What would us newbie cocktail players have done before the days of the internet
Looking through the pics and reading what people use for their setup it seems evident that most players have very little free standing hardware (cymbal stand, booms, etc.). Why? Is it for convenience, looks or is there some esoteric reason I'm not aware of?
I'm figuring I'll play a single cocktail drum, play a crash/ride and hi-hat (just mounted on one of those Gibraltor arms...not remote) mounted on a stand on the right and have a crash and splash on another stand on the left.
I know it's whatever floats your boat but am I overlooking something?
I think the reason a lot of us mount everything on the shell has to do with the aesthetic of one drum doing it all. I think our logic is that if it is stuck on the shell, the whole thing counts as one drum. Obviously, that's goofy logic, but these are goofy drums played by drummers who appreciate all things goofy (check out how many other drummers on here like trixon sets, north sets, roto toms, etc).
I think it's just the mentality you slip into with a cocktail set. Compromise on a cymbal stand, and pretty soon you're adding a floor tom, then a bass drum, and then it's not a cocktail set anymore. So you get this idea that anything is kosher as long as it's attached to the drum, but it's too much gear once the shell can't carry any more stuff.
Another thing is that vintage cocktail sets had everthing mounted to the shell. It's just kind of the way of the cocktail.
My final idea is that nobody on the site can play a drum without hot-rodding it somehow. Nobody here leaves their drums alone. What would a club jordan sound like with external snares? What would my drum sound like with a baffle? What would it do if drilled holes in the shell? How many cymbals can I stack on one stand before my shell breaks? What if my Manhattan kit were one drum? Peter is the king of finding strange ways to trick out drums, but everyone on here has some pretty formidable skills in this department. The website kind of intensifies the habit in everybody. I'd bet most people haven't even left their conventional kits alone. I know that since I started reading the posts and posting myself, I've built another conventional kit out of old marching drums and a small Keller shell.
fw wrote:So you get this idea that anything is kosher as long as it's attached to the drum, but it's too much gear once the shell can't carry any more stuff.
Brian,
I just want to say that I have NO idea what Will is talking about!
Stands are heavy! The fewer I have to schlep around, the happier I am. I use one stand to hold a pair of bongos and a closed hi hat and that's it. Everything else is attached to the main drum (early '60's Ludwig Miami Beach).
Oh yeah, and there's that "goofy cocktail drum mentality" thing mentioned above, too...
I use a single stand myself because I couldn't figure out a way to attach my 10" snare w/o drilling my main drum & I didn't want to do that. (I was afraid of weakening the shell as it is rather an older drum.)
I don't play out so schlepping 1 stand isn't really an issue.
My main drum is a 16 (dia) by 24 deep Star from the 60s. It holds a ride (18" Zildjian A) and an X-hat stand of my own devising w/a block on top. The stand holds the 10" snare (needed as the Star's snare mechanism was totally shot) and a small ZIldjian A splash.
