I helped out Bill Whitney of Calderwood Percussion to get a whole slew of rope tension drums ready for PASIC. What an awesome experience, Bill is the best! Plus, I landed on this video!

I recently finished up some work on Corey Smith’s Reamer drum, so I met with Mark Beecher on Monday, April 22 at the George Taylor house in Catasuaqua, Pa. to photograph a lineage of "Grand Republic" drums. It's not often that a Moeller, 2 Soistmans, a W.H. Reamer and a A. Reamer, plus my latest "Grand Republic" creation in one setting!

These two drums were ready for the Deep River Ancient Muster in 2023. The “Eye of Providence” drum was ordered the previous year by Douglas Webber of Baltimore, MD., and was delivery that weekend. The “Grand Republic” 2.0.2 was built on spec, and later purchased by a private collector in NYC. Both were painted by Connie Beecher

The tale of 2 basses that I repaired/restored at the same time. Cutting down a giant 24x24 Cooperman, I used the leftovers to make new rerings for the Cooperman, then used The old rerings/shell to repair and restore a 1959 Atwell bass. It was the very first bass made by Atwell, and was originally made from a Hackberry Cheese Barrel! The grain structure of the finished drum was totally unexpected

I recently compleated a major overhaul on Cory Smith’s A. Reamer “Grand Republic”. Some quasi-scientific shell deflection analysis revealed some areas of concern, leading to further reinforcement of the shell. The bearing edges and snare beds were massaged, then a sanding and a new clear coat was applied. The entire snare system features individually adjustable gut of three different sizes, and made in house. New hoops and heads complete the plan!