NM Custom Drums
Building perfection one drum at a time!

Does your equipment needs a facelift? Ask us about retrofitting your drums with our Modern Vintage Hoops, or another one of our styles! We also repair shells, damaged hardware, refinish or re-wrap your shells. We create a whole new look for your next season at a fraction of the cost of new equipment.

Get a fresh start with a fresh look. Fit us into your budget!!! 

James J. Coyne Memorial Tenor Drums
15″, 16″, 16″, 18″ 
Refinished with Modern Vintage Hoops
Built in 2003, refinished in 2007- NM Custom hoops added 2008

We are pleased to welcome James J. Coyne Memorial Pipe Band, from Claremont California to the NMCD family! The addition of seven new custom finished, free-floating snare shells to adapt their existing Pearl snare drums were delivered, and well received at last months Pleasanton Highland Games reported lead-tip Andrew Hoinacki, and Pipe Major Seumas Coyne. New Custom Modern Vintage Hoops were also delivered to update their existing midsection instruments to the NM Custom Hoops.

You can visit their website at: http://www.jjcmpb.com/

After years of pressing, and restoring rope tension drums here at NM Custom Drums, we took the next step and purchased a new press to help with the pressing process.  Although Rope Drum presses aren’t a run of the mill piece of equipment, and picked up at the local hardware store- these presses are designed using similar pressing devices and are modified to cater to the rope drums. 

With todays fine replica revolution rope drums, calf, and synthetic heads, and the beautiful paintings thatusually blanket these fine instruments, the myth of pressing and simply pulling 50′ of rope is not even close to the pressing process. 

Preparing to press, tuning evenly (similar to drum set heads), evenly tensioning the ropes, bending the guts, and tying a perfect ‘Pig Tail Knot’, makes all your hard work, and rope burn pay off in the end. 

Have a new rope drum? What about a drum that was passed down to you? Or a dust collector in the Attic? The Pressing process will be performed by NMCD, and is open to all who need their drums pressed for a fee of $40. Bring your drum down to the shop, and pull out a book, and let us press your drum! -We can also replace old or damaged parts, and clean it up so it can be back in playing shape in no time!

Maple, 12 ply Shell
 6.5 x 13″
Pine/ English Walnut High Gloss Finish

Other Features:
-Custom Pine finished Supreme Custom Hoops
-Chrome Tube Lugs
-Nickel Strainer
-Puresound Custom 20 strand Wire

**Currently, this drum can be seen being played with  JonVW **

A BIG thank you to Brian Perkin, and the team at The Lake, 88.1 radio station, located here in Perth for their interview this past Thursday.

The invitation was appreciated, and it was a pleasure to take part in your early evening segment. With lots going on around the shop, and customers contacting us daily, it was great to reach out to the local ears and have them tune into what we are doing in and around their community.

Currently there’s lots going on in and out of the shop, and the fall weather is here, and soon the snow will be!- So, check us out, ask questions, and be sure to get your ‘Christmas Wish’ in order for the NMCD Santa to deliver on time!

Best to all,

Nathan

Congratulations to the Toronto Police Pipe Band who took “Best Drums” in Grade One competition at the North American Pipe Band Championships held August 2nd in Maxville Ontario. The TPPB have been playing NM Custom Drums new Champion Supreme Mid-Section and Bass Drums this season and have twice captured 1st place in competition with them.

Everyone agrees, not only is the level of performance extremely high this year from all the bands, but the distinctive full tone and bell-clear attack from the CS line provides a new definition of sound for the band’s percussion line. Several sections of the medley draw spontaneous applause from the crowd as the drums punctuate and sustain the exciting drive being generated by the pipes. The comments from the public on the sound of the drums has been unanimously positive and the reception from the performers themselves has been a resounding two-thumbs up.

The drums will make an appearance at the Fergus Highland Games on August 9th before leaving for the World Pipe Band Championships that evening.

Best of luck to the TPPB as you move on to the Glasgow, and congratulations on your accomplishments using our drums.

The new competition model tenor drum made its premiere appearance at the Cambridge Highland Games this past weekend. 

All of the comments were positive. The look of the drum is a radical departure from anything normally seen at highland games and quickly caught the attention of the players and audience. The sound of the drum was described as “sweet” by literally everyone who heard it. The drum tunes easily, stays in tune, and has a full resonant tone with no thud or dead resonant points. Also grabbing the attention of those who looked at the drum up close was the cantilevered carry hook which secures this drum better then traditional clip models.

Congratulations to Sarah who took “Best Amateur Flourishing Tenor” while using the new drum. The drum now travels to the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville on the long weekend of August.

And speaking about Maxville … the new NM Custom Drums T-Shirt will make its appearance at the Games. Keep your eyes open for it.

NM Custom Drums will be setting up a special information tent at the North Lanark Highland Games being held in Almonte, Ontario on August 23rd. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the “Friendly Games” and it will be a wonderful opportunity to introduce the rigors of competitive drumming to visitors to the games. It will also provide a venue to speak about drum construction and repair with competitors and those in attendance.

Throughout the day Nathan will be doing demonstrations of snare drum technique. He will be performing solos and showing some of the modifications that NM Custom Drums does to enhance the sound and playability of drums. Several custom products will be on display, including a new snare model that will be seen for the first time at the games.

The demonstrations will take place on the half hour (9:30, 10:30 etc.) throughout the day and run about 15 minutes in length. Nathan will be joined by other musicians for some of the presentations which will cover the entire style gambit from Fife and Drum to Swiss Rope Drumming to Highland to modern Drum Corp. Also featured will be the solo that Nathan is performing as part of the “Lord of the Todd Challenge” at the World Championships in Glasgow on August 11th. Nathan also plans to reveal a small portion of the solo he will be taking into the DCA Snare Championships in September in Rochester.

Drop by and visit … you’ll quickly understand why this games is known throughout the region as “The Friendly Games”.

NM Custom Drums is pleased to announce that this custom built tenor drum is making an appearance in solo competitions at Highland Games around Ontario this summer. Designed using low-profile wide hoops, all of the hardware is hidden from the viewer and the drum has a very unique profile.

The 16″ drum, dubbed “The Morag Project“, absolutely sparkles and has a sound that is even better then it looks thanks to the advanced vibrant shell technology and full maple construction. The Canadian-made hardware has been placed in an offset pattern strategically located to ensure consistent resonance.

The colors are a special combination of a limited edition Green Pearl, that combines baby blue pearl chips with a green, and white Modern Sparkle on the rims. This drum has to be seen in sunlight to truly appreciate the depth of color and ‘bling’ that no picture can capture. This is one phat tenor!

The drum will be at the Cambridge, Glengarry and the North Lanark Highland Games and when not being used in competition can be tried out by interested drummers. The drum will be travelling with the Toronto Police Pipe Band.