Normally large brands produce drums based on the protocol designed by their master craftsmen. These drums produce certain kind of sound based on the wood used to make their shell. Custom drums kits are those designed specifically to meet the customers need.
If the customer is clear what type of music they want to play, they order for custom drums and specify how to make them. This is very useful for master drummers as they can get a drum set which specifies their need completely.
Custom drum sets are not easy to make. Hence it is hard to find companies producing such kits for customers.
Some companies advertise they produce custom drums, but don’t give the customer much choice to choose from, except for the finishing color.
These are not custom drums. Companies like Pearl, Truth and SJC work along with the customer from choosing what type of wood to use in shell to the choice of hardware metal.
Pearl Custom Drum Kits
Pearl is the bet producer of custom drum kits. Unlike other companies they give full freedom to the customer to decide what type of drum they want.
The customer can determine who many plies to use in the shell, the thickness of the plies, the lugs and hoops to use, the wood to use, finishing style, hardware metal, drum head and a various other factors determining the quality of the drum. Hence most of the celebrities go with Pearl custom drums for their special concerts.
Truth Custom Drums
Truth was a company which builds custom drums for many years. While the major brands, produced a series of drums and switched to custom drum production later, Truth started by building custom drums and later switched on to produce signature series.
Right from the beginning people who wanted a combination of all the hybrid kits, came to Truth for building custom drums.
Truth satisfied its customer’s needs well and good and stayed a leader in the custom drums market for a long period.
Even today, considering the options they offer and the quality of the drums, Truth custom drums can be considered as the second best custom drums in the world next to Pearl custom drums.
SJC Custom Drums
SJC is a company producing unique custom drums on order. The company operates from a small workshop in Massachusetts.
They combine various parts like Trick strainer system, Remo drum heads, Ludwig snare drums and other parts to produce amazing custom drum kits.
They produce studio quality drum kits for nearly half their actual price and provide repair services also. They were one amongst the very few who produced custom drum kits in the 70’s.
With completion becoming high, SJC custom drums have lost a little popularity, but still remain a decent choice for those people who want affordable custom drums.
Gretsch is a popular drum brand. They produce drums delivering great sound and optimal performance by all means. The Gretsch drum kits work wonderfully by all means. They released a series of Catalina drums made up of various materials like wood and metal.
They have released exclusive signature series which are considered as precious by many collectors. Gretsch drum kits are classical drums and needs a lot of preparation before using them.
They have to be positioned properly and tuned well to perform well. Here are some instructions and tips to gain the maximum out of Gretsch drums.
Positioning Instructions for Gretsch Drums
There is no specific rule to position the drums sets. It is better to place a carpet on the ground and keep the drum kit on top of it as it gives more support to the drum hardware. Place a stool on the real end and adjust the drum, tom and cymbal height as per your comfort.
Next position the bass drum against the pedal. Connect the pedal to the rim of the Bass and tighten the nuts. Set up kickstands on either side. Adjust the hi-hat cymbal such that the pedal comes near the left foot.
Set up and lock the snare drums by adjusting the wing nuts. The snare drum should be between the bass drum and the hi-hat cymbal. This should come straight between your legs.
The floor top should be placed right to your right thigh. The other toms should be placed on top of the bass drum. Adjust the height of the cymbal such that it sits directly on the tom-toms.
Place the cymbal stand between right side tom and floor tom. Adjust the angle of cymbals for easy operation. This is the basic positioning method for any drum kit. It may vary slightly based on the number of drums used in the kit.
Usage Instructions
Tuning the drum beforehand is very important to make the drum sound as we like it. Tuning the snare drum is the most important part of all.
Using your drum key, tighten or loosen the lugs as necessary to achieve the required sound.
The famous thumb rule implies right equals tight and left equals lose. Usually snare drums are turned right to make it tight to achieve a good sound.
Tune all the lugs starting from top to bottom and then right to left. Play the drum and check if you get the desired effect. If not adjust it a little more.
The bass drums and all the three toms are also tuned in the same way. But based on the type of thud you want, you may have to loosen the lugs in the toms and bass drums in many cases. That is you have to turn the lugs from left to right.
Positions and tuning Gretsch drum sets are very simple and can be achieved naturally and easily through practice.
Sonor drums are extremely famous in Europe and other parts of the world. Their trademark logo has become a hallmark for best drums throughout the world. Sonor is a German based company, which came into the drum production business in early 1895.
The sounds of Sonor drums have been mesmerizing the world since then, proudly proclaiming the mastery of German quality. They are very expensive compared to the other drum kits sold in USA.
Availability and Cost of Sonor Drum Kits
Finding cheap Sonor drum kits is really hard. People who own a Sonor drum kit seldom try to sell or rent it. So chances of getting it second hand are pretty low.
New Sonor drum kits can be purchased from large music shops and musical instruments selling shops like memphisdrumshops.com. But their cost is sky high.
The availability of Sonor drum kits in USA is very limited. People prefer to use Pearl and Ludwig drums for Sonor drums here. Sonor drums are available easily in Europe. The lowest price of Sonor kits sold in classifieds pages in US also costs more than $1200.
