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Source Parts

First order of business is finding shells and I picked RCI Starlite Drums. They have a good selection of colors and they had the amber that matched my Ludwig Vistalites. The shells are 1/4" thick. They can route the bearing edges and drill for lugs but I choose to do that stuff myself. For sizes I chose 8" diameter by 12" deep, and 10" diameter by 10" deep. Here is the invoice for shells.

I bought lugs and mounts before I got started to avoid any surprises. I used Drum Factory Direct and bought Ludwig classic large lugs (P2243B), Ludwig tom mounts (9.5mm) (P1215D), and 2.3mm triple flange hoops (H1-106), (H1-84). Here is the invoice for hardware. I made sure to buy lugs and mounts that came with screws, washers and the rubber pads that protect the shell. You can often find pretty good used hardware on Ebay or Reverb but I decided to buy new since the rest of my kit is like new.

Tension rods are usually sold separately from lugs. There are many different types of tension rod threads so I made sure to match them with the lugs. The ones I used were PDAXTRS5008 from PDP/DW with 12-24 threads, 50MM long, and includes nylon washers.

I wanted the heads to match my kit which has silver dots and found them offered on Drum Center of New Hampshire's EBay store. Here is the invoice for the 10" head.

Protect the Shells

Acrylic shells are easily scratched. Remove jewelry, your watch, and zippered hoodie when working with them. It's not the end of the world if they get scratched because there are plastic polishing kits but I treated them delicately to avoid that.

Note: Never use an ammonia-based cleaner such as Windex on acrylic because it will cause cloudiness.

Route the Bearing Edge

The edge of the shell where the head sits has a special profile so the drum sounds good. It's not just square and there are many different ways to do it. RCI will route the bearing edge for a fee but I chose to try it myself. My router table aged out so I mounted a compact Ryobi router to a flat piece of MDF and sat it on a trash can for support.

The router bit I used was 45° with a ball bearing on it. Make sure the ball bearing is clean and rotates freely or it might scratch the shell. You can put tape around the shell for protection but I didn't go to that effort.

If I didn't think the factory edge was completely square and ready for routing I would have taped down a full sheet of 220 grit sand paper to a flat surface and rotated the shell on it. Mine looked good from the factory so I didn't have to do that.

I adjusted the router bit height and tested the cut on scrap material first. It was important to keep very even pressure on the shell while rotating and keep it flush with the surface.

The first cut I did was the inside edge and went about 3/4 of the way through leaving a flat spot about 1/16" wide. The second cut was from the outside where I lowered the bit and cut to meet the other angle. This results in an offset 45 degree bearing edge. It's debatable how important the exact profile is. The last picture in this row shows the routed profile I ended up with and it sounds great.

After routing the edge I used some 400 grit sandpaper and lightly went over the cuts, then I used a heat gun on high to slightly smooth it.

Drill Holes

First figure out where the holes for the lugs and mount should be. Acrylic shells have a seam and holes should not be drilled on it.

I put the head and hoop on to find the locations for the lugs, put masking tape in the general area, then used a felt tip pen to mark the spots right beneath the hoop holes. Then I used a metal square to draw a line perpendicular to the shell edge. From there I measured down from the shell's edge to the place where each hole should be. Exactly where the lugs are mounted is fairly flexible. The tension rod length also needs to be involved in this calculation. I chose to have a 1" gap between the hoop and the lug which put the lug holes at 1-7/8" and 3-9/16" from the edge. For the lugs I have the distance between the holes is 1-11/16 (1.6875). I measured multiple times before committing to drilling.

There are special bits to drill acrylic which I suggest using but they are pricey. I used standard twist drills and was very slow and careful. Acrylic heats up and melts with fast drilling.

Lugs and mounts have a protrusion where the screw threads are that fits INTO the holes on the shell. The hole should be a little bit bigger than this protrusion and the lug/mount should float in position. When the lug/mount would not easily fit into the holes I used a drill to enlarge the hole(s).

I sat the shell on a bench with a folded bath towel underneath then first drilled a small pilot hole using a 1/16" bit. This helped to guide the bigger bit which want to wander when starting. I used the slowest drill speed and pushed in spurts. At some point the material will try to grab the bit and pull it through - that's where cracks can happen. I was able to hold the drill and shell very firmly while drilling slowly and didn't have any cracks.

Fiber Washers

I didn't want the metal washers directly touching the acrylic in any place so I fabricated some washers out of gasket material. This was time-consuming but not difficult. I also bent the large washers used on the mounts so they would conform to the inside curve of the shell to reduce stress.

The Stand

The stand I bought is a Ludwig double tom stand with 9.5mm L-Arms to match the mounts. There are many different sizes of L-Arms so I had to choose carefully. The Ludwig part number is LM442TSR and here is the invoice.

Now for the Floor Tom

Along with the addition of these 2 custom toms I couldn't resist adding a matching 14" floor tom but I bought it instead of building it.

All Done?

I call this kit Amber Bonham because it's inspired by the Ludwig Vistalite kit used by drummer John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. He used it starting around 1973 and it's shown in the 1976 movie "Song Remains the Same". Bonham used a 14" tom with 16" and 18" floor toms so his setup was fairly simple. Even though I appreciated the clean simplicity of it I couldn't resist adding more toms, and I make no promises there won't be more. This kit sounds amazing and if you've never played a Vistalite kit please do so.

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