JimFiore
Silver Member
Some of you may recall that I ordered a Tama Starclassic Maple (in antique maple) several months ago. It has arrived. A little background first in order to explain the configuration: Back in the dark ages (1970s) I had a 2up/1down Gretsch birch kit (12,13,16). I added some Roto Toms and eventually had an all Roto Tom kit, leaving just the original kick and steel snare. Let's just say that I was overly influenced by Bill Bruford in those days (not a bad influence in retrospect by any means). For a variety of reasons, including ease of recording, this gave way to a Simmons SDS 7 analog/digital kit and then a digital kit of my own design using keyboard samplers (we're talking mid to late 1980s now). This gave way to a series of Roland e-drum kits, culminating in a few different kits that used custom made drum triggers made from Keller shells. Why am I telling you all this? Well, after literally decades of playing small (mostly 8" and 10") pads, my aim and accuracy is much better than it used to be. I've also gotten used to placing drums where I want them, not where they fit. Unfortunately, I am not used to reaching very far to play something anymore!
I had planned on making a symmetrical layout for the Tama as I've been playing various sym layouts for a while. My desired layout turned out to be impossible given the shell sizes so I had to try something else. I am right handed but it turned out that everything "fit" if I arrayed the toms left handed over a right handed HH/kick/ride layout. This is not a huge issue for me as playing the sym kits has strengthened my right to left move with left hand lead. Importantly, though, it also limits me from falling back on a traditional left-right fill which I think is good because it forces the brain to come up with other stuff.
Another cool thing is that it better reflects the pitch layout of most popular instruments in that moving from left to right creates a higher pitch. It's a little weird to stand at a marimba or to play the bass and think of the pitch arrangement as backwards from the drums. Not a big deal, just an observation.
Anyway, here it is. Some cymbals have been cut from the pic. There's a UFiP china to the right and an old Zildjian pang to the left. It is going to take a little time for me to get used to the new reach requirements but I look at it as just another skill to exercise. Consequently, it will be a little while before I post any audio of it. Besides, I still have to experiment with recording, heads, etc. Oh, and I ordered some Ultraphones. The loudness level is just too much after years of nearly quiet mesh heads and headphones.
If you're wondering why I went to these after years of playing e-kits (part of my mini sym e-kit is visible in the background), it's because I began to miss the subtlety of tonal variation, especially the cymbals.
Oh, and I should mention that resonance on these is amazing. My old Gretsch kit sounded like cardboard boxes by comparison.
http://www.mvvc.edu/jfiore/tamakit.jpg
I had planned on making a symmetrical layout for the Tama as I've been playing various sym layouts for a while. My desired layout turned out to be impossible given the shell sizes so I had to try something else. I am right handed but it turned out that everything "fit" if I arrayed the toms left handed over a right handed HH/kick/ride layout. This is not a huge issue for me as playing the sym kits has strengthened my right to left move with left hand lead. Importantly, though, it also limits me from falling back on a traditional left-right fill which I think is good because it forces the brain to come up with other stuff.
Another cool thing is that it better reflects the pitch layout of most popular instruments in that moving from left to right creates a higher pitch. It's a little weird to stand at a marimba or to play the bass and think of the pitch arrangement as backwards from the drums. Not a big deal, just an observation.
Anyway, here it is. Some cymbals have been cut from the pic. There's a UFiP china to the right and an old Zildjian pang to the left. It is going to take a little time for me to get used to the new reach requirements but I look at it as just another skill to exercise. Consequently, it will be a little while before I post any audio of it. Besides, I still have to experiment with recording, heads, etc. Oh, and I ordered some Ultraphones. The loudness level is just too much after years of nearly quiet mesh heads and headphones.
If you're wondering why I went to these after years of playing e-kits (part of my mini sym e-kit is visible in the background), it's because I began to miss the subtlety of tonal variation, especially the cymbals.
Oh, and I should mention that resonance on these is amazing. My old Gretsch kit sounded like cardboard boxes by comparison.
http://www.mvvc.edu/jfiore/tamakit.jpg
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