Technicians to repair the Sonor drums kits are also rare to find. But even today there are a group of people who yearn for a good Sonor set. Here is a list of some places where Sonor drum kits can be purchased online.
drumsandcymbalsonline.com
shoppingspeed.com
sonormuseum.com
Drumsandcymbalsonline.Com
This is an online drum shop where you can find reliable quality Sonor sets. They sell quite a lot of Sonor drum accessories also through music123.com. Vintage Sonor drums are hard to find here.
But a handful of quality Sonor drums which can be found in the European market can be purchased here for a reasonable cost.
This is one of the few sites where you can buy Sonor drums online easily.
Shoppingspeed.Com
This website offers good quality Sonor drums for sale. It is usually hard to find Sonor drums in such sites. But these sites offer various types of Sonor drum kits for sale.
All of them range from $1000 to $2000. There are many other brands of drums for sale in this site.
Sonormuseum.com
Sonor museum is a site which gives complete details about Sonor drums right from the history of the company to latest a drum sets. Sonor museum gives a detailed price list of all the Sonor drums created year wise.
This site is like an encyclopedia for Sonor drum lovers. There are lot of information regarding the usage and availability of the Sonor drums.
Apart from these sites, Sonor drum sets can be found in eBay if you search carefully. But it is always better to buy them from an authorized retailer.
Buying a drum kit is itself an experience. Since they are quite costly, not all of them go ahead to buy a new drum set for the first time. Beginners usually try to buy a second hand set.
There are many advantages in getting a used drum set. It will already be tuned and be in working condition and will come for less cost.
Nearly all the brand drums are sold as second hand set in the market. DW drum kits are also available widely online for sale in many websites.
The best places to find such sets are online sites and music magazine classifieds section.
So many used DW drum kits are advertised here. Some of the famous online sites which has a dedicated classifieds for used drum sets are
http://www.musiciansbuyline.com/
http://www.used-drum-kits.com/dw-drum-kits/
http://www.musicinstrument.biz/drums.htm
These are the famous sites which list numerous used drum kits in their classifieds section.
Apart from them we can find lot of second hand DW drums sets in auction sites like eBay, Amazon and other auction sites.
eBay Auction Site
This is the best site to purchase used DW drum kits for a very low price. Though there are numerous other auction sites online, but none is so easy to use.
Though the fee we have to pay for eBay is more, it offers nearly any product in no time. The eBay search option is one of the best compared to other auction sites.
Apart from eBay there are some other famous auction sites which work exactly like eBay but do not have such a huge network.
But if you try to make use of the services of multiple auction sites, you will sure get a good bargain, sometimes even better than the eBay offers. You should have enough patience to browse through and find the necessary items.
Some of the famous auctions sites selling DW drum kits other than eBay are
powersellersunite.com – know about numerous sellers and buyers online. It is more like a forum than an auction site.
Etsy.com – best sites to find custom drums
Epier.com
Plunderhere.com
ebid.net – These three sites are similar to eBay in many ways. They are a great way to look for things which you cannot dream of looking in eBay.
DW drums kits, their accessories, and even small parts of various drums are sold here for low costs. If you are looking forward to create a custom drum with pieces from all popular brands, these sites will offer you just what you want.
Conclusion
Comparing all the sources where you can find secondhand DW drum kits, online classifieds pages are the best. You can get numerous models of DW drums there for unbelievable price if you are able to bargain well.
Kids love drums more than any other toys. They love to beat the drums in their own phase. They have lot of fun playing with drum compared to any other musical instrument. Kids just aged two also find operating a drum easier than any other instrument.
Many parents present their kids under the age of five with drum sets to impress them. There are some wonderful kids drum sets in the market which have all the features of a good rock concert drum.
Electrical drums are the best for kids as they can make full use of it even when they grow older.
Specialty of Kids Drums
Kid’s drums come in various colors and shapes. They have various cartoon figures imprinted in the shells to attract the children. They are designed in small size to provide maximum comfort for the child.
There are many presets in the drum which the child can play easily. Electrical drums are prepared with utmost care to serve as a good practice companion and produce good sound with minimum effort. Some of the best brands producing kid’s drums at an affordable cost are listed below.
Union Kids
This company produces affordable drums kits within $100 for kids aged 3 to 5. Their drum kits are very easy to use, made of light weight acrylic and produce loud sound.
The height of the drum set can be adjusted according to the necessity and the toms and snares are placed close enough for the kid to operate it easily.
Union Kids produce other types of expensive drums too, but it is the first brand which strikes the mind of any parent who wants to buy a non-expensive yet quality drum set for their kids.
Derosa
Derosa’s Bridge-craft series is designed specifically for kids under the age of 5. Unlike other kid’s drums, they resemble exact professional drums with birch shells and eminent tuning head options.
They come with a complete metal hardware set supporting the drum kit. The drums are available in Bright metallic colors at a price tag of $99. Derosa’s Bridge-craft series are a great hit among the kids and their parents.
Percussion Plus
Percussion Plus produces mini drum sets for children under the age of 6. The set consists of one Bass drum, snare drum, tom and a cymbal. This sit is very easy to use and comes in bright pink and red colors to attract girls too. T
hey are very easy to control with good adjusting options. They are usually priced below $100 and preferred by many parents whose children have small figure.
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Custom drum sets are not easy to make. Hence it is hard to find companies producing such kits for customers.
