Frankenkit

Ignore the dog.

I've had a half dozen drum kits. I've sold all of them off because they actually had resale value. Tama kits, Gretsch kits, Roland V drums, Pearl, even a really sweet TKO that got me off the ground. I've hung on to this one because it's the one that I've spent the most time putting together. As you can see, it isn't a kit for everyone. If I remember correctly, the dimensions are:

• 28x14 bass drum. I picked this up at a yard sale for $20. I had to do a bunch of work on it to get the hardware set up on it; it was missing a bunch of tension rods, and they need to be about a foot long, so they're really hard to find. It's an ancient marching band bass drum with a bunch of students' names carved into it. "T-Bone" was apparently a pretty big deal at Some Local Detroit High. This drum sounds as big as you'd think, especially with an Aquarian super kick II on it. 
• 5.5x14 Pacific hand-hammered brass snare drum. 
• 13x9 rack tom. This drum is from a Pearl kit from the late 80s.
• 16x16 Tama floor tom.
• 12" hi-hats. The bottom is an A series Zildjian splash; the top is a K splash. I know that's weird, but I like small hats. 
• 16" AAXplosion crash.
• 21" Zildjian sweet ride. The best cymbal I've ever owned--this thing is so loud, so washy, so fun to bash on. It's also a pretty good ride in terms of stick definition.
• Pang cymbal (not pictured). It's a whole bunch of cymbals that I've cracked and ruined over the last decade. For some reason, I keep them around and put them on a stand. It's a more popular idea these days, but it's kind of like a china sound with a really fast attack. 
• I also swear by the Iron Cobra pedals. I don't care about any of the other hardware, so long as it's sturdy enough to hold gear up (which is actually not an easy thing to assume--there's some junk out there). The Cobra always comes with me. 
• Also, a quick note on the wrap: since every one of these drums comes from a different place, they all looked terrible together. I kind of wanted drums that looked like momma dressed 'em all at the same time, so I came up with this idea. I grew up reading my Dad's Marvel Comics and fell in love with Jack Kirby's pencil work. I printed these images on some high quality paper, pulled the wraps off the shells, and used double sided tape to secure the sheets to the shells. I picked up a cheap sheet of mylar adhesive from the craft store and put it on nice and tight. I've had them like this for a couple years, and I'm starting to think of something else. We'll see.