| I started out with a 1975 Gretsch 16x16 floor tom. I mounted Pearl spurs, 2 Pearl single tom mounts on the top, and 2 Ludwig floor tom leg mounts, one on the side for a ride cymbal holder, and one on the bottom of the drum, to mount the bracket I clamp my pedal on.
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Here's a front view of the drum. It still has the original Gretsch Permatone head on front, with a 2-ply clear Aquarian head on the batter side. |
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Underneath the drum, there is a Ludwig floor tom leg mount, with a weird bracket made from an old Ludwig hoop-mount cowbell holder and a piece of wood to clamp the pedal on to. More about this bracket in the next picture... |
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Never one to pay full price for anything, I devised this clamp with Elliott Clay, the custom drum-building guru at Resurrection Drums, out of an old cowbell holder, and a small piece of a drum shell that some drum company was using for its color samples. Primitive, but effective. I've used it for years with no problems. |
| Here's pretty much all the hardware I use with this kit:
There's a Pearl L-arm for the snare, some Gibraltar-like no-name tom holder for the rack tom, and a Ludwig L-arm for the ride cymbal. No snare stand. No stool (I use the bass drum case, with a cushion on top).
The only actual stand I use is the hihat (not shown).
Very minimal. Very Zen.
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Here's my snare drum. It's a 4x12 thin maple shell from Resurrection Drums, with only ONE head, equipped with a set of snares harvested from a Purecussion Headset.
That's a Pearl tom mount on the side, mounted on top of some thick rubber washers to have less of a choking effect on the shell. Sort of a poor man's RIMS system... |
| To adjust the snares, you tighten a knob on the side of the drum, like those internal tone controls on older drums.
This is also my second single-headed snare - my first one was an experiment, where Elliott and I cut an old Ludwig 8x12 tom in half, and built two snares out of it. The Ludwig drum sounded pretty good, but when we built this new one with the thinner shell, I was blown away by how much better it sounded. |
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...and here's a bird's-eye view of the whole massive kit, in all its glory.
The rack tom is a 1980 Pearl maple 8x10, mounted on the RIMS system. The cymbals are all Sabian: an 18" El Sabor, which is great for crashing and riding and has a killer bell, with an 8" B8Pro China Splash on top (separated by a felt washer). The hats are 14" HH Manhattan Groove Hats - really sweet!
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| It sounds great, I think it looks kinda cool, and you can pack it up so fast after a gig that you'll beat the bass player to the parking lot, which makes it all worthwhile!
Here's the whole kit, packed into three cases after a show.
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