The idea for this instrument was to be able to access the Sidrassi from my drumset, without needing a whole extra table/stand for it. I had modified my previous drumset to have piezos mounted inside them permanently, so I had experience with piezos in drums already, more specifically, what actually ends up working, versus what you think will work. This proved helpful in trying to conceive/assemble this thing. I decided to use the tiny (12x12) floor tom from my Mapex kit as it’s compact, sounds pretty good, and didn’t cost a lot, so ‘ruining’ wasn’t an issue.

The Sidrassi works by applying pressure, or tapping, the metal bars on the face of the instrument. Underneath each of these bars is a simple piezo. I decided that I wanted to go with three piezos mounted on the head of my floor tom, near the edge, so I wouldn’t accidentally hit them with sticks. At first I was going to use three 1/4” jacks on each instrument, and run three cables between them, but then I considered the practical side of things and went with a 9-pin Serial Port setup. By this point I had upped the piezos to a total of four. So the 9-pin setup gave me four conductors needed, plus an additional shield for the whole thing.

The piezos themselves proved to be the hardest part of the instrument, as what I thought would originally work, didn’t. My plan was to use Piezo Film, which I had used in my first set of contact-miced drums, but the film style piezo didn’t have enough output to drive a six foot cable. I even tried my mint-box piezo buffer, but I got unusably low volume from the Sidrassi. The reason I wanted to use piezo film, was it’s flexibility and light weight would have a minimal impact on the acoustic playability of the tom. I had to abandon the film for flat, disc piezos. Unfortunately the ones available to me, via local retailers, and ebay were too big (over 1”). I couldn’t use anything that big without seriously dampening the drum, not to mention constantly worrying about hitting/breaking the discs while playing. I managed to find some 12mm discs, just like my K&K Spot pickup that worked perfectly when testing alternatives to the piezo film.

I also decided to give the drum a snazzy new look, since it was now going to be a permanent part of my setup. I stripped the horrible silver wrap, and went with a green wood stain. This step proved to be harder than I thought, but after spending an afternoon on sanding, staining, and varnishing, I got a very good looking drum. A bit darker than I would have hoped, but is still has a nice grain to it.

The piezos work perfectly, and with their small foot print, the toms playability is unaffected, although I did go for a single-ply head, instead of the double-ply I generally prefer, to off-set the dampening effect of the piezos. Playing the tom with sticks does not trigger the piezos at all, which I was planning/hoping for, as it would be far less useful if it just hummed away all the time while not in use.

Below are some photos of the process, and final build, as well as performance video.

Here is the initial install of the serial port, before I stripped/stained the drum. I made the initial hole with a drill and then shaped it with a Dremel.

All the hardware removed, in preparation for the staining. I hot-glued the serial port in place, so no solder connections would come loose, before deciding to refinish the tom, so I was unable to remove it for the staining process.

The silver wrap removed, and the drum sanded. Thankfully the wrap was only glued where the wrap seams met, meaning I had to do very little actual sanding.

Two coats of stain later and it’s starting to look good. The only green stain I was able to find was outdoor stain. This stuff was incredibly thick, so it was difficult to get an even coat. I sanded after the first coat to try to even the color out a bit.

Here it is after four coats of varnish. I sanded before and after the final coat, to smooth the finish out a bit. It still has brush lines, but you have to get really close to see them. The hardware is also back in place, with the rim/heads just sitting on the drum for the picture.

Here are the 12mm piezo discs adhered to the head. When I first used the piezo film I soldered the piezo terminals directly to the firm, shielded cable that I ran inside the tom. The vibrations from the head caused most of the connections to come off after a couple hours of playing. I opted for some thin, flexible cable running from the piezos to the actual shielded cable for the discs. Notice the placement by the tuning lugs, for easy identification while playing.

The head in place, with everything wired up. I used some hot-glue where all the solder joints met to, hopefully, prevent disconnections due to vibration.

Here is a close-up of the serial port inside the drum. The whole cavity is filled with hot glue, to give the solder joints some strength.

Here is a close-up of one of the piezos. Note the hot glue on the piezo, and where the colored wires meet the shielded wire. Since the original build I have had to redo the piezos as all the vibration from playing the tom loudly shook wires lose, and in one case shook the piezo off the head itself. I rewired the piezos and covered them with hard epoxy to hold the wires in place, and I used shrink tubing at every connection. So far it has held up flawlessly.

This is what the serial port looks like on the outside of the drum.

The serial port on the back of the Sidrassi.

The tom in its green glory.

The happy couple. For general playing the Sidrassi will sit on the floor next to the drumset, rather than its own table.

Here it is at home in the drumset.

Here is a solo drums performance. The Sidrassi-Tom can be found at the 1 minute mark.

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