[killabyte]

Hey peoples, today I let a friend of mine who's been playing for longer than I have play on my drumset and once he was finished he dented up my tom heads and my china splash. albeit they weren't great heads or a great china splash they were dented
i've had two other drummers play on my drums but they didn't dent my drums... Am I not playing hard enough??? or is there something else...

[butter]

if he dented your heads he is either hitting too hard or you need to change the tightness of your heads. heads do dent in time, but it shouldnt take one session to tear them up. you should tune your heads between tight and loose. if you dont know much about tuning then look at this site:
Drum Tuning Bible

also, (i doubt this is the case, because if it was you would already know it was the cause, but anyway...) if you are playing with nylon sticks especially, sometimes the tips will fall off and you dont realize it. if you keep playing it will mess your heads up pretty bad. i have had it happen to me only once. the experience was enough to make me quit using nylons, but i have still dented heads with old sticks. replace your wood tipped sticks when they are used and the tip is chipped away. its sort of obvious, but a chipped tip will dent a head almost as easy as a tipless nylon.

all in all, he shouldnt have dented your heads if they are tuned correctly and the sticks he used are in good shape.

as for the china...
you have it mounted bow up, right?
splash cymbals are pretty thin, so its not completely odd that he dented it. ive never heard of a cymbal being dented from a hit, though. ive heard of warping and cracking, but denting... nope.
if you have the cymbal mounted upside down, it is going to get messed up, but you probably have it mounted fine, i dunno.

he shouldnt have messed up your cymbal the way he did, but it isnt all that surprising at the same time.

sorry for your bad luck. what kind of heads were you using? what kind of cymbal? (brand, size, alloy, etc.) also, what size stick and tip shape?

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

I'm no expert, but first of all, if someone is playing your drums, they should notice if they are denting anything, and they should stop playing and show you and talk to you about it.

Second, in my opinion, if this person is denting your china splash, he is a heavy hitter, and chances are he has dented cymbals before. He is not respecting your equipment.

Third, again, I'm no expert, but I think toms are easier to dent than cymbals. Unless your tom heads were quite loose, though, I don't think they're that easy to dent. You've had other guys play your toms before without denting, so I think we're back looking at a heavy hitter here.

Just because he's played longer than you doesn't mean he's doing it right. In my opinion, he's certainly not respecting your drums. Are you sure he's a "friend?" Did he play your drums or beat the crap out of them?

Better get some other opinions, though -- I'm not the best on this.

[Infero Exicution]

It sounds like he's a heavy hitter.
What kind of china splash are you using?
Sabian B8pro china splashes are known not to be for every heavy hitter.
Like butter said, if the toms are getting dented, they might be too loose.
Or, usually if I hit a certain place on my toms too much, the can get dented.
So it may be from over usage too.

	Sabian Cymbals Shop for Sabian Cymbals at Musician's Friend

[Tainojim]

killabyte, he who breaks things is responsible and needs to replace it.

In my 50 years of drumming, I always had respect for the other drummers equipment.

My kit is at a studio right now and I always screen the drummers before I let them even touch my kit.

If he replaces what he broke, then you can truly call him a friend. If not you then need to be compensated for your equipment.

When I ever had to played other people's stuff and broke it, I always replaced or repaired their stuff. I also has to teach my sons the same respect and responsibilities for other people no matter what.

As a drumming coach, I also preach the same principles to my students.

Bottom line: If you owned a car and you knew that your friend was nuts on the road, would you lend him your car only to find him dead later?

[dtxtremeiiispecial]

Thanks for saying it, Jim. I didn't really know if I was experienced enough in this area to do so.

[Alison]

Do you judge a drummer by their drumming or by his/her ability to damage a drum-kit? \ö/ ♪♫♪ ☺

[lucius borich jr]

What i would do is make ur friend by new heads and cymbals he dented and yell at him good, LOL, nah don't do that maybe your heads aren't tight enough. or maybe ur friend just wanted to dent ur drumkit cuz he hates u. LOL im kiding maybe try tightening them.

[Paulo]

I had a friend like this in High School, he was always secretly (or not so) competitive with me and thought that hitting harder meant better skill. One day he ripped my fairly new floor tom power dot. However, he did, somewhat reluctantly, give me the money to replace it.

Anywhoo, it's just the gentlemen thing to do, really. Whether or not it was new when one used it, they should assume liability for anything that goes wrong. The fact that he wrecked more than one item and didn't stop really shows his capabilities for the 'tool hall of fame'

Welcome to your first lesson in preserving your gear. As you get more exposure to musicians, you will start to learn which ones will respect your stuff and which ones probably won't. As hard as it is, sometimes you gotta say no.

[lucius borich jr]

Paulos right, (although i really like the idea of yelling at your friend, LOL) your friend is liable to whatever he breaks or dents or whatever. so make him pay to get it fixed or get them to buy what is totalled. If you dont do that give him a good hit over the head with your dented cymbals. LOL