Carrying stands, pedals and other PITAs


This is the most drummer friendly, smallest footprint bag I found to get the job done. I have to unscrew the HH rod (it drops right in the HH base) and I tilt all the cymbal tilters down, but I don't collapse any tubes at all. Until they make something better, I'm sticking with this.
 

This is the most drummer friendly, smallest footprint bag I found to get the job done. I have to unscrew the HH rod (it drops right in the HH base) and I tilt all the cymbal tilters down, but I don't collapse any tubes at all. Until they make something better, I'm sticking with this.

Thanks, Larry. Great product. I've saved the link to my Favorites tab. When we can all get out and gig again, I intend to buy this case. It's exactly what I've had in mind, and it looks very durable and maneuverable.
 
Hardware bag and Rock & Roller cart (as mentioned above) for the win. One trip, every time!

wdzD1Sk.jpg
 
Any tips on how to get all that awkward metalwork from A to B? Is there a way to keep it all together and reduce walks to and from the vehicle?

A guy who made sailboat sails made me a custom bag (around 1992). I used to call it my "body bag". Heavy as hell, but it was great for keeping all my stands (cymbal, hi-hat, snare's) together. Had a second storage pocket for incidentals (like a drum key, set list, cymbal felts, etc.)

bass pedals?!!

I had a box (much like a tackle box) called a "slave cradle" ..... that kept double pedals nice. Kept a drum key in there, too. Plus bass and guitar picks.

And Yamaha tom mounts - what do you DO with those things?
Hardware bag.
Ps. AND - how do you make sure there's always a drum key around when you need one? (My keyring is fat enough already thanks. I get girls following me home if I put it in my front pocket.)

Besides a drum key in the hardware bag and the pedal box, I also keep one in my stick bag, and one in the rides glove box.

PS. I have one of those Rock N Roller carts. Great invention. Comes in handy for all sorts of stuff, as well as drum hauling.
 
A lot of guys here seem(ed) to use those hard golf bag travel cases, like the ones from SKB, Plano, Samsonite, etc.
1593401898336.png
 
A lot of guys here seem(ed) to use those hard golf bag travel cases, like the ones from SKB, Plano, Samsonite, etc.
View attachment 93729
I have one for my larger gigging kits. Nothing needs to break down other than pulling booms off. They should be memory locked anyhow. It's great for when things are in a trailer, because you can stand it upright. Either strap it or pack other gear around it. If you have a truck you can lean it against the tailgate and use leverage to slide it in the bed. I think I've used that line at a gig before?

The golf bag works too. I had an Adidas with skate wheels for years. Probably 500 gigs on just that bag before the bottom started to tear.
 
Last edited:
I use this below. Not as big as the golf bag size, but big enough to fit everything except my drums (4 or 5 piece) & cymbal bag: stands, pedal, throne, stick bag, tambourine, cow bell. I have it down so I only have to take the top section off each stand & high hat.
 
I setup and tear down my set in the rehearsal space every time. I use the trolley below keep my hardware in. I use a rack, so all the cymbal booms, the hh stand, snare stand, throne etc. fits in there. Just barely though, it's some advanced level Tetris to fit everything in haha. Don't let the name fool you though... i doubt if it would withstand some rigorous touring, but €50,- isn't that much to expect quality. Plus side is that my hi-hat stand fits in it without having to disassemble it (i have the top of the rod cut off so it fits that way). Pedals, drums and cymbals i keep in their own designated bags/hard plastic cases.


When i played in a rock band a few years ago i used this for gigs to haul hardware around. It's smaller and fits in the car more easily. Hi-hat stand needs to be disassembled and my throne doesn't fit in it. But i do can fit a couple of stands in it and other miscellaneous hardware. It can take more of a beating and is also more expensive, but it's a great trolley. Took it with me to rehearsals each week so i'd have everything in needed.

 
I use either this one:

This one:

Or both.

Rock solid and easy to lug around.

I had the cart Larry had but ended up leaving the cart part as it is so bulky.

