Adopting a New Baby, Photo Evidence

I went on a little bit of a purchasing binge this weekend. On Friday I ordered resonent heads (including a bass front head) and a straight cymbal stand for the new kit from Musician's Friend. I had been evaluating online merchants for a few weeks and while some have a better selection and lower prices than Guitar Center and Musician's Friend, I finally realized that Musician's Friend has mostly free shipping, which ends up making a huge difference for oversized drum heads and heavy hardware. I also got a snare bag after busting my snare wires last week.

Followup was that I'd forgotten I also "needed" a falam slam patch and new snare wires, so I headed to Guitar Center locally and Good N Loud Music. While at Guitar Center I decided to inquire if they had any used cymbals, after the smokin' deal I got there on used chimes a few months ago. Indeed they did have used cymbals, behind the counter, including a 20 inch Sabian El Sabor Ride. I like that line of cymbals and nearly bought the exact same one off Craig's List last week. New cost $245...CL price $120...Guitar Center price $60. A smokin' deal again. I couldn't help myself.

That got me thinking that I'd seen some pretty cool used cymbals at Good N Loud the last time I was there. They had reorganized their drum stuff recently. So I stopped by. The cymbals I'd seen last time weren't there (pretty quick turnover) but they had other decent ones. Nothing on a screaming deal...but reasonable prices for good used cymbals. I would like to acquire a set of good quality used high hats and another decent crash...maybe an 18" crash. Good N Loud had some Zildjian high hats that run $350 new for $199-ish used. I just wasn't prepared to spend that much. But when I am ready to drop $200...I know where to watch now. Definitely a good deal.

Nevermind that I'd rather get used cymbals anyway so I know how they will wear in. A new cymbal is gonna sound different 6 months or a year into playing it. I want to know the final sound. On the other hand, I don't have a great ear for these things.

Also picked up the coolest thing ever. A locking high hat clutch. No more unscrewing in the middle of a show. Super awesome.

Here's the new kit, taken before last weekend's buying binge. I've transferred my existing hardware and cymbals to this kit...and put away most of the stuff that came with it. Also have set aside the 12" tom rack tom and am using only the 13". By the end of this week it'll be outfitted with all new resonent heads. I'm planning to make this my gig kit and leave the other kit set up for general practice. I'm also gonna probably switch out my snares...so this kit will have black toms with black hardware and a silver snare with silver hardware. I don't like the look of the silver snare with the black hardware. Plus, I think the snare that came with this kit has a warped edge. It doesn't seem to affect the tuning, but I'm sure it isn't as good sounding as my other snare.