Introducing myself,... not as easy as it seems.

ericpd · #1 (**permalink**) 01-06-2007, 03:56 PM

51 yr old Baltimore Dad here. I studied music growing up and enjoyed my years playing in jazz niteclubs in my youth. Trained my two olders boys at home. Many weekends play classical clarinet duets and some woodwind/piano duets. Both are now music majors,... one college and the other in his last year of high school. The oldest is now an accomplished saxophanist, and the high schooler is well on his way at mastering the guitar. Now the younger set are showing a committment to the art,.. like their older brothers. Here we go again, back at the piano and the stick with these two. I bought a starter drum kit for one this Xmas fulfilling my end of a deal that if he studied the instrument in school IN ADDITION to his continued studies on the piano I would get him one. He did his part, so I did mine. I sat down at these things the morning of the 25th and haven't gotten up yet! Had no idea how difficult it was for someone untrained to get one limb to do something while asking the other three limbs to do something else,... three other separate things. ALL AT THE SAME TIME! A new level of respect for this instrument. I LIKE IT!! So much so, I'm thinking of immediately upgrading his set. The mistake I now know I made was just getting a set in here for him,... spent very little time thinking about quality and sound. Since I purchased the set the beginning of Nov, my 30 day return window has vanished. So,.. I'll be cruising through here on a daily basis for a while trying to learn as much as I can. My immediate purpose is to determine whether to buy another set, if so, which one,... if not what changes to this set should I be making.

Oh,... and I will be learning myself,... right along side my boy! Maybe we won't be spending so much time on clarinet duets. LOL!

Well that's my introduction. Please don't be so harsh on me for asking the obvious!

**skinslapper** · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 07:26 AM

Hey man. Nice to meet you. I wish my dad had've been as encouraging.

Don't fret to ask about anything. Everyone's pretty friendly 'round here, and if they're not, I'll kick their teeth in!! Verbally of course.

Ciao!

ericpd · #3 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skinslapper

Hey man. Nice to meet you. I wish my dad had've been as encouraging.

Don't fret to ask about anything. Everyone's pretty friendly 'round here, and if they're not, I'll kick their teeth in!! Verbally of course.

Ciao!

Thanks skinslapper... the welcome is much appreciated. Right now, I'm consumed with a decision to either up-grade this set I got in here, or to just go out and purchase one more suited to where my son is and where we will more than likely end up in the next year or so! I just wish I knew a little more about this instrument and had a this level of respect for it when I did the initial purchase. I just wanted to get a standard size set into the house for a little money as possible.

So again,... my head scratcher is whether or not this set is worthy of up-grades. Or will the cost of these up-grades make a new purchase a better choice?

Here are some pics. Maybe after seeing the results of my poorly planned purchase, I can get some pointers from folks who know what they're talking about. I understand now that that sure ain't me!

HPIM0005.jpg

HPIM0048.jpg

HPIM0267.jpg

ericpd · #4 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 03:57 PM

Uhmmm,... for some reason these last three didn't show up. Anyway, just click on them and a larger version of the pic will pop up,... I think! At least that's what my son says!

If you guys see anything in these pics that deserves advice, please lay it on us! Thanks!

HPIM0270.jpg

HPIM0271.jpg

HPIM0272.jpg

ericpd · #5 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 04:00 PM

Oh one more thing. The kid seated at the wheel is my youngest,... not the one the set was purchased for. He's just a ham, and has a way of showing up whenever a camera is involved! LOL!

**skinslapper** · #6 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 08:16 PM

It seems you still have the skins that came with the kit on there. That may be your biggest issue. To me, the kit seems perfectly suitable for a begginer, but I would srongly suggest getting some new skins (batter heads) on your toms. Perhaps some remo pinstripes (lots of thud, easy to tune) and a remo powerstroke three on the snare. I actually play evans skins myself, but I used to use these skins and found them easy to tune.

Perhaps you may want a friend to tune them for tune for you.

Here's a link to a website that I constantly blab on about. It tells you just about everything you need to know about the science of drums.

http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/index.html

Good luck.

ericpd · #7 (**permalink**) 01-07-2007, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skinslapper

It seems you still have the skins that came with the kit on there. That may be your biggest issue. To me, the kit seems perfectly suitable for a begginer, but I would srongly suggest getting some new skins (batter heads) on your toms. Perhaps some remo pinstripes (lots of thud, easy to tune) and a remo powerstroke three on the snare. I actually play evans skins myself, but I used to use these skins and found them easy to tune.

Perhaps you may want a friend to tune them for tune for you.

Here's a link to a website that I constantly blab on about. It tells you just about everything you need to know about the science of drums.

http://home.earthlink.net/~prof.sound/index.html

Good luck.

Yeah,.. the heads are what came out of the box. I just read in another thred in here where someone mentioned the exact same thing. That investing in a new set of drum heads, or skins, will make an OK set sound good, a good set sound great, and a great set sound just about the same! LOL! Trust in this, i will be buying a set tomorrow on the way home from work. I'll look and ask about the brands you mentioned. Thanks for pointing me in a direction.

The Music Director at our church gave my son a cymbal and a stand,... now I guess I'll add to it with some new drum heads. Between the two, he should be on his way.

BTW,... Should I be replacing the heads on both the top AND bottom? Or just the top where all the hitting happens. And one more thing, my son is saying that the set will sound better with no bottom skins on it. Is this true? Or is he just wanting to show-off? Now I gotta admit, I've played with a few drummers in my time whose sets had open bottoms, but I never knew why!

**skinslapper** · #8 (**permalink**) 01-08-2007, 05:24 PM

You shouldn't need to replace the underside (resonant head) yet the ones you've got should be sufficient for now, but I wouldn't take them off. The link I gave you explains why in more detail, but it basically leaves you with very little tone and just sounds like your beating plastic buckets. Some people go for it because it makes it easier to tune. I think it's worth learning how to do it properly, and I personally think the reso's look better.

You may want to consider cutting a 6 inch hole somewhere in the reso head for your bass drum. This can help get that deep thud out of it. Again, this is covered in more detail on the link.

Make sure you know what size skins you'll need before you get to the shop. If you've got a standard rock kit, it should be 12", 13" and 16" toms, 22" bassdrum (although it could be 20") and 14" for the snare.