I’ve been looking for a portable bass drum for busking for month now and I finally have a solution.  I had some spare 18″ bass drum hardware and figured if I went to the hardware store I could find something to act as a drum shell.  Armed with my tape measure I found the perfect candidate – the 32 Gallon 28×22″ BRUTE trash can!

First I measured an 8″ band around the trash can and used a dremel to cut off the top.  Then I mapped out holes for the hoop mounting hardware and legs, cleaned up the edges and installed the drum head.  [Check out the handles!]  The sound is deep and loud and without much sustain because there is no resonant head.  Works great for the streets!