The Flaming Grape

In Pat Alexander’s post “How I learned About FrankenPinto” Chris mentions that I had pointed out that in the picture Brian is holding “the Flaming Grape”. I had pointed this out in a private email so don’t bother looking for that here. And Chris asked me to elaborate on the Grape. First off – the Grape is the dumbek (drum) Brian is holding.

I will need some help with the origins of the drum that became the Grape as that predates my time with TRM. As I understand it, it was an orphan drum that got passed around. I believe it was a dull green color when I first saw it. When Brain started drumming he needed a drum. So he got his hands on this one. But, of course, it appearance was totally unacceptable to Brian. So he repainted in the only way he could have: With hot rod flames. In two shades of purple. Whereupon Juli named it the “Flaming Grape”. Perfect.

Brian played the drum for some time. Eventually we (Brian, Chris, and myself) took lessons from dumbek master Souhail Caspar. And Brian had a problem: While cool looking the Grape was a POS as a drum. So Brian bought another drum. And the Grape sat unused. I had an idea: I bought the Grape from Brian with the idea of replacing the head with a cushion and using it as a stool. But then I had second thoughts: could it be saved? The main problem was the clamping ring sat way above the drum head when properly tensioned, making it almost impossible to play correctly and besides, it hurt like hell to hit it. Well, it just needs a little machining.

But I had to honor the spirit of the grape. So, first thing was off to a friends car repair shop where it went into the parts washer and then into the bead blaster to remove all of the layers of paint. Did you know that the manufacturer’s of this sort of aluminum drums used Bondo to fill casting voids? Just like a car? Then back to my place where I smoothed out some corners and did a bit more work (you know, sorta like porting a cylinder head). I then installed the drum head and noted just how far off the clamping ring was from the head. Back to the autoshop where I used a large belt sander to machine the ring down to my measurement. Then a fit check with the head. Now for a new paint job.

This had to be in the spirit of the Grape. So it had to be purple and have an automotive twist. I decided to go for a dual color,show car, effect depending on the lighting. After a lot of testing on pieces of scrap metal I settled on this: Black automotive etching primer, followed by black enamel. Followed by a clear coat. Followed by a transparent purple stained glass effect paint. Followed by more clear coat. So, now, it appears almost black in poor light and bright purple in direct sunlight. It is hard to photograph but the shots below show it with & without flash so you can sorta see the effect. (if anyone has a shot of Brian’s flame job please post it).

The final cherry on top was another very good drummer played it an pronounced it a “decent” drum. I subsequently used it in a lot of TRM shows. And I will always think of it as Brian’s Flaming Grape.