Is it necessary to have great hardware?

I will say this. I have been a gigging and touring drummer for almost 20 years and I have never had a stand slip, fall, break, drop, anything during a show. I spend money on stands and money on maintenance and it pays off. I cant count the number of times I have seen other drummers chasing cymbals as the arms slip. I have never been and will never be that guy, and I will pay whatever it takes to ensure that.
 
To be honest it's not something I think about in terms of ensuring I have decent enough gear but reason for that is that I've still got the same double braced Pearl Hardware (Cymbals/Snare Stands) from 20 years ago and they have been gigged many, many occasion.

Never had any issues with them and would probably buy more of the same type when I need more. The Hi Hat stand is finally coming to the end of its days so I'll be investing in a DW5000 Hi Hat as a replacement when I can afford the outlay.

It depends on the situation I guess, if you're not planning to tour/gig a lot then cheaper gear will probably continue to work well for you so no reason to invest as a priority matter.
 
Great or quality? Great could be a branding preference that might lack the quality.

Go for quality. Down to triple chroming. Spray some silicon polish (pledge) on the chrome for additional protection and to help any humidity damage (although triple chroming keeps humidity damage to a minimum). Pearl, DW, Gibraltar, Atlas all have good reputations and going used on quality stuff will save some cash. Quality is quality whether used or new.

Buying used? Check it closely for rust or pitting, a little grime or dirty is easily cleaned up with a window cleaner or alcohol.

A lot of times the true test of quality is in the joints and tensioning hardware. If those articulating fixtures are not locking down and staying locked tight, for all intents and purposes the hardware is useless and this is where the branding reputations stake their claim.
 
lsits said:
It's a nice feeling when you don't have to worry about your hardware.
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That just about sums it up, and is another way to articulate Bermuda's "appropriate" comment. Really, when comparing the relatively modest prices of the Yamaha 700, Pearl 900, the aforementioned Tama and Gibraltar products, it makes little sense to worry about saving an extra $20 or $30 on something that should last you 20-30 years...

The OP's thread title questions if it's "Necessary to have great hardware?" A boom cymbal stand in any of the series I listed above are usually in the $60-90 range. OTOH, Pearl makes their 1000 series, DW the 9000 series...is this "great" hardware? Yes, but at considerably more cost.

I think one could summarize the replies to this thread with:
"You don't have to have great hardware, but you don't want to go cheap, either.
 
I am one the few DW 9000 lovers on this board.With the exception of my snare stand and kick pedal,I'm all 9000 on my main kit. That snare stand will be replaced soon. Yes,they are heavy but they can do anything I could ever ask of them. A couple of them went through years of touring abuse with my old band and are as solid as they ever were. Last stands that i will ever buy.
 
All stages/risers are not created equal and some are very wobbly. If your gigging you want solid, stable hardware, whether it be heavy or light. I have no problem mounting big cymbals on lightweight ATLAS Classic straight stands, but I wouldn't touch the boom stands with a 10 foot pole.
 
Seafroggys said:
Kind of a side tangeant but partially related, I think the one category of 'vintage' music stuff that doesn't hold up is the drum hardware.

I had a very nice Rogers cymbal stand from the 70s, one of the best, heavy duty stands of the era. It didn't hold up to my 10 year old cheaper stock Sonor stands, and eventually busted on me (its fixable, but I've never had a newer stand bust like this one have, even though none of my 'new' hardware is anywhere close to high end).
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My heavy duty Tama boom stands from 1980 are still in use today.

And they're still heavy..... :)

The matching 1980 Tama hi hat stand was still working perfectly fine as well when I traded it a couple years ago, cuz it was fixed and I needed adjustable legs to accommodate double kick pedals.

I have put additional cymbal arms on each of them recently, and they are still very stable, no matter how hard they get played. Definite benefit.

I also still have the matching snare stand as well. That grouping of old hardware has certainly stood up well for me.
 
For the most part mid range hardware is just fine.
But if you're a touring drummer or regularly gigging drummer where your stands are being setup/torn down/put into a hardware case numerous times a week/month you want sturdy stands that aren't going to give you any issues, you don't have to get the top of the line hardware even in that instance but you definitely don't want to cheap out and end up having to rig up a broken stand last minute or something.
 
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