QUICK LINK SECTION
|Drum Stool||Bass Drum||Bass Drum Pedal||Tom Holders||Memory Locks|
|Floor Tom||Snare Stand||Snare Drum||Hi-hat||Hi-Hat Clutch||Cymbal and Stand|
Stuck on how to set up your kit? This is the section of the site where we break down how to set up your first drum kit. Please note that many manufacturers do not all make the same kits so some instructions will need ammeding depending on the kit.
This is what you should be faced with when all the drums have been unpacked. Some kits will only come with 2 drums already headed.
This is what you will see when all t he hardware has been unpacked. Place the mouse over each item to see what it is.
The Drum Stool - This usually comes in 3 bits. Unfold the tripod legs and place the tube inside the other tube in the tripod. Then put the seat on top of the tube. The correct height for a drum stool is so that the top of the seat is in line with the middle of your knee.
This is what the completed seat will look like. These are often referred to as thrones or stools.
The Bass Drum - Take the longest tension rods along with the washers and claw hooks and lay them out. You will have 16 or 20 of everything depending on how many lugs your bass drum has. (A lug is the part on the drum which has the receiver for the tension rod.) Some kits come with T Handle tension rods. If this is the case you will also have 4 square headed tension rods.
Put a washer onto every bass drum tension rod.
 
Then put a claw hook onto every tension rod. The claw hooks are used to hold down the bass drum heads.
This is what the tension rods should look like once they are ready to go onto the bass drum.

Take the black head (usually the one with a big logo on the front) and put it on the front of the drum. 2 things to make sure:

1)The drum is the correct way up. The tom holder bass drum mount should be nearer the top than the bottom. This is a large adaptor on the bass drum with either 1 or 2 holes drilled through the drum for it to hold the tom holders.
2)The head is alligned with the top of the drum. The last thing you want to do is finish setting up your kit and then see that the front head is wonky!
Now take one of the bass drum hoops and lay that on top of the bass drum head. Most hoops have a flat side and a rounded side. If this is the case place the hoop flat side down. Some hoops do not have a flat side so any side will do.
Match up the join in the wrap on the hoop with the join in the wrap on the bass drum. Usually this is on the underside of the drum so you cannot see it.
This applies to both wrap and lacquer finished kits.
Now place the claw hooks and tension rods on top of the bass drum hoop over each lug. Finger tighten all tension rods untill you can go no further.
Take the drum key and give each tension rod a couple of turns.
The front of your bass drum should now look like this.
Then do exactly the same on the other side of the drum. This side normally has a clear drum head and is called the batter side head. Most clear heads have a very small logo at the bottom of the head. If it doesn't, just place the head in any position on the drum.
Please note: You may find that when your bass drum is assembled it has a very ringy sound. To dampen this down and achieve a punchy sound, put a pillow inside the drum before you put the batter side head on.
Once both heads have been assembled your bass drum should look like this.
Time for the spurs. These anchor the bass drum and without these it would move all over the place. These are located on either side of the bass drum about a third of the way up each side. Undo the wing screw on the side and rotate the spur down.
If the spurs are not touching the floor there is normally an adjustment near the rubber feet for further height. In this case there is an extendable rod inside the spur that comes out for extra length.
The rubber feet normally screw up and down to show a spike. If you find that your bass drum moves when you play, try screwing the feet up so you reveal the spikes. Not recommended for wooden floors!
The Bass Drum Pedal - Bring the posts to an upright position with the adjustable plate on the bottom facing forwards (The wing screw nearest you). Attach the spring assembly on the side. Sometimes getting the footboard and the uprights the right way round can be slightly tricky. All you need to do is rotate the footboard back over the horizontal bar.
Your pedal should now look like this. Place the beater into the hole on the top of the pedal and tighten.
Lift up the bass drum a couple of centimetres and slide the pedal onto the hoop, at the bottom of the bass drum. The adjustable plate should be on top of the hoop and the pedal should be under the hoop.
Sometimes kits come with a piece of rubber with a sticky back. If you have this with you kit put this into the groove in the hoop before you attach the pedal. This allows extra grip on the hoop by the pedal.
Now tighten the bass drum pedal onto the hoop. We tighten ours by an external clamping system which is usually found on more expensive pedals. Most starter pedals have a wing screw on the other side of the adjustable plate under the footboard.
The Tom Holder - This holder is a ball and socket type holder. This goes in the bracket on top of the bass drum and holds the 2 smallest tom toms. Not all drum kits come with this type. Other common types of tom holders are 2 tom arms. These come in pairs and hold one tom each.
The bass drum is now fully set up.
Place the smallest tom on the left hand side and the middle tom on the right hand side. Position the toms at a place that feels comfortable for you. Adjustment can be done from the main holder post that goes into the bass drum and using the tom holder itself.
From the front it should look like this. Usually the smallest tom is the same height as the middle tom or slightly higher.
Memory locks - These are included with most drum kits. Once your toms are at the right height for you move the memory locks under each tom and tighten them up with the drum key. These prevent the drum from slipping and allow you to set the kit up exactly the same time after time.
The next memory lock to do is the one on the main tom holder post. There will be a groove in the top of the bass drum tom mount that the memory lock will fit in.
Once the groove is located tighten the memory lock. This one is important to do as this prevents the main holder from slipping.
The Floor Tom - These are the bits you will need to complete your floor tom: 2 heads, 2 hoops , tension rods (shortest ones) and 3 floor tom legs.

