Money Saving Tips for Drummers

[longgun]

Saw this on Elephant Drums website and thought it was a great read.........some great ideas.....never heard about ironing heads before.......may have to give it a shot.

The original article is here. [no commercial links please. - Tom]


Some people have the perception that the drum kit is an expensive instrument to learn. However it could be one of the cheapest if you think creatively and follow some simple money saving tips for drummers.

Elephant Drums has put together a few things that you could do to help you save those pennies and ultimately become a happier, richer, drummer!

1. Alternatives to buying new equipment

If you are looking at creating different sounds with your kit, but you don’t want to go out and buy loads of new equipment try being a bit creative with the drum kit you have already. Some drummers have used house hold items such as saw blades, cow bells made out of wood, aluminium pipe to use as a rack to hang cymbals from.

If you have dealt with cracked cymbals before, you know that your cymbal has entered a new stage of its life. If you are able to accept this, you can try to do something interesting with your cracked cymbal, and accept the different but interesting and unique, new sounds.

Anything you can get your hands on and you think could sound cool, give it a go.

2. Buy Second Hand Equipment

Sometimes you can get just as good quality second hand goods as you can buying new gear. They are normally at least half the price of products you would pick up in a shop. Elephant Drums have partnered up with some second hand drum kit stores around London so make sure check you them out (see the list of shops at the bottom of this page) and guaranteed you’ll find yourself a bargain.

eBay!! You can pick up some great hand bargains from eBay. You just need to make sure you look around eBay first and be careful what you are buying. Make sure everything looks and sounds legit. If there are no pictures with the ad, ask if you can get sent some.

3. Practise Makes Permanent, Perfect Practise Makes Perfect

A little saying that will help you become a quality drummer. In the long run you may think you are saving money by not having lessons; however you could be wasting a lot of your money. If you are learning the wrong thing and practising this over and over again, there is only so far you will go until you hit a brick wall. Perfecting the wrong technique will take a lot more lessons to un-perfect than if you learnt the right way the first time round.

4. Block Bookings and Discounts

If you know you are going to be committed to your drum lessons then block book your lessons and you will save yourself a small fortune by the discounts you will receive by doing this. For example you can save you £100 if you book a block of 10. If you do this as single sessions then it all adds up. If you are worried about not being able to commit to the same time each week then all teachers will be able to plan your lessons around you and your life.

You could block book 10 but spread that out over 6 months (extreme cases)! Block booking will also make sure you commit yourself to learning the drums and stick with it, even if you hit a learning plateau which many drummers will come across. Lessons will ensure you get out of that plateau.

5. Spend Money On Maintaining Your Kit

Ok so you may think why are they advising me to spend money when we are talking about saving? Well again, this will save you hundreds in the long haul. Looking after your kit, and spending a little bit of time, cleaning and checking once a month will ensure you spot cracks, dents, loose fittings etc and will be able do something about it before it gets any worse. Worse case scenario, it becomes unfixable as you have left it so long you have to throw it away and buy another one.

6. Ask Your Drum Teacher

A great question you can ask your drum teacher is how to do basic kit maintenance. If your teacher has been teaching for more than 15 years, chances are they will know a thing or two about general kit maintenance that will help you with cost saving.

7. Experiment with Recycling

One technique you could try. Ironing your drum heads to make them last longer!! If you were going to throw them away anyway, what’s the difference if you ruin them experimenting with recycling?

“I removed my smallest tom head and took a clothes iron to it, putting the head rim-up on a towel on my hardwood table, with a thin pillowcase over it, so as not to overheat it. After about 20 or so passes with heavy pressure on the iron, the head looked brand new and when mounted back on the shell sounded about 95% better. I did the same process with my other tom heads, and my snare, too- all with the same results. I just saved myself the cost of 4 new heads, and am amazed that such a simple trick works.”

8. Get The Cost Down If You Are Going To Buy A New Kit

Many dealers will be willing to take offers, but only when asked! Email may often become a special way to offer online dealers the sort of ‘secrecy’ that’ll nudge them even lower than the prices they are allowed to advertise. Many may advertise a 30% discount, but almost none will admit to discounts lower than that, (publicly.)

The showroom drum set must be assembled, setup and tuned by someone for display on the showroom floor. This means the owner will have to pay someone to do that job. Up goes the price of that particular drum kit again. You will save yourself money if you are willing to accept new drums ‘in-the-box’, then assemble and tune them yourself.

Make cymbals, drum stools and other drum accessories part of your negotiating process. Some dealers may not be willing to cut the price but maybe able to throw in some free accessories. Worth a try.

[drumsetsnide]

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing. Some of this is practical knowledge and some of it I do already. But for the beginner there are some good tips. I have never heard of ironing the heads. The idea of heat shrinking them back into shape makes sense but I don't know that I would do that.

[Scottify]

Thank you for sharing that article. Some great tips in there for us that are new to drums and drumming. Great read.

[drumstix]

Never heard about ironing your heads. Might try that one day.

Good read, thanks man.