KarlCrafton
Platinum Member
In the spirit of fun in the other "nerdiness" thread (now with V2!), I wonder what other people have done to make their kits fit to them, instead of just going "stock".
My family was in auto racing for many years (my uncle was just inducted into the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame this year), and part of that has rubbed off on me for my hot-rod. For good, or bad (haha!), it's "caused" me to soup up parts of the kit (and implements) to my "specs". I even made hardware things when I was young when something wasn't available, I didn't have money, or it maybe wasn't even a real part way back when. It didn't always look pretty, but it worked.
So..... Things I've done over the years....
I put different feet on all my floor tom legs (Pearl Air Susp.), and different wing nuts on my floor tom brackets (all 13 ft's) because they were more comfortable...so that's 39 wing nuts, and 39 rubber feet.....
I adjust hi hat rods to the exact length I want, according to the amount sticking above the clutch (this is probably an Aspergers thing, because I know it's pretty psycho, but, it'll bug me if I don't...). I have a few different ones, because I have a couple hat stands.
The shells and edges I have are "stock", but, I've gotten a couple special depths of things made because the "standard" just didn't sound/feel exactly right for what I wanted to accomplish sound-wise, and/or fitting a space. I haven't regretted a purchase, & it's all worked out by some miracle
I special order snare batters because they get me the sound character I want, without tape or moongel.
I've made my own outside bass drum muffle, because I hate the pre-muffed head sound.
It's portable, easy, works perfectly, and was pretty much free.
I use 3"x4" cut pieces of old Coated Ambassador heads for my beater patch. Sounds awesome, and it's FREE.
I like a double butt stick, and a particular bead, taper and diam. on a "regular" stick.
Regal had cut down a model for me before that I liked (that was way too long) but they stopped doing that service. So, I sought out a custom stick builder to make sticks to my specs. I have a couple diams, and slightly different lengths.
This was going back 5 years before a couple Custom Stick companies became more known and available. Now it's not a big deal, and it's pretty economical if you know what you want. I use a special spray I found on the sticks to get the feel I want, so I buy the sticks unfinished and do the rest myself.
I still want to do the larger oval tip, sloped neck into the shaft stick design though. It's like a real beefed up Buddy Rich stick. Could I just get Buddy sticks? No, because they don't have the feel and sound I want, and I figure, I CAN get it done, so why compromise?
It'll cost a few bucks for the initial gearing up for it, but, I think I've come up with the diams and exact shape/slope I want for it (finally after about 6 years...) which was holding me back from just doing it before.
I put nylon spacers in all of my snare drums rather than the cup washers, because one came with the nylon washers and I liked it... so I went and did all of them like that.
At least the nylon spacers are fairly cheap at the hardware store. Kinda fun tinkering, and working on doing it too.
I went through about 4 years of really customizing hardware. I have been able to keep stands pretty much stock this last year though. Only a few slight adjustments like the felts and sleeve, or maybe a different tilter. That's kind of a big thing for me--to just leave the hardware alone.
It's like an ongoing hobby project to tweak things, or make stuff and it's been fun (except for the hi hat rod thing--that's pretty psycho haha!).
I am an artist by trade, so it's kind of like a sculpture that's never "finished" too. That's why it also has to look, and feel right. Sometimes it'd be nice to just "let it go", and I have been able to do that more and more this past year.
I'm also on my way to using "normal" depths in bass drums
I like the sound of the deeper shells, but the lugging around is starting to get to me a bit lately. I LOVE the sound of the Black Glass Glitter 20x26. It's a super awesome sounding drum, but it's so dang heavy with that thicker wrap, AND the Mach (long) lugs on it.
With all the stuff I've done over the years, I still just use plain old Coated Ambassadors on everything but the snare head.
Yep, I am a drum nerd, blahblahblah.
My family was in auto racing for many years (my uncle was just inducted into the Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame this year), and part of that has rubbed off on me for my hot-rod. For good, or bad (haha!), it's "caused" me to soup up parts of the kit (and implements) to my "specs". I even made hardware things when I was young when something wasn't available, I didn't have money, or it maybe wasn't even a real part way back when. It didn't always look pretty, but it worked.
So..... Things I've done over the years....
I put different feet on all my floor tom legs (Pearl Air Susp.), and different wing nuts on my floor tom brackets (all 13 ft's) because they were more comfortable...so that's 39 wing nuts, and 39 rubber feet.....
I adjust hi hat rods to the exact length I want, according to the amount sticking above the clutch (this is probably an Aspergers thing, because I know it's pretty psycho, but, it'll bug me if I don't...). I have a few different ones, because I have a couple hat stands.
The shells and edges I have are "stock", but, I've gotten a couple special depths of things made because the "standard" just didn't sound/feel exactly right for what I wanted to accomplish sound-wise, and/or fitting a space. I haven't regretted a purchase, & it's all worked out by some miracle
I special order snare batters because they get me the sound character I want, without tape or moongel.
I've made my own outside bass drum muffle, because I hate the pre-muffed head sound.
It's portable, easy, works perfectly, and was pretty much free.
I use 3"x4" cut pieces of old Coated Ambassador heads for my beater patch. Sounds awesome, and it's FREE.
I like a double butt stick, and a particular bead, taper and diam. on a "regular" stick.
Regal had cut down a model for me before that I liked (that was way too long) but they stopped doing that service. So, I sought out a custom stick builder to make sticks to my specs. I have a couple diams, and slightly different lengths.
This was going back 5 years before a couple Custom Stick companies became more known and available. Now it's not a big deal, and it's pretty economical if you know what you want. I use a special spray I found on the sticks to get the feel I want, so I buy the sticks unfinished and do the rest myself.
I still want to do the larger oval tip, sloped neck into the shaft stick design though. It's like a real beefed up Buddy Rich stick. Could I just get Buddy sticks? No, because they don't have the feel and sound I want, and I figure, I CAN get it done, so why compromise?
It'll cost a few bucks for the initial gearing up for it, but, I think I've come up with the diams and exact shape/slope I want for it (finally after about 6 years...) which was holding me back from just doing it before.
I put nylon spacers in all of my snare drums rather than the cup washers, because one came with the nylon washers and I liked it... so I went and did all of them like that.
At least the nylon spacers are fairly cheap at the hardware store. Kinda fun tinkering, and working on doing it too.
I went through about 4 years of really customizing hardware. I have been able to keep stands pretty much stock this last year though. Only a few slight adjustments like the felts and sleeve, or maybe a different tilter. That's kind of a big thing for me--to just leave the hardware alone.
It's like an ongoing hobby project to tweak things, or make stuff and it's been fun (except for the hi hat rod thing--that's pretty psycho haha!).
I am an artist by trade, so it's kind of like a sculpture that's never "finished" too. That's why it also has to look, and feel right. Sometimes it'd be nice to just "let it go", and I have been able to do that more and more this past year.
I'm also on my way to using "normal" depths in bass drums
I like the sound of the deeper shells, but the lugging around is starting to get to me a bit lately. I LOVE the sound of the Black Glass Glitter 20x26. It's a super awesome sounding drum, but it's so dang heavy with that thicker wrap, AND the Mach (long) lugs on it.
With all the stuff I've done over the years, I still just use plain old Coated Ambassadors on everything but the snare head.
Yep, I am a drum nerd, blahblahblah.