Setting Up Your Drum Set
When unpacking your new drum kit up, you may be unsure of how to set it up. While most of it goes together with a dose of common sense, some of it isn’t immediately obvious. Start by putting the legs into the bass drum, and tighten them so they don’t move. Make sure that both the legs are equally as long when they are sticking out, otherwise the bass drum will be at an angle. Do the same with the floor toms, putting the three legs into the special lugs and tighten them up. The floor toms should be flat or slightly angled towards you.
Take the snare stand and loosen the arms that form the snare basket at the top. Place the snare drum with the wires facing downwards into the basket, and, while making sure the snare drum is in the centre of the basket, tighten the claws around the drum until it is stable. Some people like to have their snare drum facing towards or away from them, so try out a few angles to see which is most comfortable for you. The toms will most likely be part of the bass drum, so the tom arms should be placed inside the sockets in the bass drum and tightened up. The angle of the toms is dependant on your preference, but having them almost flat is a good starting place.
The high hat stand is somewhat more complex in its design, so begin by taking the high hat ‘clutch’ off the top of the stand. Place the bottom high hat cymbal on the stand, and then put the top high hat cymbal in-between the two felts in the ‘clutch’. The clutch can then be placed back on top of the stand, and the pedal should be pressed fully down, so that the two cymbals are together. You can then screw the clutch tightly to the stand, and depress the pedal. Your ride and crash cymbals should be placed on top of the washers on the stands, with felts both underneath and on top of the cymbals to prevent friction damage. Screw the nut to the top of the stand loosely – the cymbal should be able to move freely, but shouldn’t fly off.
Tuning your drums is one of the most important steps in properly setting up a drum kit, and is overlooked by far too many players. Doing this improves their tonal quality much more, even if you are using poor quality or cheap heads on them. To do this, tune the lugs on the drums up, and then using your drumstick tap the head of the drum near the lug, and listen to the pitch of the drum. Repeat this step for the other lugs on the drum, and make sure to tune them all to the same pitch/note – this makes all the lugs on the drum in harmony with each other, producing a clear note, rather than a muddy thud like an improperly setup drum kit.
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US $479.95
