Bruce the K's home-brew cocktail kit part 4

[Bruce (the K)]

I'm using 12 inch Stagg hi hat cymbals. The bottom one looks pretty funky but the top one looks fine and they were only 100 bucks. Try finding new or used 12 inch hats for that price! I'm using a 10 inch Paiste splash and a 14 inch Sabian B8 as my crash/ride.

Part 4:
Photo 10: This shows my bag (not sure of the brand), my kick drum, my tom, and the two 14 inch round pieces of 1/4 inch plywood that I put between the drums to protect them from each other.

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Photo 11: This shows the 4 cymbals that ride on top of the snare.

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Photo 12: Here is the entire kit, drums, cymbals, and 3 spare heads in the black bag, hardware in the blue bag. I can sling the drum bag over my shoulder, hold the hardware bag in one hand, and still have a hand free to put around one of the many admirers that I (like all drummers) attract. ;^)

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Just let me know if you have any questions about how I did this. All the hardware is readily available from Ace Hardware and it does involve drilling a few holes but it's definitely not rocket science.

Bruce the K

[Comet]

Great work! I love the kit and the creative DIY hardware!

I have a similar looking bag--it's an old Beato Conga (or maybe Quinto) bag. How do you protect the cymbals for transport? I've been experimenting by sandwiching my one 16" cymbal in the lid section with a 17" circle cut from a padded floor mat (the mat circle fits so tightly it stays put in the lid of the bag). It works but I have to ensure the cymbal and pad are the last things in/first things out.

[Bruce (the K)]

My biggest cymbal is only 14 inch so I put the Soundoff pad that I normally put on the top head of the floor tom/kick drum on top of the snare for transport. Then I stack all four cymbals (14 inch, 12 inch hats, and 10 inch splash) on top of the snare. I carry three spare heads on top of that (batter head for snare, 14 inch pinstripe for floor tom/kick, and 10 inch pinstripe for tom). That fills the bag up and things don't tend to shift around much, although I'm always the one moving it and I try to be gentle with it. If others were moving it, I might have to take more extreme measures. ;^)

I'm experimenting with carrying my cymbals in my drum bags with my 'outdoor' kit too, just to cut down on the number of pieces I have to carry. I have a regular cymbal bag that I normally use but I'm experimenting with carrying my 17 inch cymbal in the bag with my 18 inch bass drum. I carry my 14 inch cymbal and my 14 inch hi hats in the bag I use for my snare and tom. I cut circles out of an old bath towel and I put those pieces between the cymbals and on the drum heads. Haven't used it enough to know if it works but it gets me down from 4 pieces to three so it's easier to load in one trip.

Bruce

[robertm]

Well thought out setup! I have often wondered if you could use a 14" floor tom as the basis for a cocktail set, and you've answered the question - hope it doesn't bother you to be doing my thinking for me <Grin>! And the home brew hardware us really good too. I suspect doing it this way would save you a fair amount of money and even more important, get you very close to the kind of set you want.

[MusicMan]

Bruce,

Yes, that's a Beato bag. If you ever want Beato to make you a custom bag for you kit, just look up their website and give them a call. I think it is http://www.beatobags.com

Robertm ... a 14" drum will work good with a cocktail kit if you purchase 14" marching bass drum heads (Aquarian, Remo, etc) which are usually made of the same film as other kick drum heads. Some of them even have the muffle ring already attached on the inside. I think Remo makes them for drums with either wood hoops or steel hoops.

I have a 14"x10" size "micro kick" that I use for the bass drum in my percussion rig and the marching bass drum heads sound significantly better than using a 2-ply tom tom head.

MM

[robertm]

Thanks for the info! It's taking a while but I will be starting to work on this in the next month or so.