Breakables, shells, extensions, hardware
The drum kit may be loosely divided into four parts:
- The breakables: Sticks, various cymbals, snare drum, and sometimes the bass drum pedal, stool
- The shells: Bass drum and toms
- Extensions: Cowbell, tambourine, any other instrument not part of the standard kit
- Hardware: Cymbal stands, drum stands, pedals
There are several reasons for this division. When more than one band plays in a single performance, the drum kit is often considered part of the backline, and shared between the drummers. Often the main drawcard act will provide the drums, as they are being paid more, possibly have the better gear, and in any case have the prerogative of using their own. However sticks, snare drum and cymbals are commonly swapped, each drummer bringing their own, and sometimes other components. The term breakables in this context refers to whatever basic components the "guest" drummer is expected to bring.
Similar considerations apply if using a house kit (a drum kit owned by the venue), even if there is only one band at the performance.
The snare drum and cymbals are the core of the breakables, as they are particularly critical and individual components of the standard kit, in several related ways.
- Their tone varies a great deal from drummer to drummer, reflecting their individual styles and the styles of music they play.
- The snare drum often does not match the kit, for example being a metal or plain wood shell in a kit where the other drums are in a matching finish.
- Drummers tend to spend more on snare and cymbals than on the other drums.
- Thin and/or bell metal cymbals are easily broken by poor technique.
- Many drummers use thinner heads on their snare than the other drums.
- Often, a drummer will retain their snare drum and cymbals when upgrading the rest of the kit, or upgrade cymbals or snare while keeping the other drums.
Much the same considerations apply to bass drum pedals and the stool, but these are not always considered breakables, particularly if changeover time between bands is very limited. Swapping the snare drum in a standard kit can be done very quickly. Replacing cymbals on stands takes longer, particularly if there are many of them, and cymbals are easily damaged by incorrect mounting, so many drummers prefer to bring their own cymbal stands.
Drum sizes
See Common configurations below for typical drum sizes.
Traditionally, drum sizes were expressed as depth x diameter, both in inches. More recently, many drum kit manufacturers have begun instead to express the size as diameter x depth, again in inches.
Manufacturers still using the traditional format in their catalogues include:
- ddrum
- Drum Workshop
- Gretsch Drums
- Ludwig-Musser
- Slingerland Drum Company
- Tama Drums
- DrumShop Usa
while those using diameter x depth include:
- Brady Drum Company
- Mapex Drums
- Meinl Percussion
- Pearl Drums
- Premier Percussion
- Rogers Drums
- Sonor
- Yamaha Drums
For example, a hanging tom 12" in diameter and 8" deep would be described by Tama as 8x12, but by Pearl as 12x8, and a standard diameter Ludwig snare drum 5" deep is a 5x14, while a Premier of the same dimensions is a 14x5.
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