I finally got a digital camera and figured out how to get pictures onto my computer. (Not sure when I turned into such a Luddite. I used to teach Electronic Technology!)I wanted to post some pictures of my new stand-up kit. I've always been a cocktail drummer and I wanted to experience the big bass drum sound. I have a Peace Manhattan that I love with a 14 x 18 vertical kick drum. I really felt the lack of a true bass drum on outdoor gigs where we're playing at a little higher volume.
Anyway, I saw these 'drum-set in a box' kits and thought I might be able to have two drum sets, one indoor and one outdoor. I bought a Ludwig Fuse (or Fusion) set for $400 and a second (Pearl) wood snare for $100. I also bought about $100 worth of Gibraltar floor tom leg clamps (like the ones that hold my Peace Manhattan together). I already had a DW Sidekick foot pedal for my new cocktail kit so all I needed to buy was one more 14 inch crash cymbal and a boom-style cymbal stand ($100 for both) and I had two complete kits. (Of course, I already had good cymbals and lots of percussion toys that I could reuse. Still, I think $700 for two journeyman-quality drum kits is pretty decent.
Here's a couple photos of my outdoor kit. (I'll post some of my new cocktail kit later.) I really liked the black-on-white color scheme but I couldn't find a snare to match so I got the black Pearl 14 x 5.5 wood snare. I took the mounting bracket off my little 10 x 8 tom and mounted it on the snare and voila! I had a snare in the perfect place to play standing up. My right foot is right where I want it to be for the bass-drum pedal and everything else is in easy reach. I took the pedal off the hi hat stand, since I've always played passive hi hats and I didn't want to lug it around. I added an LP jam block, a Meinl Hi Hat tambourine, and an industrial-strength 8 inch Rhythm Tech cow bell on the back of the bass drum (facing me).
I've used it for a couple gigs so far and I really love playing it, although I haven't managed to tune the bass drum properly yet. (Pretty boomy.)
I will post photos and instructions on how to create a cocktail kit from the left-over pieces (14 x 14 floor tom for the kick, 14 x 5 snare drum, and 10 x 8 tom). The key is getting a drum set with a 14 inch floor tom so you can mount a standard 14 inch snare above it with clamps and threaded rod from a hardware store. The Ludwig Fuse set works but PDP has a drum-in-a-box set with a 14 x 12 inch floor tom that would probably also work and I've seen those online for $300. You've got to get a set with double tom risers so you can mount a snare on one and a tom on the other.
Let me know what you think, guys.
Bruce (the K)