Now that I had finally located my lost set of Ludwig Orchestra Bells, it was time to figure out the best way to integrate them into my setup. Naturally I wanted to go with the traditional "Neil Peart" placement, which is on the left and beneath the hi-hats, but how exactly was I going to mount them?
The original stand that held up this bell kit was lost years ago, so my first instinct was to go to my collection of "drum junk" to see if I could piece together some sort of custom job that would do the trick. I have all sorts of cymbal stand sections and pieces I have saved over the years: tripods, straight pieces, boom arms, etc. that I use for just such an occasion.
Since I already had a customized stand holding up my jam block and triangles, I decided to build upon this, using a Pearl clamp and a straight tube section that fit the mounting hole underneath the bells. I used a hack saw to cut the spare tube down to a desirable length, and capped the bottom end with a rubber cap off of a shower rod. Quite ingenious, I must say. A nice, clean look.
Next I addressed the problem of how the little tripod holding up my triangles was going to support the additional weight of the bells. The multi-clamp was not long enough to mount them out at a right angle, so positioning them just a little to the side allowed me to run the top sections of the percussion stand
straight up through the bells between A sharp and B flat, which distributed the weight wonderfully and balanced the bells beautifully. This gave the assembly ample stability and sturdiness, and positioned the triangles perfectly, just above the bells. Mission accomplished.
Now to my "Wish List" I must add a pair of bell mallets. Then I can start practicing on this little set.
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