Drum Gear

There was a time when having the latest equipment meant you were conscious of how others perceived your playing, and perhaps you felt better about your playing too!  Today, I take more of a utilitarian approach.  If it sounds good, and it does what I need, that's good enough for me. Unless lost to disaster, the kit pictured below might be the last *real* kit I ever own. Maybe not, who knows. There will be more for sure however, these will follow me to the grave.
Why?
I made them!

CURRENT RIG

"TNT Kit One" or "Kit Moi"

TECO Theater 2011

Self-crafted way back in October 1998... No kidding; I spent an entire month sanding, staining, lacquering, sanding some more, polishing, drilling, and other hard labor until achieving exactly what I wanted -- a vintage-ish mahogany-finished thin-shelled maple thunker. Crushing kick, fast toms, gut-punch floors, and a snare that never failed to earn gunshot commentary.

Here's the rundown:

Keller Signature all-maple shells with 4-ply reinforcement rings.

• 8x8, 8x10, 8x12 mounted toms
• 14x14 and 16x16 floor toms
• Pearl Master's Series lugs and spurs
• RIMS mounting systems on all toms
• Pearl 5x14 Chad Smith Snare or 1984 Tama 6.5x14 Imperialstar Snare (my #1)
• Gibraltar stands, Gibraltar by Roc-n-Soc Throne
• Tama Iron Cobra Pedals
• Zildjian 20" K Custom Ride
• Zildjian 13" Master Sound Hi Hats
• Zildjian 14" Thin Crash
• Zildjian 17" K Custom Dark Thin Crash
• Zildjian 6" Vintage Paper Thin Splash
• Wuhan 12" Fast China
• Roland SPD-S Sample Pad (perished 2018)
  
• Humes and Berg Vulcanized Fiber Cases

The mics shown are Samson Q series, CO1 overheads, with AKG D112 and Shure SM57s added. The Samson's sound surprisingly good for small/med venue work (less worry, too). 

Circa 11.1998

The shells were hand sanded and then rubbed with a mahagony stain. Several coats of nitrocellulose lacquer were buffed down and the insides were hand rubbed with Vern Harker's signature bee's wax.  Voila! (Vern let me use quite a lot from his luthier's shop during the build, and I am forever grateful)

Circa 11.1998

Since I'm not held down to an endorsement deal (take that!), I get to choose exactly what I like. Right now, I'm using strictly Vic Firth Extreme 5A and 7A sticks, VF Brushes and Remo Emperor, Ambassador, and Diplomat heads.

If I could change anything, maybe the 12" tom could have used another inch of depth. I also dig an 18" floor, so the 14" was a trade-off at the time.
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PAST KITS

"The BPC"

April 2013 - The Bay Players Club Specials - the sacrificial workhorses.

Tama Silverstar kick and toms in Transparent Red Burst.  All birch shells.  8x10, 9x12, 14x14, 18x20.
The same Pearl Chad Smith snare as listed above, now with a cast hoop for that crack addiction of mine!

Remo Ambassador coated batter heads and Diplomat bottoms for toms and snare.  Remo Powerstroke3 for kick batter head, and a DrumArt custom-printed Aquarian Full Force front (resonant) head.  (Now removed since BPC disbanded)

Gibraltar 8600-Series flat-based cymbal and snare stands, and the new 8707 flat-based hi-hat stand.  Gibraltar adapters and stacker.  All for lightweight and portability.  Throne is same Gibraltar Roc-n-Soc as above.

Not pictured:  Roland SPD-S on Gibraltar 7000-Series elliptical stand and hoop-mounted Toca hi timable cowbell.

Zildjian and Wuhan cymbals same as listed with Kit One above.

Also not pictured:  Humes and Berg vulcanized fiber drum cases, Kaces cymbal bag, and a duffel bag for hardware and electronics. 

I get all of this on a ROCKnROLLER R6 cart in one trip!

