A drum set is like a well-built house with foundation and framework. This framework includes drum pedals, stands, toms, lugs, hoops, tension rods, and drum racks. And the foundations are the drum shells. All these together make up the drum hardware of the drum. Just like a house cannot be built without foundation and pillars, the drum is incomplete without the hardware because it acts as the pillar of the drum. Each of the hardware has different role to play.
Drum hardware basically refers to various kinds of stands that hold up the drum and the cymbals. Let us start with the most important pieces that play a vital role in building up the drum set as well as drum sound.
The pieces of metal that are attached to the side of the drum are the lugs. The main aim of the lugs is to attach the drum hoops or rim, which is fixed with the help of tension rods. Hoops mainly hold the drumhead in place and even help in tuning the drum.
Coming to the drum shells, it refers to the material used in the drum. Like, beginner’s kits are made up of basswood or mahogany but higher kits are made up of more costly woods to get better sound quality.
Adding next piece of the drum hardware, i.e. the pedals. They are available in different types like, single chain drive, dual chain, belt driven, single spring pedal, dual spring pedal and pedal with footboards. Among them the dual chain pedals are harder and can take heavy foot. Even pedals with dual spring are much better than the single one. The footboard pedals are the high-end pedals and are strongest. Therefore, a combination of dual chain, dual spring and footboard makes a tough pedal.
Next important parts of the drum hardware are the stands. Stands give support to the whole set to provide proper positioning to it. The types includes:
– Boom stand: The most longest of the other hardware, the boom stand provides easy positioning to the cymbals anywhere around the kits.
– Cymbal stand: This drum hardware not only supports the cymbals but also hold toms, cowbells and tambourines as well.
– Hi-Hat stand: This is one of the vital parts of the hardware. It is like a straight cymbal stand that has a spring-operated pedal connected to a rod that opens and closes the top hi-hat cymbal. This cymbal is linked with the clutch that has a hole in the middle where the rod fits and is protected in the open position by a *****. The drummer needs to place both the feet on the pedal, while using hi-hats in the closed position, and just hit the lever and the hats drop. And has to do vice-versa to reset it to the open position.
– Snare stand: A snare is played most of the time and so it is necessary to have a solid snare stand. It is better to use double braced snare stand rather than using single braced that are light weighted and move often.
Another important part of the drum hardware is the toms. They are greater than the stands by 14” and have legs to stand on their own. Once the drum is assembled it is mounted on the toms. It should be mentioned here that the sound quality of the drum depends on its positioning on the toms.