Greetings from a middle-aged newbie without a cocktail kit.

[Comet]

Hello!

I'm new to the forum and don't yet have a cocktail kit. I definitely have cocktail drum fever and have read most of the posts on this forum. Looks like I missed the heyday, but I hope there's still some life around here.

I've played drums off and on for decades. For the past couple of years, I've played only cajón and percussion. My loud rock'n'roll days are behind me and lately I've been limited to blues, Americana and worship music.

A couple of months ago, I bought a Gibraltar cajón pedal and cobbled together this little microkit. It doesn't sound great but it's been a ton of fun and has inspired me to do the right thing, i.e., to get a cocktail kit!



Cajón microkit: Schlagwerk 2inOne Cajón (snares removed, so it's really a 1inOne), CajonPort, Gibraltar Cajón Pedal, KAT Soft Strike Beater (couldn't stand the stock Gibraltar padded one), 1970's Ludwig Hercules Hi Hat stand, Pearl M-80 snare, UFiP 10" Class Hi Hats

I absolutely do not recommend the Gibraltar cajón pedal. It's very awkward, hard-to-adjust, fragile, slow and mushy. I'll probably retire it as soon as I get a proper cocktail drum.

Here's my normal cajón setup: Erakkustik Type 4 cajón, Sabian AAX X-plosion 11" Splash, and a heavy Meinl finger cymbal mounted with a bicycle bell spring beater.



Sorry about the awful quality phone pix.

Hopefully I'll post in the near future about a new cocktail kit. Thanks in large part to this site, I have a good idea what I want. I'm collecting bits and pieces right now; I have heads, cymbals, and an inverted Gibraltar G Class pedal. I'm practicing (not enough) standing up with the pedal under an old floor tom.

[robertm]

Greetings. Great, always to have a new cocktail user, even if a future user. Good luck finding what will suit your playing style.

If you are a builder, Peter Lau does some interesting things in building his own micro kits. I have no idea how many micro-kits he has put together. He has posted videos of himself using the kits in actual performance and they are all very good sounding.

[jottesen]

Welcome to you.

Nice to see a new member. I have been playing cocktail drums for 8 years now, and it change my life
And my drumming skills to.
So far it have been a fantastic journey. I startet standing then for a small period sitting and then back on my feet.
You can see som tunes on you tube. Searc for : meyer ottesen.
I can see from your photos that you are sitting down. If you want to stand up, you need to practice on your balance.
But it Will come, dont Worry.

Have a Nice day
Jesper O

[Comet]

Thanks for the welcome!

I am practicing standing up, I just didn't put up a picture because I'm using a half-baked amalgamation of equipment: a 16x16 floor tom with the inverted G-class pedal, the hi-hat above (turned backwards so I can't use the pedal) with the little aux snare mounted high, and another cymbal on a separate stand (that's way too low because I cut it down to use with my cajon).

I'm still tweaking the pedal action--I've gotten to the point where I've almost eliminated the double-bounce. I've played heel-up for decades and it's more than a challenge adjusting to standing and playing heel-down. Hopefully I'll be more coordinated in a couple of months when I get a proper cocktail drum.

[Comet]

My practice kit is getting more sophisticated as I await a proper cocktail drum...



Unfortunately, my photography isn't improving commensurately.

[robertm]

You have the bug all right! This looks like a very serviceable minikit that will work on most stages. Good luck and let us know when you get your cocktail drum set!

[MusicMan]

Hi Comet,

I like your kit. It's very similar to my cocktail kit. I also play standing up, by mine has a 16x16 vertical bass drum with the snare and toms mounted high over it (like your snare drum) instead of a traditional cocktail drum. I find it's actually much easier (egonomic) to play this kind of set up.

I also have a little round rug for my kit, like you do! Looks great ...

MM