Have to admit, I LOVED the birch. So much tone. The 9x12 tom was riquísimo too. Always loved Tama -- consistent, solid manufacturer. Birch should always remain an option.


The little Tama kit that could!

New Year's 2005 with Motel Funk at the Showman's Ball

2004 Tama Stagestar featuring 14x18 kick, 8x10 and 9x12 mounted toms, and a 12x14 floor tom.  Midnight Blue Metallic.  I used it with my 1984 Tama 14x6.5 Imperialstar Mastercraft Snare.  Lots 'o gigs all over the Tampa Bay area. Lugged them around for several years... without cases at that. So professional, right?  Best part... Sold them for about what I originally paid, which was about $250, thanks to AJ's Pro Percussion.  Man, I miss having them down the street. Nobody knew they were cheap when miked. A D112 would make a cardboard box sound great.

The regretables...
AHA!  

1999 AHA Custom Maple

This is a fabulous red sparkle Aaron Hughes Acoustics (AHA) bespoke all-maple kit from 1999.
20x20, 8x10, 9x12, 16x16 and a 10ply 14x5 snare with 6-ply reinforcement rings and cast hoops...all Keller Signature shells from Precision Drums.  Extremely "live" kit. The snare had the monster crack too.

I wish I could keep every set I owned. I killed me to sell these.  Forgive me Aaron!!
They were great show drums, and Mr. Hughes did an outstanding job. At least they found a new home with a true admirer from Anderson, South Carolina.

Custom-wrapped Tama

1995-1998: These are '80s era Tama Swingstars. It was my first recovering job. They cost all of $75 plus the addition of my 1984 Tama Imperialstar snare. They traveled all over the South, and I received more compliments on this kit than any other.  Nobody knew any better about the cost or quality, they just looked cool and sounded great.

Aquamarine wraps from Precision Drums.  I think the sizes were 8x10, 8x12, and 16x16 and 16x22. Photo circa 1998 with Die A Tribe, Athens, GA club unknown.

Cymbal curio: It was the only time I used a triple stacker...with 14" crash, 12" and 6" splashes.  It was a pain in the neck, but it looked cool.  I also briefly owned a 22" Rancan (LP) China...it um...had a large percentage of missing metal.  Nonetheless, I still used it on Die A Tribe's Albatross.

Ancient Kits with No Known Photos...

1987-1992:  Pearl MLX 9-piece Double Bass in Coral Red.  More cymbals than I remember
Featured twin 18x24" kicks, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18 toms and a Tama Cage.  Hey, it was the height of METAL! I learned quickly that mega-large kits were a mega-stupid thing without a roadie. Timeliness meant first to arrive and last to leave.. and the stages were always too small. Of course, the kit's sound was thunderous. For a short time, I used it with a 10x14 Pearl bell brass snare. Too loud! (even for me, and that's hard to do) Anyhoo, this was a ROCK kit and I was gravitating to music that demanded a tad more expressive versatility.

1984-1987:  Tama Royalstar 12-piece in stained burgundy-red satin.  Yep..nine Tama drums in budget Neil Peart double bass fashion with a set of 6,8,10 Roto toms.  This kit is famous for being played at over 100MPH in the back of a VW van (yes, that's possible with a seat removed and a loooong downhill).  All the heaviest hardware of the day -- you know the stands with massive black counter-weights? Yeah those -- and standard Zildjian A cymbals... before they were call "A" (Avedis) cymbals.  Traded for a 1980 Jeep CJ-5 Levi's Edition. (and a down payment on the Pearls above)
Oh... Funny part is, I never learned the first Rush song.

1982-1984: Slingerland  8-piece chrome concert tom kit.  This was a Phil Collins special - my first kit as mentioned in the Bio.  8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22, and 5x14 snare. I can't remember much about them, except that they later found a home in a high-school buddy's church after several hundred attempts to play Abacab correctly. My parent's co-signed a loan for them and the Zildjian standard cymbals. 14" hats (now New Beats), 22" medium ride, 18" med crash, 16" med. crash.