Pictured above and to the right is Master Builder Peter Sulivan. Peter first began building drums with Ft. Wayne Taiko Director Alice Ballard, who also happens to be a close friend and mentor to S.I.T. What started as a few projects for Peter, evenutally developed into a small business. Being self-taught, Peter has developed many innovative ways to conquer the complicated task of building a taiko drum. So in the fall of 2011, Southern Indiana Taiko traveled to Ft. Wayne to get some advice from Peter before we began our own drum construction.
Now as we look back on some of the mistakes we've made along the way, here are a few things we wish Peter had warned us about (or maybe he did and we just weren't listening...).
1. Drum Building takes more than one month. (Duh! Try 5 years. However maybe if you are a more dedicated builder (or genrerally more motivated person) you could knock out your first drum in a year's time.)
2. What actually might take you a month is building the tripod-sanding stand (see picture to the right). Of course it took us 6.
3. It takes the whole troupe to glue the staves of the barrel together. And it's a great practice in synchronization. Not to mention a true "bonding" experience.
4. If you'd like to refinish your garage floor, glue works great!
5. Don't drink the left-over whisky in the bottom of the barrels. It's not worth it.