round, and even has a perfect inside bevel. So I wonder to myself, why would someone spend the attention to make this edge so "good", and screw up so bad with a big flat top? I also do not want to go to the labor (and risk degrading the work) if this shape is actually acceptable.

If I use my imagination, I can see that the edge is not exactly flat, but has the slightest slope upwards toward the inside. But I mean, we are talking like a hair's amount.

So I ask you, what do you think? Would you re-work it?

Thank you in advance for your opinion!
-marshall

[Djembe-nerd]

Here is an example.

Yes you should round the flat portion and put a small bevel on the inside also. There are other topics in the forum with this discussion and more, try searching through the search tool.

[Paul]

What he said... I had a rim just like yours and its like a new drum since i reshaped the rim.

[michi]

Get rid of the flat portion and sharp edge where it starts to curve. Ten minutes work with a bit of sandpaper will do the trick and make for a drum that's nicer to play and easier to tune. A smoother shape will also extend the life of the skin.

Cheers,

Michi.

[alifaa]

I would take a fine file to the flat bit so it slopes down towards the inside of the drum....it only needs to be a few degrees to clear the skin. Then, as Michi suggested, some quality time with sandpaper to make it smooth and take off the sharp edge, and you are done - half an hour tops!!

[Marshall]

Ok, went at it with various grades of sandpaper and came out with this. Thanks for all the input and photos!

-marshall

[nkolisnyk]

Now that looks like a nice comfortable edge to play! It was worth the effort, obviously!

[Marshall]

So I finally got around to finishing this drum! Went a little flashy with the color combo. I like it, and my fiance wrapped up the handle with a mixed color. She's really fun to have around when I build drums

This was a fun drum to head, because it belongs to a family member who is not a djembe player. I saw the shell at her house, bare of skin, rope and both top rings! It was serving as an umbrella stand, and not even the rings were accounted for. So I offered to take it home and overhaul it.

Anyway, knowing that the finished product will probably be as much a piece of decorative art as a musical instrument meant I got to "experiment" a little bit and test some of my habits. For example, I chose not to lace up the skin over the hide ring while mounting. That ended up giving me more drop on the hide ring, so much that I will likely never skip that step again.

The other habit I broke was by doing only 2 light rounds of tuning on the dry pull, then going in with the horizontal weave. On the last drum I did before this one, I got the verticals so tuned that I flipped the first pair of verticals with weave and called it done! This drum is the opposite. I ended up needing to start the third row to reach pitch, and that third row is something I also hope never to repeat on another drum. On this particular drum it accounts for the severe drop on one side of the head, visible in the closeup pic.

I learned a lot by deliberately not doing things "the way I've always done them". Now I know from first hand experience what the benefits of these steps are.

The things I am very happy about with this build are:

1) getting a nice clean fold-up after trimming the skin (all my previous drums had pretty messy skin flaps left over after the cut, with goat skin going in no particular direction, up nor down).

and

2) the sound!! Considering the weird, large shape of this shell, and that I used a thin goat skin, I think I got the best sound I could have. I'm looking forward to working with a traditional shell next time (maybe even one I can keep? ) and a nice thick skin.

Thanks again for the input on shaping the bearing edge. See you all around!
-marshall

P.S. My baby normally likes drumming! She was crying because of the rough terrain on her bare feet... I swear

[shortypalmer]

I was told early on my learning curve for the bearing edge to have it look like your thumb, i have stuck with that process for my whole drum building career. the finger nail side of your hand is the inside of the drum and palm side is the outside. how you arrive to that shape is up to the indivual. i have in the past used different tools, mostly a belt sander. yesterday my friend came over with his electric door plane and router, in less them 45 minutes he had the rims flat and shaped on 7 guinea shells. all i have to do is go back and hit it with a sander and i am done. my old way would have taken 30 minutes per rim.

[Dub Town]

bearing edge.jpg (674.79 KiB) Viewed 150 times

Also looking for a bearing edge critique, suggestions?

its been sanded down to 400 grit.

[michi]

Looks perfect!

Michi.

[McLellan-djembetoula]

agreed
maybe some elbow grease and 400 grit sandpaper.
do not WAX the rim (you will have a hard time ever sanding it again if you do)

[Dub Town]

thanks for the feedback. Was my first time shaping a bearing edge from scratch/flat topped.