Another Drum Tip-Rim of the shell

I get a lot of questions about the rim of the drum, or bearing edge. This is an important part of the drum shell. Done incorrectly it can cause a vibration that could drive you crazy trying to figure out what it is, at least it drove me crazy the first time it happened to me. The vibration noise is due to a flat spot on the rim of the shell. What is happening is that the skin left bearing edge but then retouches again and starts to make the noise or vibration. There really is only on way to fix it, take the head off and fix the flat spot. When I first started out I was told the rim should look like a side view of your thumb. The finger nail side would be the inside of the drum and the skin (or palm side) would be the outside. That analogy really does work.

One more tip on the rim is if you want the plane of the top of the drum to be flat I have found the best way to get it that way is to glue sandpaper to a flat surface and rub the drum over that surface. It takes a little elbow grease but it is worth it in the long run. I actually use a belt sander to shape the rim but the first thing I will do is get the rim a little pointed so when I do flatten the top of the drum It sands easier. The more I flatten it, and wider the flat spot becomes, the harder it is to sand. I will reshape the rim again and make the top where I have been sanding pointed again until I finally get it flat. I use a piece of glass to gauge the flatness. You actually can tell when it is flat by looking at where you have been sanding and if the sandpaper touches all surfaces, then it has to be flat. If you do not have access to a flat surface and sandpaper, there is the old concrete driveway. I have turned a drum upside and rubbed it back and forth on my driveway, it works but you need to make sure the concrete is flat by using a straight edge in the place where you will rubbing the drum.

When finally finished sanding the surface, you have to get that rounded side view of your thumb look again on the rim. If you had to take the head off to fix the rim there is no need to re-soak the head, you can put the head back on dry, tighten the verticals, put your diamonds in and start playing.