slightly oval tenor rims

[pahootaman]

Hey everybody,

I'm the battery captain for a small DCA corps and we don't have a Scrooge McDuck vault amount of money to fix battery equipment, so I'll lay this out with you. I have two sets of tenors that have a couple of rims that are out of whack. They're pulling heads and bending lugs (they're bent...slightly). Is there a home remedy (smashing with a hammer) to this, or a place I can send these rims to or am I going to have to pony up for new rims. I know this is probably caused by mistreament of the drums. Our corps shares our drums with a HS band and I'm guessing they don't know much about caring and feeding of battery equipment.

FYI, we march YAMAHA drums.

Thank you in advance for any good advice. :-)

[mobrien]

You don't want to hammer the rims. If anything, they want to be squeezed back into shape, carefully, with a large clamp.

However, if they're the standard Yamaha rims, you can buy aftermarket replacements for $14-16 each from any number of drum supply houses. Try Precision Drum, Drum Foundry, or Drummaker.com. They'll all carry the standard knockoff rims that will be fine for what you're doing.

[cabalumnidrummer]

Before you buy, especially new, you might try double rimming first. If you're not familiar with the term, here's the basic idea:

If the tension rods are long enough, you take an old/broken head, cut the plastic off with a utility knife. Then, place the new head on the shell and put the extra rim (or counterhoop) on top of the new head and under the bent rim or hoop. Sometimes (but no guarantee of always) this will help keep the bent hoop straight enough to prevent it from slipping off the the counterhoop of the head. It can be especially effective if you put the extra hoop upside down under the rim, because the underside of a counter hoop has a more square edge, and helps straighten the bent rim and make it more rigid.

If the rods are too short, you might need a few new ones, but that should be cheaper than new rims, I would think. Try it with at least one drum and see if it helps. It also depends on how badly the rim in question is bent. This has helped me salvage many bent rims.

Good luck!

[jonnyboy]

Double hooping is the first shot, good suggestion. I know it's a money thing, but maybe you guys could buy your own hoops for the summer, but put the old rims back on for the school? I know they are expensive, but multiple head changes and hassle can be expensive too.

[pahootaman]

Wow, great replies! I wasn't really going to hammer the rims, lol. Just kind of frustrated with the bent rim situation.

Since it's just a couple of rims on each set of tenors, I'm going to see whats out there in the after market world first. If I'm still running into problems, I'm going to try double rimming.

Thanks again!

[nab129]

Double rimming I don't think will help your problems. Yamaha a few years back created some rims that are too big for the drums. It's really hard to seat the head correctly without the rim sliding over the head. The only fix is new rims. You will most likley waste more money in heads then actually just buying new rims.

Hope this helps,

Nick