HOW TO ASSEMBLE YOUR DRUM KIT

Assembling your drum kit is very much down to personal taste with and knowing where and how you place each piece. However, there are some standards which are worth knowing, and tfrom here you can customise your kit to suit your own needs.

Building from a Shell Pack

This is quite a straight forward process and the instructions are normally very useful, so it is definitely worth reading through them before you start.  It’s a good idea to build your kit from the bottom up, so start with the bass drum and work from there. This is good idea because you generally set your kit up around where the bass drum is, and it also gets the biggest things out of the way first!

Bass Drum

It is easier to build drums when they are flat on the floor, so to fit the front skin (the normally weaker skin facing the audience) onto your bass drum first, lay your bass drum shell down flat and place the skin over the drum. Then place the rim or frame over the skin and simply drop the screws into their relevant holes, without screwing them in at this stage. Once all of this is in place, then you can start tightening the skin by turning the screws a half turn, tightening opposite screws one after another. Trying to keep the tension across the whole drum-head even, as this will get the best sound! But do be careful not to tighten the skin too much, it may become over-stretched and then likely to tear.

Some drummers often add some kind of padding, such as blankets or pillows, to the inside of the drum in order to deaden the sound and reduce the resonation of the sound. This is the time to add any padding you may want to use.

Once you have the front head the tightness that suits you, then turn the drum over and follow the same steps on the other skin, beating the drum after you have tightened all the screws each time in order to find the sound and tone that you are after. The pitch of the sound will become higher with each half turn, but be careful.  Either to tight or too loose could cause the drum head to tear. When you are happy with the tone of the drum, then stand the drum up and add the supports, which are normally in the form of two spikes on either side of the drum which stops it sliding forward or tipping side to side when playing.

Tom Toms

Setting up the toms is a very similar process to setting up the bass drum, just on a smaller scale. You again have a tougher skin for the playing surface, with a weaker one for the underside. Go through the process of laying the drum flat and adding the skins, and tightening them until you are happy with the tone and pitch, testing the sound with a drum stick between each tightening.

Once you are happy how the toms sound then the next stage is to add them to your kit. Most kits come with two 'rack-mounted' toms and one floor standing tom. The floor tom tends to have three poles, which can be easily slid into their fittings on the drum, and the angle and height from the floor can be easily adjusted. The mounted toms are slightly different as they get mounted on top of the bass drum by fittings, which will vary by brand. There will be a central fitting, which actually slides into the bass drum, and needs to be screwed firmly in place, and it is from this fitting that the toms are attached.  Either by getting the balls or the grips to the right angle, and then again screwing firmly into place. For a right handed drummer, the smallest tom will normally be on the left hand side for the drummer, with the larger on the right, and the floor tom placed to the right of the bass drum in an arc shape.

Snare Drum

The first part of setting up the snare drum is very similar to that of the toms and the bass drum.  Simply lay it flat and tighten the head very slowly until you find the right pitch. There is also a set of springs that have to be attached beneath the snare drum, which give it its distinctive sound. To attach them, there is normally some form of material at either end of set of springs, which has to be threaded through an attachment at each side of the snare drum, and then screwed into place.  You tighten the springs to personal taste, continually beating the drum with a drumstick to test the sound.

Unlike the toms, the snare drum has its own stand, which you need to slide together (it is likely to have come in one or two pieces), spread its legs on the floor to create a stable base, and then spread the arms in order for it to firmly hold the snare drum. Once, you have set up the snare drum and its stand, place them into your kit, which is normally to the left of your bass drum in the arc for a right-handed player.

Hi-Hats and Pedals

These do have the most parts to fit together, but if you follow your instructions it should be pretty straight-forward.  Start with the bass drum pedal, all you have to do is tightly screw the actual beater onto the pedal mechanism using a drum key, and then attach the springs to make the mechanism responsive. Then attach the pedal to the bass drum, so that they will stay together, for which there is a type of “alligator grip” which you slide over the rim of the bass drum, and then screw down tightly.

The assembly of the hi-hats pedal is similar, but instead of attaching the beater to the pedal, you attach the rods, which will control the actual cymbals, and clip its base onto that of the hi-hat stand. Other than that, both pedals are pretty much the same. You then need to spread the legs of the stand to make a solid base, and adjust the height of the stand so that it is comfortable for you to play.

At the top of the stand you should place a plastic cap, and then some padding, so that the cymbal will not hit the stand directly, and then place the bottom of the two hi-hats on top of the padding, left loose and not screwed to anything. The next step is to attach the top hi-hat to its fittings. You do this by threading the tall screw through some padding, and then through the cymbal itself. Then turn the cymbal over upside down, and thread the bottom part of the tall screw through another piece of padding on the other side, and then finally through a nut which you should screw up until it is high enough for the cymbal to be held in place, although loosely so that the cymbal may vibrate quite wildly. You should turn the cymbal back the right way round and then thread it over the rod coming through the top of the hi-hat stand. It is then simple measures of pressing down the foot pedal, and as you do that, screwing the top hi-hat onto the rod tightly. Then when you release the pedal, the top hi-hat should rise as the pedal does. All that is left to be done with the high-hats after this assembly is to place it into your kit, which would be to the left of the snare drum following the arc for a right handed player.

Cymbals and Stands

The last part that you need to add to you drum kit are the cymbals. Most people use a crash cymbal and a ride cymbal as the basic two, although you can always add more at a later date.

For this, all that you need to do, is spread the legs of the stand to create a stable base, adjust the stand to the right height, and then angle the top of the stand to the angle you would like your crash cymbal to be at. Once you have done this, slide a plastic cap over the tip of the stand, followed by some padding. Having done this, simply place your crash cymbal over the padding, place some more padding over it, and loosely fasten with a wing-nut.

Where you put these cymbals is up to you, although in a standard set-up, thecymbal will be behind  in the corner next to your bass drum and behind the floor tom.

Final Touches

If you have followed this from from start to finish, then you should have a full basic drum kit set up for a right-handed player. If you are left-handed, then you just need to reverse the arc of the drums and cymbals, having the hi-hats and snare on the right, and the floor tom on the left. The most important thing is for the kit to be set up in a way that is comfortable for you to play.