[Mapex Rick]

Ok veterans, need your feedback.
I have been playing in weekend bands for over 30 years. I took about 10 years off and now I am going thru a mid life crisis or just deciding to get back out and have fun again.
Here is my question...we all have the so called "memory locks" on our stands. That works if you are not reducing the size of your stands when inserting into your trap case. I really do not want to take the stands completely apart, but in order to speed up and maintain consistancy with my set up, I am searching for ideas on how you may mark / label / etc. your stands to help you remember the precise height, angle to your stands? I have thought about using a sharpie, but I do not like the idea of having sharpie marks on the chrome stands. I have resorted to placing small marks on my drum rug in placing the stands in the precise location they were in my rehersal hall which helps in placement.
Share your methods.
Thanks in advance all.

[Church Drummer]

If you want something less permenant than a sharpie, have you considered nail polish, can easily be removed with the nail polish remover.

[mouse]

Nail polish , i have enough trouble explaining the jar of vaseline in my tool kit

I use a sharpie pen using a fine line to match up angles on the cymbal arm tilters, it is easy to remove from chrome. Also have used car pin stripe tape as well.
The cymbal arms i have memory locks fitted in the same places (comfort zone)so that they can be fitted to either left or right stands with out any adjustment. The floor tom legs and tom mounts i have used a piece of soft clear plastic tube which simply slides along the bar with a good push. No reason why this can't be done with larger dia cymbal arms, tom mounts etc, just need larger dia plastic tubing.
The lower legged part of the stands that unfold are memoried with a piece of gaffa. Bass drum spurs have a stop pin in them which is a standard feature of my Tama kit.

Throne, snare height, hi hat and toms adjustments are permantly locked in place, i don't alter these settings as i have them just right.

The only thing that alters really is the cymbal angles as the gig dictates. I often change cymbals and sizes, why i use the sharpie for those.

Pack up is simply taking off the cymbal arms, and the rest of the stand goes complete into the stand/trap case complete with any add on attachments.

	Tama Drums Shop for Tama Drums at Musician's Friend

[shazaam]

tape for the rug for placement of everything and just a fine tip sharpie. I'd probably use a normal sharpie and mark it so the mark isn't shown/inside the tubing of the stand when at the right height. Honestly though, for me I haven't really cared to much if stuff is out of place, I just get it set to the way I feel at the time lol, if I feel like sitting higher up I raise and tilt everything accordingly, if I wanna be lower then I do the opposite.

[skinslapper]

I've got the rack going around my kit. all the joints are flexible but it's not hard to get them in the right spot after that no probs. Try not to stress too much about exact placement. As time goes you'll probably notice that small variations are not an issue and can sometimes give you insight into different configurations.

Good Luck.

[guss]

Originally Posted by Church Drummer

If you want something less permenant than a sharpie, have you considered nail polish, can easily be removed with the nail polish remover.

DONT READ THIS...An odd story...(I'm trying to drop a math class, because of the teacher) so today I had an extra lunch,(I sat out in the hall with 3 then 4 of my friends) some how our conversation went from influencing people not to smoke, Cars, Driving, Hearing someone sing music in a satanic voice(SING NOT SCREAM) to a friend being scared(at least that is what i thought at first)I dont know how this conversation started but...My friends younge sister had friends over,IDK what happened but somehow he got his nails got painted.

P.S.TRY PINK NAIL POLLISH.

[givemethebeat]

At the risk of repeating things for those who are so over my repeating things, quality gear removes all of the problems you talk about. In all of the years I have played this has never been a problem. A modern approach is a rack system.

if you need to pull down everything and fit it into a small traps case maybe a larger traps case would solve the problem very cheaply. Sharpie marks will cause pain and rust...

[guss]

Originally Posted by givemethebeat

At the risk of repeating things for those who are so over my repeating things, quality gear removes all of the problems you talk about. In all of the years I have played this has never been a problem. A modern approach is a rack system.

if you need to pull down everything and fit it into a small traps case maybe a larger traps case would solve the problem very cheaply. Sharpie marks will cause pain and rust...

Was i repeeting? Was i repeeting?

[mouse]

I find a rack takes up more room than the two quality stands and add on arms, when broken down, obviously pros and cons for both set ups. I can place toms anywhere mounted to stands via add on clamps which take up minimal space.
Sorry, can't see how a pen mark will cause rust on chrome?
With memory locks fitted to cymbal arms, i would find that a pain if you had to do a change around due to stage space or whatever. Hence the reason i mark these, the only things i lock for good are ones that never change, such as throne height.

[guss]

Definitly it dose help the roady, (seting up stinks when you try to guess and the drummer yells at your ideas), also... Racks arnt portable I cant remember which Death metal/ Hardcore band(bloodcore?) It was not relly portable, and hard to manuver.