The Cranky Drummer

In  spite  of having been so rapturously in love with drums since the age of eight, compared with many drummers who have reached my (much more advanced) current age I've actually owned relatively little drum equipment throughout my life. This post is Part 6 in a multi-part rundown of it all. (Here are links to P arts   1 ,   2 , 3 ,  4 and  5 .) Ludwig Legacy Maple series (white-marine pearl wrap) Configuration: Two bass drums, two small toms, two floor toms, snare drum •  Two 22” x 14” bass drums, 12” x 8” and 13" x 9" small toms, 14" x 14" and 16" x 14" floor toms, 14” x 5”  brass-on-brass Black Beauty snare drum, 14" x 5" Rogers Dyna-Sonic snare drum •  Ludwig hardware and stands; Tama throne; DW9000 pedals; Gibraltar legless hi-hat • A ll-Zildjian cymbal setup In 2002 I had finally put together a home studio (Yard Dog 1) and my Ludwig Classic drums were so big and aggressive sounding that they proved to be less than ideal for u...

In spite of having been so rapturously in love with drums since the age of eight, compared with many drummers who have reached my (much more advanced) current age I've actually owned relatively little drum equipment throughout my life. This post is Part 5 in a multi-part  rundown  of it all. (Here are links to P arts   1 ,   2 ,  3   and   4 . ) Bigger Drums: Ludwig Classic series (Sable Black urethane finish) Configuration: Two bass drums, two small toms, two floor toms, snare drum • Two 26” x 16” bass drums, 13” x 9” and 14” x 10” small toms, 16” x 16” and 18” x 16” floor toms, 14” x 7” Valley Drum Shop custom snare drum (custom painted) • Pearl hardware and stands; DW5000 bass-drum pedals • Cymbal setup continually evolving but always exclusively Zildjian When I began playing live gigs in bands with Greg Segal — first in  Cold Sky and then in  Dog Neutral (best band name EVER!) —  I began to have a similar problem with my new Gr...

In spite of having been so rapturously in love with drums since the age of eight, compared with many drummers who have reached my (much more advanced) current age I've actually owned relatively little drum equipment throughout my life. This post is Part 4 in a multi-part rundown of it all. ( Here are links to P arts   1 ,   2   and   3 . ) "Starting-from-scratch" drumset: Gretsch USA (red rosewood lacquer finish) Configuration: Two bass drums, two small toms, two floor toms, snare drum •  Two 22” x 14” bass drums, 12” x 8” and 13" x 9" small toms, 16" x 16" and 18" x 16" floor toms, 14” x 5½” snare drum • Pearl tom holders, snare stand & spurs; Yamaha cymbal stands; Rogers bass-drum pedals • Nine brand-new A- and K-Zildjian cymbals After I sold my Vistalite drumset in 1982 and moved into a condo with my wife, things were good for the first couple of years, but then we began having marital issues. We saw a couple’s counselor and after w...

In spite of having been so rapturously in love with drums since the age of eight, compared with many drummers who have reached my (much more advanced) current age I've actually owned relatively little drum equipment throughout my life. This post is Part 3 in a multi-part rundown of it all.  (Here are links to P arts   1   and   2 .) Third Drumset: Ludwig Vistalite Drums (clear Plexiglas shells); Fibes SFT690 Snare Drum (fiberglass shell) Note: This drumset was not in my preferred 2 bass drums/2 small toms/2 floor toms/snare drum configuration. At the time I bought it I was influenced by the configuration of the custom-made stainless-steel drumset that Carl Palmer began using with Emerson, Lake and Palmer in 1973. Configuration: 2 bass drums, small tom, floor tom, 6 single-head tom-toms, snare drum • Two 24” x 14” bass drums, 6” x 5½", 8” x 6", 10” x 6½", 12” x 8", 13” x 9", 14” x 10" single-head tom-toms, 15” x 12” double-headed small tom, 20” x 18...

In spite of having been so rapturously in love with drums since the age of eight, compared with many drummers who have reached my (much more advanced) current age I've actually owned relatively little drum equipment throughout my life. This post is Part 2 in a multi-part rundown of it all.  (Here is a link to   Part 1 .) “Expand-O-Kent” drumset (1969 – 1973): Combination of E.W.Kent and Ludwig drums Added in 1969: • E.W.Kent 22" x 14" bass drum (black-diamond pearl wrap) • 20" A Zildjian Medium Ride cymbal; 14" A Zildjian Hi-Hat cymbals New drumset configuration: Two bass drums, small tom, floor tom, snare drum I spent 1968 going to high school, practicing drums, attending rock concerts and becoming a desciple  of CREAM's drummer, Ginger Baker. When my friend Mark and I saw CREAM play live for the first time in March of 1968 I remember Baker's drumset configuration of  two bass drums, two small toms, two floor toms and a snare drum  impacting me almos...