Msexy Monday with Radio 45’s Mark Wesesky
Msexy Monday! Everything you wanted to know about Radio 45’s human metronome drum professional — but were afraid to ask.
I have a deep affection for my five-piece Pearl drum set. During my childhood, my parents, Andrew and Elsie, were incredibly supportive of my musical interests. In the late 1970s, my father even went as far as taking out a home loan to help me acquire a portion of the drum kit, while I contributed by working various odd jobs to cover the remaining cost.
After every performance, I made sure to meticulously clean my drums to maintain their pristine condition. I have a vivid memory from the late 1980s when I had back-to-back Friday night and Saturday night gigs in the midst of a harsh winter. It was so bitterly cold that weekend that I made the decision to leave my drum set in the car, exposed to the extreme winter conditions throughout the night and the following day.
When I carried my drums into the warm bar the next night, the the abrupt temperature change shattered the blue plastic coating on the shells! I was devastated!
Before the internet, Guitar Center and Amazon.com, for me there was Modern Drummer Magazine. In the issue was an ad for colored drum shells. They came in flat sheets that had to be cut to the lengths that you needed. They had a blue finish, but it didn’t match. So I decided to shake things up and buy a different color all together. Since green is my favorite color, I went with a striking shade of green for the new drum shell finish!
When the sheets were delivered, I had to strip off the remnants of the old blue finish, which was barely holding together at that point, and was held in place by clear tape. Then came the painstaking process of disassembling the entire drum set – removing the drumheads, lugs, Pearl drum logos, and basically everything.
Following that, I had to meticulously cut the green sheets to the precise sizes needed to wrap around the wooden ply shells. I made sure to overlap them by about an inch and used a special adhesive. Securing the sheets in place required the use of C-clamps, and I had to leave them clamped for a minimum of 24 hours to ensure a strong bond.
Once I removed the clamps and the adhesive had set, the next step involved re-drilling all the necessary holes. This was essential to reinstall all the lugs, logos, and tom holders back onto the newly transformed drum shells. It was a meticulous process, but the end result was well worth the effort and attention to detail.
All of this transformation took place right in my parents’ living room, of all places! It’s a project I wish I had taken a Polaroid picture of to capture the process. As of the time of this writing, it’s been holding up just fine, thank you very much.
This Pearl kit is my only acoustic drumset. I also have two Roland electronic drum sets, but I’ll save that story for another time.
As for the photos, the first one is the OG blue set circa Christmas 1980. And the other is how my set looks now with Radio 45. Msexy indeed!
Until next time, see ya!
Msexy
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