I'm tired of standard drumkits. Need inspiration and ideas

I've been planning something in this vein, more out of necessity than anything. I want big toms, I want them close together, and I don't really want a 2-down setup. Sort of like what Iggor Cavalera does. After some thought, my plan became:

- offset toms
- left side stealth rack
- remote hat at 10 or 12 o'clock
- FT replaced with pancake gong drum, just because I want one and don't need
a traditional FT with 14-16 rack toms
- stand to hold pancake, ride, and crash
- left side trigger pad, I have the PDP/Kat, and there's a place for with no left side hihat

I work these ideas out in Paint, please pardon my lack of artistic talent:

I don't think my kit is unusual, maybe it is, I dunno. It's a Pearl Midtown, double rides, double pedal, and a Paiste 404 bottom hat for the center crash. Seems pretty normal to me.

Everything is centered around the snare, the camera angle gives it some parallax so everything looks a bit off.

I also got tired of the run of the mill, just like everyone elses kits. Had a bunch of snare drums and now use them as rack toms so I could show 'em off rather than have 'em sitting on a shelf. Added a 26" Pearl Championship marching bass for kick and an 18" Pearl Championship marching bass as floor. Sounds great and the "Frankenstein" style attracts a LOT of attention. JW

Check out the guy from Kinky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tGhgajBJRU

johnwesley said:

OOOPs....forgot to download photos......

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Now that is different and cool ! Unique. I like it . Weird , but I find it visually pleasing . I played for a while in my 20’s on an all roto tom kit , .... now that was interesting too

johnwesley said:

I also got tired of the run of the mill, just like everyone elses kits. Had a bunch of snare drums and now use them as rack toms so I could show 'em off rather than have 'em sitting on a shelf. Added a 26" Pearl Championship marching bass for kick and an 18" Pearl Championship marching bass as floor. Sounds great and the "Frankenstein" style attracts a LOT of attention. JW

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Nice! That is a very cool idea.

johnwesley said:

I also got tired of the run of the mill, just like everyone elses kits. Had a bunch of snare drums and now use them as rack toms so I could show 'em off rather than have 'em sitting on a shelf. Added a 26" Pearl Championship marching bass for kick and an 18" Pearl Championship marching bass as floor. Sounds great and the "Frankenstein" style attracts a LOT of attention. JW

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I played around with that idea too.
I had 10" and 12" snares mounted on a bass drum, a 14" snare as a floor tom, and a 13" main snare.
The novelty wore off quickly for me.

This may sound wacky....years ago I went thru one of my drumming "funks" and switched my right hand kit to left handed for a bit. It was a real eye opening experience (for me) on how undeveloped my limbs were when asked to do unfamiliar tasks. I did come out a better left handed hi hat player and not depending on my right arm as much for crashes. Something to consider. I have not played left handed in years, however, I think with practice I could get thru a live set of songs with basic beats and fewer fills (early stones, blues, 4/4 etc).

I like that, Bert. I may do a bit of busking with some friends this summer; that would be great to use. Did you buy it or build it?

BertTheDrummer said:

You could do something like this:

I'm currently working on a set using a Cajon as the bass drum. Trying to figure out what all I want to do for the rest.

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