 Take the batter head (the one you hit!) and place it on top of the drum. Make sure the 3 floor tom leg brackets are on the end of the drum next to the floor.

 
Take one of the metal hoops (counter hoop) and place it on top of the head. Then take the tension rods, put them through the holes in the hoop and into the corresponding receivers in the lugs. Then finger tighten each tension rod until it can turn no more.
Now take the drum key and tighten each tension rod 1 complete turn. Work round the drum in opposites like a clock face eg 12-6, 3-9 etc. Then tap the head about 1 inch in from each tension rod with the drum key to see what it sounds like. The aim here is to get everywhere sounding the same. If there are areas that sound different, play around with that tension rod untill the area sounds the same as the others. This is called tuning. Keep doing this until you are satisfied every area sounds the same.
Flip the drum over and do exactly the same on the other side of the drum. Tune this head to the same pitch (sound)as the batter (top) side.
When this is done flip the drum over again and hit the head with a drum stick. If the drum sounds loose and 'flappy' tighten the heads just as you did before. If the drum sounds tight and under too much tension, loosen off the heads, the same way you tightened them but working backwards

Your drum should now look like this.
Make sure the floor tom leg brackets are nearest the top of the drum and take one of the floor tom legs, put it into the bracket and tighten the wing screw. The amount of leg you put in is not important as we will adjust the height of the drum later. Repeat this for the other 2 legs.
Flip the drum over so it is standing on its legs and add it to your kit.

It should now look something like this.
The Snare Drum Stand - This comes in 2 parts. Undo the wingscrew on the base section (left side in picture) and fold out the tripod legs, then fasten the wingscrew. Slide the top section into the base. and unfold the 3 arms.
This is what your snare drum stand will look like.
The Snare Drum - Now take the snare drum and turn it over so that the wire strands are facing upwards. Take the drum key and tighten all the tension rods so the head does not have much give in it. Now flip the drum over and work round the drum in opposites like a clock face eg 12-6, 3-9 etc tightening the head. Your drum should now give a crisp sound when struck. The tighter the wires on the bottom are, the crisper the drum will sound. To tighten the wire push the lever on the side of the drum off and tighten the adjusting nut.
Now take the snare drum and put it on top of the stand. The 3 rubber clamps should grip the drum. Now tighten the wing screw on the underside of the cradle. Your snare drum will now be completely setup.
Add your snare drum to the kit just in front of the smallest tom and to the left of the bass drum pedal. Now sit on the stool and lay the stick on top of the snare drum pointing towards you. It should come up to your belt height. If it is too low or too high adjust the height on the stand. Now get the floor tom at the same height as the snare drum. The top head of the floor tom should be level with the top head of the snare drum. You adjust the floor toms height by moving the legs up and down in their brackets. Some people tilt the floor tom in slightly so there is an angled playing surface like on the other 2 toms.
The Hi-Hat - You will need these items to complete setup of you hi-hat and stand: 2 matching hi-hat cymbals, hi-hat stand base, 1 thin rod with a thread at one end, 1 tube with a plastic cup on the end and 1 hi-hat clutch. The clutch is about 2 inches long with a wing srew in one side and usually has 2 nuts, 2 black washers and a larger nut on the main part of it.
Take the base section and unfold the tripod legs. Then pinch the 2 metal rods under the footplate together and put the ends into the holes on either side of the stand (under the footplate.)
Take the thin rod with a thread at one end and screw this into the threaded receiver in the top of the base of the stand. Then take the tube and put that over the rod and slide it into the base until the memory lock touches the base. If you do not have a memory lock just slide the tube in about half way then tighten the wing screw.
The Hi-Hat Clutch - Take the bottom nut off and ONLY the first washer. You will be left with the 2 nuts together at the top and one washer. The washers will either be felt or rubber like the one in the picture.
Take on of the hi-hat cymbals (the lighter one if they are different weights) and put the clutch through the hole in the middle. Make sure the cymbal is bell side up.
Flip the cymbal over and place the rubber/felt washer back onto the clutch then put the nut back on and tighten. This nut should be done up as tight as it will go.
Take the other hi-hat cymbal and turn it bell down and put it onto the stand. This will just rest on the felt on top of the plastic cap on the tube. Then take the hi-hat cymbal with the clutch and put that onto the rod. Move it all the way down until it is about 1/2 and inch above the bottom cymbal and tighten.
Your stand should now look like this.
Take the hi-hat stand and place it with the rest of your kit.
The Cymbal Stand and Cymbal - Take the base section and unfold the legs then tighten. Now take the middle tube section and place this into the base section. Lastly, take the top section and place that into the middle section. Your stand should now be fully set up.
Unscrew the wingnut from the top of the stand and take off only the top felt. Place the cymbal over the thread on top of the bottom felt. Put the felt you took off on top of the cymbal and replace the wing screw. This should not be done up as tight as possible as it can cause cymbals too much stress and they can crack. Tighten the wing screw up just enough so that the cymbal can move up and down freely when moved with your hand.
Put the cymbal and its stand to the right of the drum kit just over the floor tom. Everything on the kit should feel comfortable to play. If anything does not feel right adjust it to a position that feels right for you. Your drum kit is now fully setup. Happy Drumming!