Tearing down and setting up

dkerwood

dkerwood

Silver Member
Quick question:

I'm doing a jazz gig this evening, and don't plan to bring the full 5 piece kit, secondary snare, 6 crashes, 2 rides, splash, china, hats, etc, etc, etc... I decided to cut down to a 4 piece with 2 crashes, hats and a flat ride (doing combo work). I'll probably bring my splash, too, simply because it's mounted to my hi hat stand and I don't want to disassemble it.

So as I'm planning out how to pull these components out, I'm faced with an interesting (albeit minute and trivial) decision: Completely tear down the rest of the cymbals, drums, and hardware; or simply pull out the gear I need and leave everything else in place?

If I leave it in place, I have a reference point to slide the components back in, but if I DO leave it in place, I have to move around it while moving other drums and cymbals around.

What would YOU guys do?
 
Well lets review the options here.
You could tear down the entire set, pull up the carpet & refinish the floor, paint the walls & ceiling, replace the drapes, clean the windows with ammonia, re-varnish the woodwork, re-install the carpet, dissasemble the remaining stands & completely clean the chrome & lube the threads with white lithium grease, polish the cymbals & replace the heads on the remaining drums after removing the lugs & cleaning & lubing the threads in the lug casings.
Or you could just grab what you need for the gig & go.
Sorry, too much java this morning. ;~)
 
I guess the reason why I ask is that a) I know if I try to move things around with cymbals on stands, I'll be knocking things over, scratching cymbals, and scratching drum finishes; and b) I realized that my drum rug is UNDER my drums (duh) and if I want that for the gig, I'll have to move gear off of it anyway (I think I'll start using another rug for home practice).

In the small room that I have for my music gear, it might just be wiser to break everything down rather than try to find enough room to move all the stands around and reclaim the drum rug. I need to tear down the recording equipment anyway.
 
The rug makes it hard...I never use my gig rugs for my practice rug. With that happening, you might have to move everything.

Back when I played a monster kit a lot, I would just pull the pieces out as needed. If you think about it logically, you should be able to find ways to pull it out without scratching cymbals, finishes, etc. I did that a few times a month for four years, and never once dinged any of my gear.
 
Definately get a different rug under your stuff for practice if you can, it'll save you lots of extra work.
 
Get 2 kits, 1 set up for practice, 1 cased up ready to go. Lazy mans solution. Doesn't help today though
 
This is something I've been meaning to do.

I saw Wednesday 13 drummer (Johnny Chops) setting up his kit before a show. On his carpet he had color coded Duct tape on it that marked all the spots for all his hardware. It was like a "map" if you will. I thought that was the best idea I had ever seen.....now need to get the tape and just do it.
 
Nodiggie said:
This is something I've been meaning to do.

I saw Wednesday 13 drummer (Johnny Chops) setting up his kit before a show. On his carpet he had color coded Duct tape on it that marked all the spots for all his hardware. It was like a "map" if you will. I thought that was the best idea I had ever seen.....now need to get the tape and just do it.
Click to expand...

I used to do this, but stopped. It was not ideal for me. I use a lot of different set-ups for different gigs, and also have found that a lot of venues, because of the size, require some tweaking. I guess it depends on if you have situations like that or not.
 
Nodiggie said:
This is something I've been meaning to do.

I saw Wednesday 13 drummer (Johnny Chops) setting up his kit before a show. On his carpet he had color coded Duct tape on it that marked all the spots for all his hardware. It was like a "map" if you will. I thought that was the best idea I had ever seen.....now need to get the tape and just do it.
Click to expand...

I find that my setup is always evolving and changing- even from night to night. I usually set everything up pretty tight and close around me, but sometimes I like to spread it out a bit. Sometimes I sit close, sometimes I sit farther away, just depending on my mood and what feels comfortable at the time.

Tonight I used only my 10 and 12 inch toms and left the 16 at home. I used the 12 as the "floor tom" (mounted to a cymbal stand). Thanks to the small tom, I was able to pull that cymbal stand in a little closer than I'd be able to with the 16" hanging there as usual. I also used a 18" flat ride instead of my 20" ride, which allowed a little closer and lower placement.

Finally, I usually set my 10 and 12 inch toms on a double stand just to the left of my kick so I get the four piece feel (and ride placement) but still have a 5 piece. Tonight, though, I just used the 10" tom up. Since it's smaller and shallower than the 12 that usually hangs over the kick, I was able to pull the stand in a little closer, lower it, and flatten it out to be more condusive to how I like to play cocktail jazz.

The moral of the story? If I had pieces of tape on my rug, I'd either a) be compelled to USE those presets even when they don't apply or b) have to ignore them every other performance (plus have ugly pieces of tape on my rug).

If it helps YOU, though, go for it. If I was a touring drummer who has settled into a comfortable setup, I'd probably be more inclined to try it.
 
Last night I felt it.

My age, the weight of the hardware, the lack of roadies, the setting up details, the arguments with the sound guys about what goes up on stage first etc.

The tear down was worse. The band leader's promised volunteers who would help me cart the stuff back to the car were nowhere to be seen.

I am so glad I have a totally minimalistic gigging kit, that has nothing to do with my 7 piece recording/home kit.

I gig with a 4 piece, 2 cymbals, hats. A hardy TAMA imperialstar that the withstood abuse & pounding over the years and still manages to sound sweet.
 
