When a non-drummer moves your gear.

T

The Old Hyde

Guest
I actually laughed at this when it happened because its no big deal. I have my speed king pedal in my car to bring to practice and my wife moved it for some reason while using my car. She came inside and asked kind of sheepishly if it was supposed to be in two pieces! when she moved it the pedal board came off. i don't know how she grabbed it. why do non drummer always seem to make things fall apart when moving them?
 
I actually laughed at this when it happened because its no big deal. I have my speed king pedal in my car to bring to practice and my wife moved it for some reason while using my car. She came inside and asked kind of sheepishly if it was supposed to be in two pieces! when she moved it the pedal board came off. i don't know how she grabbed it. why do non drummer always seem to make things fall apart when moving them?

Opportunity missed... you should have said "no" and immediately bought a new pedal and kit because new pedals won't fit the rim on your old kit!!! :) LOL
 
Opportunity missed... you should have said "no" and immediately bought a new pedal and kit because new pedals won't fit the rim on your old kit!!! :) LOL

hahaha i did make like it was broken for about ten min. but it turned out she didn't care! I have trouble getting the foot board off, she managed to do it in like one second.

she was also like " that thing" in your car. i had to ask what "thing" and she said that thing for your drums...its a pedal woman!!!
 
Whenever I get "help" from someone not in my band with stands or drums getting put away after a show, they always find a way to mess something up, or alter a setting that I had locked in. Not a fan of anyone messing with things.
 
My thing is it takes 3 trips to my vehicle to load in or load out. When someone else helps, I still end up making 3 trips.
 
One time, my trombone player tried to help me tear down. He immediately went for the kick drum spurs. He unscrewed the wingnut completely and pulled the spur off, and then thought he broke it. It really was funny. We still make fun of him from time to time for it.
 
I don't like others helping to tear down or assemble but I'm not too proud to have one of the guys carry my hardware bag once it's packed. :) I always laugh at how surprised they are at the weight of either the hardware bag or the cymbal bag. What...did you think it was all made of plastic??? lol
 
I normally handle my own gear on local gigs, but may allow another drummer or musician to assist if offered (and essential to loading in/out or getting on/off stage.)

But I know that non-drummers in the local crew frequently handle my gear on tour, and I learned long ago to make certain things foolproof. For example, anything with a wingnut was subject to being loosened by helpful people trying to compact hardware. Obviously, this plays havoc with everything that had been preset, such as stand heights, and boom arm extensions and tilter angles. The solution: replace all wingnuts (that don't need to be loosened) with hex nuts -

gibnut.jpg


I also went a step further, replacing the wingnuts on my cymbal tilters with screw-on T-tops, so there's nothing to be removed or replaced or lost. Also makes handling the cymbals much faster, and with one hand. I also use them on my local stands. :)

Bermuda
 
I normally handle my own gear on local gigs, but may allow another drummer or musician to assist if offered (and essential to loading in/out or getting on/off stage.)

But I know that non-drummers in the local crew frequently handle my gear on tour, and I learned long ago to make certain things foolproof. For example, anything with a wingnut was subject to being loosened by helpful people trying to compact hardware. Obviously, this plays havoc with everything that had been preset, such as stand heights, and boom arm extensions and tilter angles. The solution: replace all wingnuts (that don't need to be loosened) with hex nuts -

gibnut.jpg


I also went a step further, replacing the wingnuts on my cymbal tilters with screw-on T-tops, so there's nothing to be removed or replaced or lost. Also makes handling the cymbals much faster, and with one hand. I also use them on my local stands. :)

Bermuda

That's a great idea. I'm stealing it. People "compacting" my stuff is usually what irks me. I have a method, damnit! Usually I'll just fold in the legs and leave all the boom angles and stuff so it's faster next time.
 
As per the OP, novices somehow manage to do weird things to stands you never imagined. They also unlock nuts that have been set since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of the kit).

I happily accept help from the band and responsible others with carrying but I set up, tear down and pack.
 
Opportunity missed... you should have said "no" and immediately bought a new pedal and kit because new pedals won't fit the rim on your old kit!!! :) LOL

Yep, opportunity missed. LOL.
 
Once I accepted help breaking down my kit. (Just once.) At the time I was using a rack, and told the "helper" to loosen the wing bolts and take apart the pipes. When I looked back over at him he also had a little pile of washers, bolts, and wingnuts where he'd disassembled the t-clamps entirely, and he asked me if I had a baggie for them. Sigh.
 
I appreciate anyone helping me move gear. Setiing up and / or tearing down is another issue. For some reason anytime a non-drummer tears down my cymbal stands, he or she always, and I mean 100% of the time always, folds the base inside out by pushing down instead of pulling up. They know they messed up because they are always looking at me weird after they do it.
 
This reminds me of something I read from Ray Herrera from Fear Factory. They were on their first tour and his buddy was tagging along as an all purpose "tech"

The first nights show was over and he told Raymond he'd "tear down" his drum kit. Raymond came back a while later and his buddy had taken EVERYTHING apart with an electric driver.

Bare shells. Heads and rims off. Lugs and cymbal stand screws and floor tom legs were separated into little baggies. I guess his friend thought that was how drummers do it.
 
I would always seem to end up with people who would try to carry a double pedal like the driveshaft is a suitcase handle, and folded up kick drum spurs become magic handles too.
 
I would always seem to end up with people who would try to carry a double pedal like the driveshaft is a suitcase handle

That drives me crazy. Or they sling it over their shoulder like you would a jacket.

When I was a kid, I had no money for cases. I always dreaded coming back to the practice space if I hadn't accompanied my gear back after a show. Inevitably, the bass drum would have all 8 cymbals piled on top of the reso head with the rest of the drums stacked on top of that...various stands leaning on the drums finish. I can think of at least 3 separate shows I had to play with a torn snare reso head because I let my band members "help" me move gear.
 
HA, I keep forgetting to add this. I got un-wanted help from my bass players dad last gig unloading my gear from the car. He then opened all my bags. the funny part was I look over and he has all my spare heads I keep in my bass drum bag and asked what he should do with them! haha dude, my drums have heads already! did he really think I didn't keep the heads on my drums??
 
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