PERCUSSION PLACEMENT USING "MODELING"

Back in ancient times, before the development of advanced computer design software, architects sometimes employed very talented model builders to take a set of blueprints and construct a scaled-down replica of the structure they had designed, so that their clients could get a 3-D view of the proposed project when it was finished.  It can be difficult for the untrained eye to envision what a building is going to look like just by looking at a set of blueprints.

I decided to use this same method in planning out how to place a set of chimes on my drum set.  Sounds silly, doesn't it?  Sounds like I have way too much free time on my hands.

My fake "TreeWerx" chimes.

While that is undeniably true, I felt it was important to figure out how I might position an additional set of chimes on my kit before I spent around $150.00.  I wanted to make sure they would fit in nicely.

To do this, I constructed a fake set of chimes for size comparison purposes.  From the Treeworks website I obtained the dimension of the wood frame, which is around 23".  Then I visited a local music store that had a set on display to measure the length of the two outer bar chimes, the shortest bar and the longest.  At that time I also requested a price quote to see what kind of deal they were willing to give me.

Not much.  I was still looking at about 150 bucks.

Product placement proves my point.

Back at home I found a piece of spare wood trim and cut it to the correct length, then drilled a mounting hole.  I then cut out a piece of cardboard in the dimensions of the bar chimes and fastened them to the frame with wire.  I now had a full-size set of phony "TreeWerx" bar chimes with which I could experiment.  I could move them around and try them out in different places with scant effort, examining their appearance from various angles to make sure they blended in with my arrangement.

As this second set of bar chimes had already been part of my early scheming, I had toyed with mounting locations on paper in my AutoCAD drawings.  I figured they would fit nice and snug on my right-hand side, hovering just beyond and between my special effects cymbals and my crashes.  Here they would butt up against my smaller set of chimes and be conveniently accessible yet out of the way.  The two sets form a nice little "corner" above my ride, and fit perfectly between the stands holding up my 15 and 16 crashes.  It's almost as if I had planned it.  Oh yeah, that's right.  I did.

Confident now that this percussion product would perform precisely, without me having to adjust any of my equipment already in place, I went to the internet to secure a set at the cheapest price possible.  Sure enough, on eBay I found the exact set I wanted for a mere $114.  A week later they arrived, and all I had to do was switch out my "TreeWerx" impostors for the real thing: the TreeWorks 35-Bar Chime Tree.