Made myself a bass drum riser for my floor tom

Shirai

Member
When I got my new 3007s recently I was excited to discover that the kick spurs are the same diameter as the floor tom legs, meaning that it would be that much easier to make a small kick out of my 16" floor tom. Pretty much all the kick risers out there are made for wood hoops. When I started pricing wood hoops, plus longer tension rods, plus claws, plus actual bass drum heads (which are more expensive than tom heads), the cost really started to add up. Then I discovered that Gibraltar made a kick riser for triple flanged hoops, but it's discontinued and NOBODY has any left. Then I discovered that Trick makes one too, but it's sold in a $90 kit that includes spurs, which I don't need. But Trick's design is so simple, I thought for sure I could make my own out of an LP claw and hardware store parts.

Parts:
LP small claw, $20 (less promo code) from GC online (free shipping since I ordered heads with it)
"Strong tie" right angle bracket, $1.29 at Ace
3/8" x 1.5" bolt, $0.40 at Ace
3/8" nut, $0.40 at Ace
2x 3/8" flat washers, $0.14 each at Ace
2x 3/8" lock washers, $0.15 each at Ace
Total cost... $22.67 plus tax

Here's what it looks like... all I had to do was drill a 3/8" hole in the right angle bracket and screw the bolt on.

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Here it is on the tom with pedal connected...

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You can see that the right angle bracket is pretty thin metal. It works fine, but it sits at an angle which results in some odd tension being exerted on the hoop via the claw. I've got some 1/2" thick trim wood laying around so I might attach a piece to the bottom to give the pedal a little something more to bite on to, which will hopefully help with alignment. And I'll spray paint the whole thing black so it looks somewhat presentable.

Here's a view of the kit with 16" floor tom as bass drum, 14" floor tom, and 10" tom...

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Now I just gotta work on tuning the kick. It's got a pretty lively tone to it right now that would be good for swing or something, but I'm hoping to cover modern worship tunes in low volume settings with this configuration so I would need more of a rock tone. I've got a coated Powerstroke 3 batter and a coated Vintage A resonant on it. May have to try the felt strip thing. Any suggestions?
 
If you spread out the bass drum legs bait and lower the front of the drum it will take the stress off of the back hoop. Make the drum level. Good idea.
 
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