How to Buy a Drum Set

Choosing your drum kit is more than selecting the coolest looking drums out of a musician's catalog. How the drum is built will define majority of your overall tone. I will show you how to decide what drum set will satisfy your musical instrument needs.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Funding

1. Identify the wood of the drum:
   
   
   MAPLE: has been the standard wood for decades for it's overall balance of lows, mids, and highs. Maple drums tend to resonate well giving that 'warm' tone many musicians gravitate towards.
   
   BIRCH: is a hard, dense wood - more so than Maple. Birch has more attack and volume than Maple, less low end and more high end. Birch is found in many recording studios - the higher attack level makes for an easily mixed recording session.
   
   MAHOGANY (USA, African): is a deep sounding wood. More lows and less highs than Maple create a very Warm tone. Mahogany drum kits were more popular in the 60s and 70s and are thus referred to as having a vintage tone.
   
   MAHOGANY (Philippine): is a cheaper alternative to Real Mahogany. Actually it's more of a Luan wood - and sounds as porous as its natural build. The name Mahogany, to me, is misleading.
   
   WALNUT: is found on newer snare drums and a small number of drum kits. It's said to have a deep tone with rich sounding characteristics. That is, a low tone that doesn't sound muffled - or - complex lower tones.
   
   OAK: produces a full sound with a boost in the higher attack range. Oak can cut through a mix without a loss to the mids or lows.
   
   BASSWOOD and LUAN: woods are a cheaper alternative to the woods listed above. Basswood does an alright job of emulating Maple, however the warmth, resonance, and tone will be stressed more so on the drum head. These drums are better suited for the beginner, the untrained ear, the budget minded, and the prop seeking.
2. Identify the drum Sizing/Build:
   
   
   The DIAMETER: of the drum will mostly determine what notes can be achieved by tuning. Simply, a larger diameter can more easily produce a lower note. Drum companies such as DW actually stamp the fundamental timbre of the drum inside each shell. For example: a 14" shell will be stamped with "C" on the inside - meaning if you strike the actual shell (without heads) you will hear a tone, a 'C' note.
   
   The DEPTH: of the shell will determine the drums volume and playability. Deeper shells have more volume and less stick rebound. These are known as power toms: 13 diameter x 12 deep. *My 14x13 tom can sometimes feel like hitting a pillow due to its larger depth.
   The more shallow shells will give you more articulation (like a snare drum), but you will lose your volume.
   *Keep in mind how tight the head is tuned will also determine articulation.
   
   The THICKNESS: of the shell will determine the resonance and the volume. A Thicker shell is loud, but the note wont hang in as long as a thinner shell. Thus, the thinner shells have more resonance/warmth and less volume.
   
   The BEARING EDGE: is where the drum head meets the drum shell. A sharp 45° edge has minimal contact with the head. minimal contact allows for more resonance. Many vintage drum kits had a 30° rounded edge -more head contact muffles the head creating a "cardboard box" thud. The large drum manufactures are now doing a 45° edge, however many boutique companies are exploring different cuts.
3. Purchase:
   
   Making the purchase is easy, saving the money is not.

Tips & Warnings

• Pay attention to the heads you put on your kit. On any manufacturer's packaging or website you can find what heads produce what tones
• Consider ordering drum shells and parts from 'build it yourself' sites
• Use a piano or guitar to help tune your heads - remember you can create a spread of notes, like a chord, by tuning your top and bottom heads in different note harmonies. this helps define a difference between a drummer and a musician.
• Think about what type of you music you play now and what type of music you will be playing in the future. I sometimes have trouble with Jazz drumming sessions due to my oversized power toms - granted straight forward hard rock, metal, and regular rock and roll is a breeze.
• Light drumsticks are fast, quiet.
• Heavy drumsticks are slow, loud.
• Buy a rug for your drumset.
• Learn how to play bongos, congas, etc - you'll develop faster hand reflexes.
• Learn how to play another instrument - this improves your drum tuning.
• if buying used consider the bearing edge - if it's dented or chipped it will make tuning difficult to say the least.
• laminates on cheaper drums are cheaply applied, muffling the shell.