Drum Painting????

Question

i have painted drums before and it turned out great.

i have a new kit(a vintage pearl) and the wrap is comming off in some places

i want to paint them like the other drums i have had but my dad says it could hurt the sound, hurt the resale...ect that kinda stuff

i was going to paint it gloss whit with a blue stripe down the middle of each drum

i think that would look even better than the wrap

but he wont listen to me so i need your help

please give pros and cons about painting drums vs getting it wrapped

(please dont just say dont do it, i have done it before and it worked fine)

and please put you expirence with drums and how many years for the sake of the argument

Answer 1

Hi Nick

Painting the drum will block the pores a little and will affect the tone somewhat. Its like trying to paint a classical or acoustic guitar. Any instrument made of wood have a very thin layer of varnish which is different that paint and still allows the wood to breathe and vibrate. This is where the resonance comes from.

The vinyl wrap doesn't prevent the drum from breathing and resonating like paint would.

Having said this, get read to do a lot of light sanding between coats, and to fill some cracks along the way.

Once you remove the covering, you will see that the finish is not the good whichis why they wrap the drums.

Answer 2

What do you mean when you say 'paint'?

Anything less than a job done by a professional will ruin the resale value of your drums.

A proper paint job involves several coats of stain, followed by many coats of lacquer, with a thorough sanding between each application.  

Contrary to what another poster says,  just because the drums are covered doesn't make them cheap. I have a set of DW's that are covered and they are 100% maple.

Listen to your father and wrap the drums.