The kick drum had to come first. Since it is embedded in the table base and I’m going to have to figure out all the other instruments on the table top one by one, I wanted to get it out of the way.

My goal has been to build everything out of salvaged materials: An old 5-gallon paint bucket is a great candidate for a kick drum: It has a natural sound hole. It’s made of durable polypropylene (or something like it). It’s cheap and easily replaced.

And, most importantly, it *fits*, which no normal bass drum would. I suspended it from the base using paracord.

The pedal mechanism was another problem entirely. The kick action needed to be standard (stomp = WHOMP). But since the drum surface is parallel to the floor, and the stainless steel of the table base can’t be modified, I had to get hacky.

I worked out a way to use the table frame as the pivot, and then spent the better part of a week fabricating the pedals, lever, and beater out of scrap aluminum slabs, scrap iron levers, screws, and a f*ckload of mistakes and cursing.

Anyway, it ain’t pretty, it ain’t comfy, but it works. I’m hoping the end users will give feedback and offer suggestions on how to do this better.

(I probably need to add a Suggestion Box to the table.  Just a thought.)