Hi hat pedal moving sideways???

[nhzoso]

hey guys,

Starting to have problems with my hi hat pedal moving completely sideways. I sit down in a comfy position and ensure my legs are at a normal angle and everyhting else is set normally. I start playing and after about 5 minutes I notice that the side of my foot is barely on the pedal and it has moved sideways about 30 degrees. It is pretty much facing the bass drum.

even if I am just holding the pedal down and playing the hats closed it happens. I pretty much have to stop and move it back to a normal set up. This never happened to me before.

Anyone else have this problem? if so what did you do to fix it? Almost seems to me like their should be some kind of spike or something sticking out of the bottom of the pedal to stop this from happening but I have never seen this so it must be some kind of technique problem but I have been unable to figure it out for a few weeks now.

I will try to post some pics later to further illustrate what I mean.

[Styx]

Firstly, what type of surface are your drums setup on?? Is it a hard surface(tiled floor) or a carpet?

Most decent Hi-Hat stands do have spikes which bury into the carpet securing it in place pretty well.

If you're playing on a tiled surface or something similar I'd suggest setting your kit up on a nice thick carpet. This helps with reducing the hi hat slipping off to the side.

If you are indeed playing on a carpet and the hi-hat stand is still sliding to the side, I'd suggest purchasing a decent quality hi-hat stand that does have spikes.

A picture is worth a thousand words so if this doesn't help you, post a picture of your quandry and I'm sure one of many bright minds on this site will suggest a solution.

Regards

Styx

[nhzoso]

Its more that the heel part of the pedal moves..It is on a rug, I may be unconsciously pressing my foot when concentrating on a fill or something..Not sure but it is annoying and I need to find a solution.


Before
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/nhzoso/Drum%20pics/Normalsetup.jpg

After
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c389/nhzoso/Drum%20pics/after5minutes.jpg

[Colonel Bat Guano]

That's weird. Maybe mess with the angle of the legs to make sure they're taking all of the weight instead of the footboard base. I always end up having the legs not quite solidly on the ground and the stand moves around on a pivot around the base of the footboard. If it still does it, then it seems like it would just mean than the stand is sliding on that particualr carpet. Does it happen on other surfaces that would normally be OK?

Is there any kind of wrinkle or air pocket under the carpet? It could be kind of "surfing" over something like that.

...

[nhzoso]

No air pocket or any physical thing that I can see would be causing it. Just the heel of the pedal is sliding not the whole stand. Notice how far away the heel is to one of the legs before and then how close it is after..

[harryconway]

Not all carpet is created "equal". Some carpet weaves grab and hold, others do not. But, you say this "just started happenning", so I would suspect that CBG has hit the head on the nail. The legs of the hi-hat need some adjusting. If the legs aren't quite "deployed", the hi-hat can spin on it's base. And if your hi-hat doesn't have "creeper spikes" built into its design, you might want to look into getting one that does. Every hi-hat stand I've ever owned, since 1970, has had spikes built into it. Only my first stand was "without" and now I've been "without it" for 37 years.

[nhzoso]

Not all carpet is created "equal". Some carpet weaves grab and hold, others do not. But, you say this "just started happenning", so I would suspect that CBG has hit the head on the nail. The legs of the hi-hat need some adjusting. If the legs aren't quite "deployed", the hi-hat can spin on it's base. And if your hi-hat doesn't have "creeper spikes" built into its design, you might want to look into getting one that does. Every hi-hat stand I've ever owned, since 1970, has had spikes built into it. Only my first stand was "without" and now I've been "without it" for 37 years.

Guess I will try to spread the legs out more. The stand does have a spike that is well entrenched into the carpet i cannot push the stand any direction without it tipping over. However the heel part of the pedal itself will easily slide left and right.

[Colonel Bat Guano]

Is there anyway that maybe a screw/nut/bolt holding the base of the stand to the rest of the tube worked its way out or got sheared off? It could even be one of these small bolts with hex heads that are easy to miss. Now it seems like the whole base assembly isn't attached to the tube any more...

[harryconway]

Sounds now like something is missing or broken. Hi-hats designed to rotate left and right usually have either a wing nut or a drum key driven set screw to lock them into position. Did your hi-hat swivel before this all started?

[fourstringdrums]

Hi-hats that swivel like that only do so when the leg adjustment knob is loosened. Are you sure it's tight completely?