How to Measure Drum Shells
Drum shell measuring is an essential skill for any drummer to learn. It comes in handy for many situations. It can help you determine what drum heads or hardware will fit the drum shell. Also, it is an instrumental step in determining how to refinish the drum shells. Measuring your drums incorrectly can result in purchasing the wrong hardware or drum heads for your drum set.
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Instructions
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Use a drum key to loosen drum lugs on the top drum head. The drum key is a small wrench-like tool used to tighten and loosen the drum lugs for drum head removal and tuning. Remove the metal hope securing the drum head in place, and remove the drum head from the drum shell. Repeat this for the bottom head, as well. Clean out any debris from inside the drum shell.
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Measure the width of your drum shell. Attach your measuring tape's hook to the outside edge of your drum shell, and drag the tape to the opposite side of the drum shell, while keeping the measuring tape as centered as possible across the drum shell's width. Write down this measurement. Check your measurement's accuracy by repeating this for the opposite side of the drum shell.
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Measure the depth of your drum shell. Attach the measuring tape's hook to the bottom edge of the shell from outside of the shell. Drag the measuring tape from top to bottom, or bottom to top, depending on where the measuring tape is hooked. Write down this measurement. Check your measurement by measuring the shell's depth on the opposite side of the shell.
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References
- Photo Credit Marching Band Drums image by bayu harsa from Fotolia.com
