Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

#121 is special. This was for my son, Jackson to complete his own custom black to orange fade kit.

#’s 118 & 119 are 10 ply maple in 14x6.5. A pair of matching concert drums for Stanley middle school. strainers with Patterson blue cable wires and a dark blue marine pearl wrap.

It was a privilege to rewrap this drum for Dan Nickel. It belonged to his brother-in-law before he passed, now Dan and his wife have inherited the whole kit. New blue pearl wrap, one new DW lug and air vent grommet, polished all chrome parts, reassembled and tuned. Ready to rock for another 25 years! Dan Nickel

#117 is a solid single ply steam bent maple with reinforcement rings. Straight up natural finish with a high gloss polyurethane clear coat. I think I’m keeping this one for myself!

Caption this!...

A 10x7 tom that is an add on piece to my middle son Jackson’s kit.

What do you do when you’re a drum builder and your oldest son is a guitar player? Think outside the box. Headstock covered in black sparkle drum wrap.

#115 in purple stain. 14x6 10 ply maple. GS007 throw and coated cable wrap around wires.

#114 out the door today. Although all my work is custom, if I were to ever make a production run, this drum would be it. 14x6, 10 ply maple in gloss black wrap with cable wires and GS007 strainer.

The tools of the trade. Recutting bearing wages today and enjoying the beautiful weather!

Repurpose, reuse, recycle!

#112&113 are a pair of 10 ply maple snares in a 12 and 6 inch depth. Piano black gloss wrap finish, 3.0mm heavy hoops, wrap around wires, throws and Emperor batter and Diplomat resonant heads. Being delivered to the brand new Piedmont Charter high school tomorrow! @ Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

Two sets of tenors delivered today for Asheville City Schools. I can’t find a repost app I like, so screen shots it is! @ Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

It’s soon to be marching band season, or is it? In any case, Kings Mountain high school will be ready.

So proud to hand deliver this kit today and have this project finished! It was truly a labor of love and took about six months to complete. I built the snare drum 5 years ago and the customer came back to get a full kit. I raided every Hobby Lobby, Michaels, AC Moore’s, and JoAnn’s in the greater Charlotte area to match the glitter paint! It took countless coats of paint and 13 coats of clear to bring it up to a mirror smooth high gloss finish. Many thanks to for coming through with the Yamaha mounts last minute when shipping from most high volume vendors was delayed in this Covid environment. 6 ply maple toms and 8 ply maple bass drum with low mass lugs and rounded bearing edges created a kit that has tone and sustain for days. you’re gonna need sunglasses every time you sit down to play!
@ Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

Build out complete on these two. On to the floors and bass drum! @ Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

2 of 5 ready for edges to be cut and lug holes drilled. That’s purple and gold glitter paint, sealed, polyurethaned and buffed to a high gloss finish. Tons of labor in this project!

#107 is a 14x12 8 ply maple field drum for East Lincoln high school. Matching wood hoops, Patterson wires, GS007 strainer and Renaissance heads for a vintage deep, woody tone. @ Gilchrist Custom Built Drums

In the spray booth is a purple/gold glitter lacquer finish.

Turns out you can make chicken salad out of chicken💩. These old, low budget drums got new paint, resized and new bearing edges along with lots of hardware and shell cleaning for 12-13-16-22. More pics to follow.