Kit Upgrades

At some point in my very recent venture in to drumming, the old sickness overtook me : gear lust ! This affliction also known colloquially among guitarists as GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) is something that I know is never worth fighting. So I don't :-)

What it means is that I have upgraded a few things on the kit already. First up was a set of Sabian Hand Hammered Fusion hi-hats. The 'Rock' hats I had were great quality but VERY LOUD and far from subtle things, so I turned them around on eBay for roughly the price I paid and set about finding replacements. These came from Canada (via eBay) and are much more my cup of Decaff Yorkshire Tea


I was still without a crash cymbal, and we were using one (occasionally) in my lessons so that was next - it turned out that the friend who had been offering advice throughout my buying was selling some of his cymbals (having become a Paiste endorsee he has whatever he likes now!) and I chose a nice Zildjian A Custom 17" Fast Crash. It sounds wonderful - quick to react, quick to die away, and with a lovely low complex sound.

Now this was all very well, but what I quickly learned is that cymbals are interactive things - by that I mean that they need to complement each other tonally, and if they don't it really stands out. My crash and hi-hats were no longer in the same tonal-ballpark as my ride which was bright, quite loud, wonderfully articulate but sounding out of place among the low-pitched new arrivals. So to eBay - and this time the USA - where there was a well-used but ultimately very reasonably priced Sabian Hand Hammered Medium Ride. I love it.

The last upgrade was a very fickle one : my hi-hat pedal is a lovely Tama Iron Cobra. Obviously it would be 'best' if I had a matching bass drum pedal. Wouldn't it ? Hmm - why am I asking you I'd already decided . . . ;-) And look - all nicely matching now !

I should point out (particularly in case Mrs DrummingDad happens along to this corner of the internet . . . hello dear :-) ) that all of the things that these new items replace were sold on for at least what I bought them for: that's one of the great things about buying used gear - you're never too much out of pocket and sometimes even a few quid up. What was that dear ? Am I up or down ? Well, I, err, it's a little complicated . . .would you like a nice cup of tea and a sit down ? . . . ooh look a seagull. points. runs.