Okay, I think we can agree that the Gibraltar Catapult pedal from 4 or 5 years ago was a flop (and deservedly so) and their new, double zipper flat-folding bags have raised some "solution in search of a problem" observations. Based on those 2 products, I suggested that they're not consulting drummers on these ideas, and that whatever committee approves them for manufacture probably has no drummers on it.
Well, here's another for ya. Granted, this undoubtedly came out long before the Catapult pedal, but the design flaw is consistent with Gibraltar not thinking things through.
Consider this hi-hat clutch:
I recently bought this as a spare for gigs where a kit is provided, and I bring cymbals, snare and a pedal. Often, there's not a clutch, so I now pack one with my cymbals. I used it for the first time the other night, and was shocked at the egregious design flaw.
Yes, it has the unthreaded portion so the cymbals don't encounter needless friction (and so they don't wear away the threads...) But the threaded portion where the lock nuts live is
too short - the nuts can't come down far enough to hold the cymbal (and the bottom plastic nut only screws on so far, then stops.)
The result: the cymbal is loose. No, I mean
really loose, like on a cymbal stand flopping around loose! The foot action is greatly affected, as is playing open-close patterns.
Now, this isn't the end of the world, it was $11, and I have other
working clutches laying around (guess I should have just nabbed one of those in the first place!) But it's another example of someone at Gibraltar apparently not actually trying this - with a cymbal,
the way it was intended to be used - before manufacturing and distributing it! If they'd first run it by a drummer or two, they would have caught the problem immediately, and the upper threads could have been extended the necessary 3/8" or so.
I suppose I can get some washers and insert them between the lock nuts and the top felt to help push it down and secure the cymbal better, but why should I have to do that? And no, it's not that I want it to be a tight fit, which is good, because that would definitely be impossible with this clutch as-is. I just don't want the cymbal flopping around and affecting how I play. I'm a kick/snare/hat player, and the other night was very distracting for me.
So again I ask, who's in charge over there??
Bermuda