The PR has the wheels built-in, retractable handle like a trolley and is a bit flatter, yet wider and longer.
 
Last edited:
I've always been a fan of using more than one bag because a bag big enough to fit everything into would be be too heavy for comfort, awkward to manoevre and it would limit packing options in my car. It's worth pointing out that I use a family car and not a commercial vehicle and that playing pubs in North Eastern England rules out the option of using a cart due to the number of steps, door sills, kerbs and many other obstacles not conducive to cart pushing. I believe there's a balance between convenience, number of trips to and from the car, weight carried at one time and awkwardness of the things being carried and everyone needs to work out what's most important and where they see that balance of priorities for themselves.

For the record I've gotten great service from a couple of £10-£15 cheap nylon travel luggage bags bought from a catalogue shop, Re: the drum key issue, both bags have an outer pocket in which I place a key, I carry a small box of bits and pieces in one of the bags which contains a key, I have a spare stick bag in the wheelwell of the car which contains a key and my bass drum pedal bag has an outer pocket with IIRC two keys in it. So if i forget to pick a key out of my dressing table drawer it's not a problem. It might also be worth mentioning that my bass pedal bag is a strapped case designed for a double pedal so I carry my main pedal and spare together in that, and an old but totally workable Tama pedal likewise lives in the wheelwell.
 
Let me get this straight, you play drums and mind moving stuff around? Huh?
It's more a case of looking for experienced advice and the right equipment to turn lugging around a pile of steel tubing and various castings, forgings, stampings and hand-hammerings - and a stack of impossibly bulky yet improbably fragile and unfeasibly expensive large-to-vast-section wooden tube segments, into the artistically fulfilling pilgrimage to ecstasy I have unshakeable faith it shall become. ☺?
 
Last edited:
Hardware bag and Rock & Roller cart (as mentioned above) for the win. One trip, every time!

wdzD1Sk.jpg

I wish! I love the idea of a single trip, but most of the venues I play don't have ramps. A good number are either 2nd floor, or basement rooms.

I do have a small folding platform cart (330lbs capacity) for the rare occassions when I can wheel gear in. It doesn't change the number of trips. Just makes them easier.

Lugging gear is the work part of playing music.
 
I wish! I love the idea of a single trip, but most of the venues I play don't have ramps. A good number are either 2nd floor, or basement rooms.

I do have a small folding platform cart (330lbs capacity) for the rare occassions when I can wheel gear in. It doesn't change the number of trips. Just makes them easier.

Lugging gear is the work part of playing music.

Wow, sumdrum, that’s a shame to hear. Very lucky in my little corner of the world to have plenty of elevators and ramps for wheelchair access. There is one downstairs venue in town that’s a PITA but luckily only one flight of stairs to deal with. In that case, the Ahead OGIO bag gets flown down the stairs and the Rock & Roller cart converts to a dolly that can navigate the stairs relatively easily.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's more a case of looking for experienced advice and the right equipment to turn lugging around a pile of steel tubing and various castings, forgings, stampings and hand-hammerings - and a stack of impossibly bulky yet improbably fragile and unfeasibly expensive large-to-vast-section wooden tube segments, into the artistically fulfilling pilgrimage to ecstasy I have unshakeable faith it shall become. ☺?
My one recommendation to the hardware case recommendation is to see if it’ll be easier on you to do it in a few bags or small cases. When I was younger I didn’t mind dead-lifting an almost 100-pound case into a vehicle. But now as I get older I split it into two smaller cases that are much lighter. Unless, of course, you have a vehicle with a lift gate installed.
 
My first hardware caddy was a blanket. I would spread it out, roll up one stand fully, add another etc.

Then I had to lift the whole mass off the floor and onto my shoulder.
 
I used Larry's blanket method on occasion in my youthful days of gigging. In one instance (I must have been 16), a bandmate and I rolled my cymbal stands into a blanket and were carrying the bundle to my mom's car for loading. A few neighbors looked on with concern, as though we were disposing of a body. I was surprised they didn't notify authorities.
 
Back
Top