MOST RECENT RETROFITS

Several additions and changes have been made to The Fortress in the past few months.  This comes after a previous post in which I stated that construction was completed.  I have come to the conclusion that my former statement was erroneous and I will probably never stop redesigning, rearranging and replacing items around the perimeter of this preposterous layout.  My name is Ken and I am a percussiholic.

BASS DRUM PEDALS
The double pedal set made by Pearl that I was previously using has been replaced with a new Tama model.  Although the Pearl pedals worked beautifully and are actually professional mid-grade quality, they are still, after all, Pearls, and I can't have Pearl pedals on my Tama drum set.  Sorry.  That's just how it is.  The new pedals are the bottom-of-the-line Iron Cobra Juniors, but the big daddy Iron Cobras cost $400.  This lower-quality set was $180.  That massive price difference was key because I wasn't looking for the best I could get, just something simple and functional.  I mean honestly, how much double bass am I going to be playing during "Jesus Paid it All," you know?  There's not much worship music that calls for it.

HI-HAT STAND
The double pedals required the purchase of a new-fangled two-legged hi-hat stand.  This is because the third leg of a traditional stand gets in the way of the left bass drum pedal (see previous post).  I decided to splurge on this item and went with the top-of-the-line Iron Cobra because the hi-hats are very important to me and an integral part of my personal style.  I can't have a crappy, unreliable hi-hat stand with the way I play these seminal cymbals.*

CHINESE BELL TREE (finally!)
After a lot of frustration with several auctions on eBay (see earlier post), including a two-month transaction dispute with one illegitimate seller who tried to rip me off, a fellow drummer offered me his LP mini-bell tree.  This I accepted gratefully and immediately incorporated into my setup, only to become disappointed shortly thereafter by its inferior performance.  The mini-tree just didn't produce the volume and duration that I wanted.  It's the difference between a set of bar chimes with 25 bars and one with 44 bars.  The resulting sounds they make are definitely not the same.  Replacing the 14-bell mini-tree with a brand-new, full-size 26-bell tree was simply unavoidable.  It had to be done.  Here is a short video demonstrating what I mean:

See how much more full and melodic the larger set is?  The ring and flow is much louder and longer, whereas the mini-tree just gives off a quick brrring!  The full-size model is more versatile, allowing me to create slow or fast sweeps, ascending or descending, or just a wider variety of random tintinnabulations reminiscent of the tinkling of gentle raindrops or falling snow.  Only a carefully executed sweep manages to ring every bell on the tree, so the mini version tends to severely limit the number of chimes heard.  Plus having a full-size Chinese bell tree just makes me that much more awesome than you.

THE CHINESE ARE TAKING OVER!
As if having a Chinese bell tree were not enough, I have also added several new China-type cymbals as well as a few more splash cymbals made by the Chinese cymbal company known as Wuhan.  Because China cymbals are so unique and varying in the sounds they produce based on size and thickness, I don't think you can ever have enough.

On my right flank in addition to the 12" Wuhan mounted atop my 16" Sabian China, I have added a 15" Wuhan with rivets and a 12" Sabian mini-China.  Over here I also have added 10 and 11" Wuhan splashes.  These thin, quick-responding babies make a brief sizzling splash that I use to accent different patterns.

As evidenced in the picture below, my 10" Sabian China Kang has been moved to the left-hand side and mounted atop another Wuhan China, this one 14" in diameter.  This gives me accent possibilities on the left as well as the right ("Mystic Rhythms" by Rush always comes to mind).  I just felt I needed a little variety over on this side without having to turn all the way back to the right, and this little China Kang really goes well with the high toms.  I also added a 6" Sabian HH splash next to the 8" because I saw it on eBay, it's rare and discontinued (not even on the website), and it is JUST SO DANG CUTE!!  I mean really, it doesn't seem like a cymbal I will use much at all, but it was simply too precious to pass up.  After all, it doesn't take up much room and as I have said so many times before.....you don't have one.

LEFT FLANK PERCUSSION TOWER
It would be quite unbelievable and slightly embarrassing if I were to admit how much time I spend arranging, rearranging and re-rearranging the secondary percussion items strategically scattered around my kit, but suffice to say it is a lot.  My LFPT has been a major issue since its inception, and quite a few changes have occurred over here over the past few months.

Currently the new bell tree occupies the central post in the most prominent spot.  The jam blocks I have stacked, so that they don't take up much room and don't get in the way of more important items such as the timbale, the tamborim and the pandiero.  The satellite, a metal percussion instrument, moves around to wherever it is out of the way, since it is just a minor piece that is used infrequently.  Right now it is at the rearmost position.

Most notably is the addition of the Treeworks Echo bar chimes.  This is a new set of chimes I added because of their unique sound and look.  The Spectrasound hollow brass bar chimes have been moved down underneath all the other items where they are less visible but still easily accessible.

So that is a brief overview of the major changes made in the past couple of months, like you care.  At the moment I am changing, updating and tweaking my cowbell collection but that situation is still under construction as new bells are arriving daily.  As soon as I settle on this arrangement I will detail my setup extensively in another post.  Or not.  It's not like you're hanging on the edge of your seat waiting to see what I decide.
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* Note: That's seminal as in "highly original, influential and important," not "of, relating to, containing or conveying semen."  Just thought you should know that, you sicko pervert.