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Alice has some *current* shortcomings too, and I have to leave it at that due to forum rules.

The kit look like a mid-late 1970s model. Double bass drums and concert toms are not popular with “vintage drummers” these days, but it’s cool on its own merits. You might find a “stoner metal” drummer for whom this is absolutely perfect. I agree 100% that you should advertise the snare and the...

I’ve owned a lot of hand-manufactured cymbals from many brands, including several Bos. Every one of those brands has turned out some duds, even among their “normal” or “popular” lines. Nothing to do with weight, diameter, or even non-traditional elements like skip lathing. Everything to do with...

My most comfortable setup includes a traditional (or flat) ride and a 20” crash ride with rivets. The crash ride is about a fifth higher than the trad ride. The trad is also crashable. So I definitely wouldn’t use a CR as my one and only, but the higher harmony plus the rivet sizzle makes it a...

One of my prized pies is a DeJohnette signature 22 HH mini bell. Beautiful tone, crisp stick, lush yet controlled crash. The only "problem" is it's quiet, and won't go louder, so it's perfect for quiet gigs but that's it.

There are four considerations with playing congas/bongos with sticks: —wearing/tearing a hole through thinner heads. —denting the bearing edges. —the sound will be different than the traditional hand sound. —you only have one or two different stroke sounds with a stick, compared to four or more...

A lot of “jazz gigs” are standards played at low volume and moderate tempo, with no expectation of difficulty as long as you know the material and have the vocabulary. Even if you’re backing up original tunes, the leader will tell you what basic breaks and solos to expect, and they’ll hand cue...

Right, pang is clearly distinct because of the flat flange profile, with or without rivets. The big confuser is swish vs china. Both have an upturned flange. The bell can be square on a china, but even that isn’t always true anymore, lots of modern chinas have round bells. Chinas can have...

I gambled on some of the Trick wire-core cords once, and they didn’t even last long enough to damage the shell. They snapped apart at the stress points where they clamped to the strainer and butt. The pack included four cords, and all four broke the same way.

Gear Prudence 😁

Couple of possible reasons: regular non-extended wires sound great, so most drummers don’t think it’s a problem that needs solving. And the different types of extension bars/brackets/mechanisms require different lengths of wires, there is no standard. That makes manufacturing more costly, and...

Same here. To my taste, a 4 x 14 is the best compromise. Short fast response from the heads, easy to dial in fast response from the wires, and enough “singing” to keep it enjoyable to hear. I’ve owned a few; the one I enjoy most currently is a Yamaha birch custom.

Notice the bottom edge of the drum has (in most cases) an indentation or cutout in the shell, that the wires pass over. This snare bed, because it’s a different height than the rest of the bottom edge, means you have to tighten those four rods a lot more than the rest in order to get an equal...

I often adjust the tightness of the snare sound by adjusting the tension of the four rods near the ends of the snare wires. Try loosening those four by a whole turn, and then adjusting the strainer tension. Different snare beds also need different amounts of adjustment of those four rods.

A listing just went up on Reverb recently with this text: “ Why are vintage drums so expensive? They have always been expensive but with post covid supply chain issues less new drums were being manufactured. This meant that a whole new generation of drummers started buying vintage drums. They...

Right I don’t have stats to back this up but I have often heard that hickory absorbs shock better than maple—it’s tougher yet more springy. For me, I prefer the sharp sound of a dense wood stick, including ones harder than hickory; but the harder ones are also harder on your hands. Hickory is...

They can overlap a bit but IMO the swish is capable of more refined tones, the CoD is capable of more rugged tones, depending on how you hit them.

If it’s barely noticeable, and you’re going to use a modern plastic sleeved stand, it’s no big deal. If it arrives and the keyhole is more than it had appeared, then just add a rubber grommet.

Yes proximity for sure, but also technique. Different players can sound completely different on the same cymbal, and I practice to be able to get either a soft or crisp stick attack just by changing my technique.

Regarding the inefficiency of shipping containers back and forth across the ocean, what shippers are looking at is how efficiently the ships are packed in each direction. A given ship is absolutely going to go from the US to Taiwan and back again. The fuel use and operating costs are about the...