First, I have a gig rug that stays in the car. Have rug-will-roll. Second, I take just the gear I need, or think I need, to the gig. I don't tear down anything that doesn't need tearing down, unless I know I'm gonna set up totally different upon return. This is one of the reasons I love the "virgin" bass drum. If I'm taking the kick and leaving the rack toms, I just pull the kick. If the inverse is true, then I pull the toms, grab "another" kick, and to the car we go. This is where my "modular" idea comes in handy, also. Toms all have RIMS with Yamaha mounts on them. Even my "Loop Station tray" has a Yamaha tom mount on it. Everything can be flown off Yamaha ball/socket mounts. Even my small sized roto-toms (when I had those) were "standardized"
 
I have never really had any problems getting anywhere or doing anything with a my little 4-piece Sonor.
I use a cart like this:http://www.comforthouse.com/foldingdolly.html
and with my bass drum upright and the drum rug beneath it to protect my already-shot hoops, I stack all the drums first, then set the cymbal case next to it, a bag stuffed with all the compacted hardware, and then stick bag, stool, and a wire music stand. It can all be easily rolled with one hand into any elevator and through any hallway wider than 4 feet. I can unload and set up within 5-10 minutes, and put it back again in equivalent time. I know bigger setups probably require a whole heck of a lot more, but this way, I never need any help.
 
Clayton_C said:
I have never really had any problems getting anywhere or doing anything with a my little 4-piece Sonor.
I use a cart like this:http://www.comforthouse.com/foldingdolly.html
and with my bass drum upright and the drum rug beneath it to protect my already-shot hoops, I stack all the drums first, then set the cymbal case next to it, a bag stuffed with all the compacted hardware, and then stick bag, stool, and a wire music stand. It can all be easily rolled with one hand into any elevator and through any hallway wider than 4 feet. I can unload and set up within 5-10 minutes, and put it back again in equivalent time. I know bigger setups probably require a whole heck of a lot more, but this way, I never need any help.
Click to expand...

I could never bring myself to stack drums on top of my kick. I just worry about the head being able to hold 3 or 4 drums at such a low tension and toward the middle of the head (a 14" snare sitting on a 16" tom has less than 1" of space on each side).

When I had a little 4 piece kit that I would take out, I had a rolling office chair that I would use as a throne. My floor tom had no bottom head, so I'd turn it upside down on the chair and stack the rack tom and the snare inside. I could usually wedge the cymbal bag between the toms and the chair back and put the hardware bag on top of the floor tom. Take that all inside, then run back out and grab the kick and the rug (my old kick had a rail-style tom mount that I had taken the mount off of- I used the rail as a handle).

Ah, but I seemed to always run into stairs... sigh...
 
aydee said:
Last night I felt it.

My age, the weight of the hardware, the lack of roadies, the setting up details, the arguments with the sound guys about what goes up on stage first etc.

The tear down was worse. The band leader's promised volunteers who would help me cart the stuff back to the car were nowhere to be seen.

I am so glad I have a totally minimalistic gigging kit, that has nothing to do with my 7 piece recording/home kit.

I gig with a 4 piece, 2 cymbals, hats. A hardy TAMA imperialstar that the withstood abuse & pounding over the years and still manages to sound sweet.
Click to expand...

I actually don't like it when people "help me" load. I have a system, certain things need to get loaded in a certain order, & people will inevitably bring something out which doesn't go in yet & it just messes with my head trying to inventory things when I didn't move them.
As for stacking your drums, don't worry about the heads, it won't hurt them a bit. Just be very careful & don't ding your bearing edges with the rim of another smaller drum.
 
aydee said:
Impressive. Thanks for making me feel like a wimp.
Click to expand...
(Chuckle) There was a point when I had a drum tech in a band with a full road crew & it was great to just show up & play. To me, moving a load of gear around is not a deal breaker, it's just part of being a drummer which I accepted years ago. Over three decades of heavy gigging you might well imagine that I've learned to work smarter, not harder. Over that time I've accumulated alot of gear, so I have a nice set at home to play on, a full set in our rehearsal studio, and my gigging set lives in it's own little van which I use for nothing else. So you see, I don't have to shlep my gear too much, only in & out of our gigs. At my age, & with a busy life outside of drumming, if I had to move one drumset around in & out of the house, studio AND gigs, I imagine that I would enjoy it somewhat less than I do now. ;~)
 
Leadfoot said:
(Chuckle) There was a point when I had a drum tech in a band with a full road crew & it was great to just show up & play. To me, moving a load of gear around is not a deal breaker, it's just part of being a drummer which I accepted years ago. Over three decades of heavy gigging you might well imagine that I've learned to work smarter, not harder. Over that time I've accumulated alot of gear, so I have a nice set at home to play on, a full set in our rehearsal studio, and my gigging set lives in it's own little van which I use for nothing else. So you see, I don't have to shlep my gear too much, only in & out of our gigs. At my age, & with a busy life outside of drumming, if I had to move one drumset around in & out of the house, studio AND gigs, I imagine that I would enjoy it somewhat less than I do now. ;~)
Click to expand...

My life seems to resemble yours, but I'm only 2/3rds of the way there. There's my 'home' kit which doesn't move an inch, and an 'everything else' kit which I've had for 15 years, and looks it too.
What I need now is that wonderful little gigging gizmo, which will save my back for a few more years and keep me from panting while I'm counting off the 1st tune ................ : )
 
I just looked at your kit, very nice. I'm a lefty too athough I play right handed. I can play a left handed kit but I'm not as good. Nice Boxer! I had a brindle, he was a great dog.
 
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