Early on in my drumming career I had trouble finding "anyone" who could make repairs and if so, at an affordable price. After having been burned a couple times with over-priced and shoddy workmanship I started to explore how drums were made and what I could do to make my own repairs.

Most of the repairs I've made were on my own equipment such as bearing edges and drum wraps, I pretty much stick to basic repairs but sometimes a major repair is needed such as plugging holes and repairing cracked shells. There's a lot of common sense involved and I won't take on a repair if I don't think it can be done. I do the repairs in a spare room in my apartment so I'm not a big operation and most of whom I make repairs for are friends and for the local music store I deal with. They refer people quite often.

I try my best to advise people what they can do if it's something I can't. Most repairs are simple but some are just out of reach. Vintages drums are tough as parts are not always available and trying to track down vintage parts is time consuming. I've done a lot of restorations such as a good cleaning and polishing painting and sometimes rewrapping an entire set. I've also installed new hardware on drums such as tom and cymbal holders, spurs, air vents etc.

I enjoy playing the drums but to do a good job playing they have to be in good playing order.

              - Earl Johnson