Kids and Unattended Drums...

[Vhyle]

So I come home from work the other day, to find out that my 4-year old put a couple of allen keys inside of my small tom, through the vent port. Of course, she said "Look daddy! I put those things inside there!"

Of course, it's harmless, and I just had to remove, replace and re-tune to get the keys out, lol. But hey, at least she was up front about it!

She also once put a couple of marbles inside the hi-hat, and I didn't even know. I started practicing one day and I was wondering why the hi-hat was a bit more shimmery than normal. I didn't even know until I took the hi-hats off. But it was actually pretty cool!

What kind of stuff does your kids do to your drums while you're away? Or do they have access to your "office"? I'd love to hear some funny stories.

[Kevaruka]

Mine tried to clean mine........... Nooooooooooooo!

Amelie on the drums by Kevin Frost, on Flickr

[Railroadin_saylor]

My daughter hasn't put anything in my drums. But, she has her own set and, I've found pencils, bits of food and pretty much anything she can fit through the vent ports in her drums from time to time. It has been awhile since she's put anything in them though and, I must say, I'm happy to not have to remove the heads and re-tune them every few weeks.

[Vhyle]

My daughter hasn't put anything in my drums. But, she has her own set and, I've found pencils, bits of food and pretty much anything she can fit through the vent ports in her drums from time to time. It has been awhile since she's put anything in them though and, I must say, I'm happy to not have to remove the heads and re-tune them every few weeks.

Haha. I'm not that fretted about retuning my heads for now, because they're still the stock Tama heads. I'm playing them until they wear out because I'm a cheap bastard. But when I get some nicer heads on them, I won't be as thrilled about having to remove and retune them, if she decides to stick stuff in there again.

But she did apologize for it too, completely on her own volition. So I think she knows better.

Kevaruka - awesome photo! And I love the chrome wrap on those drums! I wonder if that's hard to do aftermarket. I'd love my drums to look like that.

[Kevaruka]

They were my old set of Exports from the late 80's. Chrome looks fantastic when it's clean....... I never cleaned mine in 26 years!!!

[jedi]

I don't have kids but I do have pets . I have a two year old German Shepherd named Bo (see avatar) and six month old Australian Kelpie named Bear , tho I just renamed him Kelpie . When Bo was a pup he would chew on the felt beaters if I left a pedal laying around . But he stopped that on his own . When we have rehearsals at my house Bo lays on the floor next to me the whole time . Kelpie is another story . He is a shepherd and high energy so I have to run him threw an obstacle course every morning . If I don't get up early enough he sticks his head in the bass drum and pulls out the pillow or towel I have in there for muffling and lays it just outside my bedroom door to show his displeasure . When I get home from the gig Kelpie will jump in the truck bed and Bo always grabs the snare drum bag and takes it into the living room and stands guard over it till I'm done with the other stuff . I keep the snares in a rack in the living room , everything else is in a storeroom on the side of the house . If I had a kid I would make him my roadie... but I don't ... so the dogs will have to do .
Rudy

[N2Bluz]

Pennies in the receptical end (female end with the button) of the car seat belts. They are literally IMPOSSIBLE to get out, and the belt won't plug in with them inside it. I had to search the local junk yards for another set in the same color. Not easy to replace or remove, either.

[wired]

I was a mean little kid when I was young. I once put bobby pins in my dad's fender twin reverb and shorted it out...

[slinky]

haha funny stories. Reminds me of the drum scene in the movie Step Brothers.

no kids of my own that can do anything here.

[Bridie]

Ha! I am the kid in our house, so nothing has happened to my drums but my cat does climb in through the port on the bass drum from time to time.
I would never hit the pedal, I am too nice!
Bridie

[Jack Keck]

My son has never done anything to any of my instruments. Then again, he was 23 years old or so when I started trying to play. The best I can do here is when I built the subwoofer for my home theater system, I warned my son not to put his hot wheels in the 4" flared port. He answered back that he was 20 years old and that I did not need to be concerned. He is now 30. He thinks we should throw out the couch in the basement. He thought that we should replace it with "inflatables" and added that he was not talking about my future daughter-in-law.

[jgziegler]

Just me and the cat. Kenzo hides when I practice on the real HH, and when i start practicing the last 2-3 months he starts making these really funny meh meh meh sounds to show his displeasure.

He's very social (as all shrt/hairless cats are) and when he's decided I've practiced enough, he tries to jump on my lap, and sometimes I play with him there, or on my shoulders. Even though he doesn't like it, he usually hangs out with us during band practice, and he loves the uncut strings from the head of one guitarist.

I was worried when i got a throne that he would jump on it and claw the seat, i had a towel over it at first, but not anymore and i don't think he even jumps on it. he does love playing with the brushes, but otherwise leaves the drums alone thankfully!

And yes, I'm 35, single, and obsess over drumming and my cat. Every girl's dream guy!

[SpazApproved]

I have young students and if I leave the room they've taken pens and pencils and tried to put them in the port holes also. One kid tried to pull the pillow out of the bassdrum once too