When we were playing in a three-piece with 2 guitarists, it was OK to have an 18″ bass drum.  However, when you add a bass player into the mix that 18″ just doesn’t have room in the mix.  Time for a new drum!

Luckily, Starving Musician had a sweet 22×16 Tama Swingstar in black wrap to match the rest of my Tama Stagestar toms.  The most important part is that Jasper likes it!

For my kit I’ve been using a cymbal stand coming out of the bass drum, so any new drum is going to need to be modified.  Also, what’s up with the knobby hardware on this drum?

For the new design, I had to drill two new holes into the top of the drum and transfer my hardware over from my 18″ bass drum.  The 22″ bass drum had a huge cut-out in the wrong spot, so I filled in the extra holes with spare boards and dowels.  When mounting so much hardware to the top of the drum, I wanted to add as much strength as possible!

Here we go – the new kit!

• Full size rock 22″ bass drum
• 14″ floor tom (on the floor now) with mounted 12″ tom
• 14″ snare and 14″ hats
• Now with 3 cymbals!

I’ll be playing this configuration for a while….