dkerwood
Silver Member
I own a drumset whose three toms are 10, 12, and 16 inches. Before I bought this, I also played with a drummer whose kit had the same sizes of toms.
Back when I had a 12, 13, 16" kit, I tended to overlook the 13" tom. For some reason, I could never get a good quality tone out of it. Thus, I'd often just break out the 12 and 16, playing as a 4-piece. When I found my current kit, therefore, I really liked the idea of a four piece plus one more higher tom.
Anyway, my gripe is this: Drumhead pre-packs, gig bag/cases, studio rings, head mufflers... they all seem to assume that you're either 10, 12, 14 toms or 12, 13, 16 toms... and always with a 14" snare. I'm always facing the prospect of gear for a nonexistent 13" or 14" tom. With drumheads, it's not a big deal since I use Remo Coated Ambs for almost everything- depending on what I need, I grab the 13" for my piccolo snare (and buy a separate 10" head) or grab the 14" as a main snare backup and just buy a 16" tom head.
With cases, though, that's not so easy to deal with. The pre-packs sell for quite a bit cheaper than buying ala carte, but I'd end up with an extra useless case and the need to buy yet another one. Sure, I could just get a standard and put my 10 in the 12" case, 12 in the 13" case and 16 where it belongs, but why?
Isn't 10, 12, 16 becoming more and more common? Gretsch is certainly flooding the market with the Catalina 6-piece, so at least 10, 12, 16 is easier to come by (once you realize that the 14 floor tom can't quite get the punch). So why can't retailers do something to accommodate? I used to live close to a drum store that would swap things out for me to meet my "odd" drum sizes, but I've since moved, and now I'm out of luck.
Thoughts?
Back when I had a 12, 13, 16" kit, I tended to overlook the 13" tom. For some reason, I could never get a good quality tone out of it. Thus, I'd often just break out the 12 and 16, playing as a 4-piece. When I found my current kit, therefore, I really liked the idea of a four piece plus one more higher tom.
Anyway, my gripe is this: Drumhead pre-packs, gig bag/cases, studio rings, head mufflers... they all seem to assume that you're either 10, 12, 14 toms or 12, 13, 16 toms... and always with a 14" snare. I'm always facing the prospect of gear for a nonexistent 13" or 14" tom. With drumheads, it's not a big deal since I use Remo Coated Ambs for almost everything- depending on what I need, I grab the 13" for my piccolo snare (and buy a separate 10" head) or grab the 14" as a main snare backup and just buy a 16" tom head.
With cases, though, that's not so easy to deal with. The pre-packs sell for quite a bit cheaper than buying ala carte, but I'd end up with an extra useless case and the need to buy yet another one. Sure, I could just get a standard and put my 10 in the 12" case, 12 in the 13" case and 16 where it belongs, but why?
Isn't 10, 12, 16 becoming more and more common? Gretsch is certainly flooding the market with the Catalina 6-piece, so at least 10, 12, 16 is easier to come by (once you realize that the 14 floor tom can't quite get the punch). So why can't retailers do something to accommodate? I used to live close to a drum store that would swap things out for me to meet my "odd" drum sizes, but I've since moved, and now I'm out of luck.
Thoughts?