I decided to build an Alfaia out of a floor tom.

Parts

There is a great aftermarket drum parts industry, and you can source most parts (especially for American-style, drumset drums) online. The most expensive part is the shell. All the online retailers sell Keller Maple shells  they’re nice, maple, and made in the USA. But they are expensive, and a shell for a 20″ Alfaia would have cost me over $200. Instead, I went with a cheap import floor tom ($40) from craigslist. I ended up with a 16 inch drum because that’s what I could find easily and cheaply.

Here’s what we started with:

The first step is to remove all the hardware (with a screwdriver). You also need to pry off the badge and remove the grommet in the vent hole (you can see them still attached in this photo).

The next step is to remove the wrap, which is a plastic covering over the shell. I was really nervous here because I’d read some drum forums where you have to melt the glue off with a heat gun, or sand out large glue splotches, but this is where having a cheap donor drum helps. In this case, double sided tape was holding it on, and you can just peel it off. There was a little bit of glue under the wrap, something like rubber cement, and just rubbed off with my finger.

Now we’re left with the bare shell, and I pleased to find the wood wasn’t that bad looking. Unfinished, but not unattractive, and it gives you an insight into how quickly this drum was built: it was probably put together faster than it took me to take it apart.

I was going to leave the screw holes, but after seeing them and realizing it wasn’t hard to fill them with wood putty, I went to Home Depot.

I came back with a little bit of stuff ( I needed rope too, after all), and was pleased that I was also able to pick up the ring (for hanging it off a strap). 

After filling the holes for the hardware with wood putty. I left the holes for the legs though, because I might want to put them on later.

Test fitting the hoops and the heads. I wanted to build it without using any animal ingredients so I went with Remo Fiberskyn heads. The resonant head is an ambassador and the batter head is a Powerstroke 3. The heads are actually the most expensive part of this whole project. You can also see the beginnings of the finish in this picture,  one coat of wipe on polyurethane.

Next, I drilled the hoops: these are standard bass drum hoops, and I was afraid they might splinter when I drilled into them, so I covered the inside of the hoops with masking tape.

 

You drill right through the tape.

 

Most of the holes came out pretty clean.

These are the worst looking two, and not too bad looking.

I wanted to put a few more coats of polyurethane on it, but I was too anxious to hear how it sounded.

After two attempts I got it tuned. It turned out great, it sounds better than I expected, totally like an Alfaia and not like a floor tom at all. The powerstroke head is pre-muffled, and it’s exactly enough muffling to kill the ring, but not enough to be completely dead. Can’t wait to play it outside of the house.