To build is to assemble, on some level.
Anyone who starts with a raw, undrilled shell and ends with a completed drum is a builder. Ya say ya make your own shells? You, sir, are an artisan. Buy your shells but do something significantly creative with them? Also an artisan.
A drum builder is like Jesse James of the motorcycle world. He makes everything, even freaking uses a forge to hammer out forks and all that.
A drum assembler is like the Tuetels of that same niche group. They take a bunch of parts and put them together and slap their name on it.
This is how I would put a visual reference on the two descriptions.
toodles
drumhack
Just getting further clarity on where the builder vs assembler line is then...
So you don't have to grow your own trees to make the shells?
If you are able to use somebody else's trees, do you have to fell them yourself? Mill them yourself? But you do have to create the tube shapes yourself.
You don't have to mine your own metals and forge your own tools to work on the shells? You can buy in your tools?
You have to make your own lugs and hardware, but you don't have to mine your own metals to do it?
:)
According to all your logics Gretsch and camco and Rogers were jasper shell decorators just trying to see the logic.
According to all your logics Gretsch and camco and Rogers were jasper shell decorators just trying to see the logic.
just for the info, Gretsch made their own shells longer than they outsourced to jasper, camco actually made their own hardware. Rogers never made their shells they outsourced from Gretsch in the early days and then to jasper.
According to all your logics Gretsch and camco and Rogers were jasper shell decorators just trying to see the logic.
Actually, VM2K stated, "My take on an assembler is just a person that buys a shell blank, from say Precision drum co, or Drummaker or a custom maker etc and has them do the edges, snare beds and all appropriate holes for the necessary hardware."
Other than building their own shells, Gretsch (for a time period) and Camco fall into his definition of builder. "...cuts the bearing edges and the snare beds, and all the necessary holes to hang all the appropriate hardware to the shell." Gretsch has the shell provider build a very specific layup that is unique to Gretsch alone.
Most of the companies outsource lugs and hardware.
Where does that leave Rogers???
The definition variance is a pretty tough thing to pin down.
Not quite sure where I stand on this. I believe I'll ruminate on it for another 45 years or so.
I think shell prep and hardware are the seperation factor between assembler and builder.
Shell blanks may come from Keller, but... edges, beds, hole prep are done in house. Hardware could certainly be made by others, but design is proprietary.
Anything less than that, I think, is just building the other drum with a different badge.
I think shell prep and hardware are the seperation factor between assembler and builder. Shell blanks may come from Keller, but... edges, beds, hole prep are done in house. Hardware could certainly be made by others, but design is proprietary.Anything less than that, I think, is just building the other drum with a different badge.
Using the logic that if you don't build every bolt nut and stuff then ford and Chevy are car assemblers. We know that ain't true as long as you cut your own edges and finish yourself your a builder.
Using the logic that if you don't build every bolt nut and stuff then ford and Chevy are car assemblers. We know that ain't true as long as you cut your own edges and finish yourself your a builder.
Cars are not drums. Not meaning to face off with you, just trying to keep this one focused. There's lots of variables at play and if we drift WAY off into the ditch, nothing can be gleaned from it.
If you have these.....You`re a drum builder !!
