This was the setup today at church:
On the left from top to bottom.
- Mein HCS 8″ splash. This is made of brass, the rest are bronze. Brass cymbals are cheap, but sound cheap. But trashy and cheap is exactly what you want from a splash cymbal, it is only used for accents. Meinl make a lot of good sounding cymbals, but I deliberately chose this trashy one.
- Paiste PST5 14″ thin crash. A very fast responding cymbal, touch it and the sound is there. Responds well to being played by hand.
- Avedis Zildjian 20″ Crash/Ride. This belongs to the church and was left behind by an earlier drummer. It is cracked. I have drilled two holes through the cymbal about half an inch either side of the crack, expecting the crack to spread into the holes and stop. A bit of guesswork was needed here, but it worked. The crack has spread into the holes and is no longer spreading. A very nice sounding cymbal and worth saving.
- Cowbell. I can’t remember the make.
- Stagg tambourine fastened on with insulation tape.
- Meinl shaker. It in designed to be played around the ankle by dancers. Here it hangs beneath the tambourine.
In the middle
- Zildjian 16″ medium crash. This belongs to the church as well. This swells to full volume a little slower than the Paiste cymbal. A better cymbal than the Paiste when I play the cajon with brushed or rods, the Paiste has the edge played by hand.
- Roland EL Cajon EC10. An electronic instrument with lots of samples of both real and synthesised percussion instruments.
On the right
- Zildjian 14″ hi hats (Hidden below the music stand). Belonging to the church, I don’t know anything because someone cleaned them and took the ink off. They are dirty again now.
Not shown.
Not used today are:
- Masterwork Turkish darbuka, the drum traditionally used to accompany belly dancers. Alas there are not many belly dancers in churches.
- Unknown bodhrán that I bought in a second hand shop in Dublin. It appears to be hand made rather than manufactured.
- Meinl foot tambourine.
- Various shakers from egg-shakers ans a caxixi bells and a rain-stick made from a cactus.
- Claves. Just a couple of pieces of hardwood I cut.
- Bells. Watch out, I’m down for playing Christmas day!
- Looper pedal for the Cajon.
The stick bag hanging on the cymbal stand contains a 2 pairs of unbranded sticks (I hardly ever use sticks). 1 pair of soft mallets and 1 pair each of Schlagwerk No 2 Cajon brushes, Flix Rock brushes and Flix Classic brushes.
