Inspiraion strikes again

I'm going to put together a drumming booklet based on my Adobe illustrator notation over the last few years - A Tribute to Bob Nutt, the drummer who taught me how to play. This will include basic Rudiment exercises: single, double and paradiddle then the most important beats a drummer should know - shuffle; rock; funk; dance; swing; reggae - which I learnt during six months of lessons. It will only be about four pages long, but when I first started it was everything I needed to get me going and study for myself.

Inventory

That's it, its done. Fourteen drums all gone to (hopefully) a good home. That leaves me with eight Premier concert toms; Ludwig maple snare; Pearl maple piccolo snare; Rhythm Traveler kit; Traps bass and snare; four vintage Black Shadow toms; Rhythmtec Laptop; set of Paiste 2002 cymbals; Tama hardware; Premier hardware. So still quite a lot of stuff but no where near as much as before. Manageable, put it that way.
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Demonology CD Order

After a busy week of gigs, trips to a printers in London, looking after my girlfriend after a minor op and sorting out some drums to give to charity, I've finally put in an order with CD Mule for 80 Blues Demons: Demonology cds. Phew!

Ride set up

I've always positioned my crash/ride on my right and have tended to prefer having only one mounted tom so I can position it as close as possible. Since incorporating a crash/ride back into my stripped-down kit, I've opted for setting up the cymbal over the hi-hat, which has proved very comfortable to play. Continuing this direction, should I wish to expand my Rhythm Traveler by adding toms, I could use all of them - ten, twelve and fourteen - with my sixteen inch crash on my right. This set up would be comfortable for a lefty, but also, it seems, for me.

Rather than sell my drums for a little money, I'm considering an alternative - donating them to education. There are a number of projects around the local area asking for musical instruments that I can contact. All I have to do is get the drums ship-shape and playable.
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Long Term

As well as an eighteen inch Paiste 2002 medium cymbal, the most pressing piece of 'gig equipment' I need is a Sat Nav. A Paiste 502 medium has proved an excellent all-round cymbal and a higher spec model (the classic 2002) would be even better. Having used Mick Ridgway's Sat Nav, I'm sold. I may even be able to borrow one in the short term... which would save some dosh. So there's no rush on either item, but definately long term stuff.
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18" Paiste 2002 Medium

Having used an eighteen inch Paiste 502 crash-ride for the last few gigs, I want to get the 2002 version... I'm considering trading in some drums to do it.

In an attempt...

...to get the sound of my Traps snare drum to match my Rhythm Traveler snare, I've changed the coated Emperor for a coated Ambassador. This, on the surface of it, seems to have done the trick. Tonight I'll road test the drum at the Merchants Inn, Rugby.

Stick to what you're used to...

No surprise that after playing a couple of gigs using the fourteen inch Pearl Export, I found myself yearning for my thirteen inch Rhythm Traveler snare. Meh. Typical. The less expensive drum sounds great in every department - snare sound; rimshot; cross-stick; snares-off... and at a reduced tuning. To get the equivalent from the Export requires a higher tuning which makes the snares-off sound suffer. So the Rhythm Traveler wins again.

AA&SS

As you can probably tell, I've been thinking a lot about the drums I own and about consolidating my collection, selling off the surplus and concentrating on the important stuff. How important is a vintage red Premier Elite kit with lots of toms but a larger bass drum than I like and a metal snare drum with blistered chrome compared to modern limited edition Pearl drums with a lovely wooden snare drum but no bass drum? And if I could get a bass drum for the Pearl set, it would be 20" x 16", two inches deeper than I would normally prefer... Or do I concentrate on looking for a complete set of vintage drums - 12 tom / 14 floor tom / 20 bass drum in classic sizes with a wooden snare drum and sell the rest? Actually, it all comes down to Availability, Affordability and Storage Space!

Still prefer a 20" drum...

When I fitted the 22" drum head I won off Ebay I was impressed. It was advertised as equivalent to a Powerstroke 3 at a much reduced price which was very accurate - the sound was very good indeed. My Premier Elite drum is now gig worthy.