Welcome to DrumChat js218. I found these guidelines from a drum case outfit. Hope it helps.
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1. "Either take the rims & heads off your drums, or imagine that you can "see through" the rims to the "bearing edge" of the drum and measure across the outside diameter of the drumshell (with the rims/hoops in place, this is typically the "visible" diameter of the drumhead before it goes under the rims)".
2. "For the depth measurement, measure from the top bearing edge down the side of the shell to the other bearing edge at the other end of the drumshell."
3. "The case will generally be big enough to accommodate the added size of the drums rims/hoops, lug casings, tom mounts, and in the case of bass drums, the "spurs" and "tom mount post receiving block". *FOR DRUMS WITH "RIMS* " TYPE MOUNTS, generally an extra 1" is required to be added to the diameter of the case."
"(*This is only required for the "original" design RIMS* type mounts which use a band of metal around the drum with rubber grommets holding the drum by it's tension rods. DW suspension mounts are close-fitting and usually don't require and oversized case. Pearl "I.S.S" and "Optimounts" only bridge the span between two lug casings and generally do not require over sized cases either.)"
4. "Some case companies list their sizes "depth first" (for example, 16"x22" for a typical bass drum) while other companies list their drums "diameter first" (22"x16"). These different methods of listing seldom cause a problem in case purchasing because most drumsets fall into standard size configurations that are obvious to an experienced drummer or drumshop sales person and the true sizing of the drums can be deduced fairly easily."
*"Generally bass drum sizes are in even "2" inch increments of diameter, for example 18", 20", 22" & 24". As for depth, 14" is the standard "old school" size (1930's-70's), but 16" deep basses became popular in the 80's-90's, and 18" basses have become very popular in the past 10yrs (There are some 17" and 17 1/2" deep basses currently made (buy an 18" case), and some custom drum companies offer 20" and even 22" deep bass drums)."
*"Toms generally have these diameters: 6", 8", 10", 12", 13", 14", 16" & 18".
(15" drums are rare but do exist, and are actually becoming more popular in drumset configurations. 17" drums are extremely rare, mostly seen in older marching field drums. 7", 9" and 11" drums are practically unheard of)
* Standard size snares are usually 14" diameter, either 4", 5 1/2" or 6 1/2" in depth (5" drums have become very popular recently)."
"Smaller "piccolo", "soprano" or "popcorn" snares have also become popular which have diameters of 10", 12" or 13". Commonly seen snare "depths" have been expanded to include virtually any size from 3" to 10" in 1/2 inch increments."
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