DIY Electronic Snare Drum Pad Part 1: Peicing together and Routing

Because of the increasing difficulty of finding sufficient funds for this project, I have not been able to push toward the completion of my DIY electronic drum set.  Today, however, I finished my the snare!(cue epic achievement music) Don't be intimidated (and don't flatter yourself Jerin), with just a few household items, some spare time, and a crisp(or un-crisp) $5 bill, you can easily make an awesome electronic snare, tom, or bongo.

The things you'll need to gather and prepare before hand:
- A mouse pad (I picked mine up when I walked passed a Comcast kiosk on my way to WinCo)
- 4-5 pieces of cardboard cut the same size and shape as the mouse pad
- Duct tape - experiment with different duct tape colors and patterns for decoration
- exacto knife
- 1 Piezo Transducer - taken from a buzzer purchased at Radio Shack for $1.99 =D
- Drum Sticks - to test pad

1.  This should pretty self-explanatory, just line up the mouse pad and cardboard and line the tape around the edge. Use the exacto knife to cut around the edges of the tape but make sure that you can still lift up the mouse pad.

2. Put some tape on the piezo, lift the the mouse pad up and place the piezo in the center of the pad.

3. Using the exacto knife, route a small hole in the cardboard and pull the piezo's wires through to the bottom of the pad.

4. Close the flap, and tape the mouse pad down.
5. Decorate the thing.  If you just leave it as is, its not going to look very appealing.(not to mention it'll make you a poseur)

Congrats!  All thats left now is to attach a quarter inch jack to the piezo's wires.  I will be releasing a blog soon, hopefully tomorrow, on how to solder the jack to the pad.

Thanks for reading x)