A Useful Techy Tidbit for Drummers

This is for the faithful drummer-readers of the Refuge (uh, both of you), particularly those of the electronic kit persuasion. For years I've had difficulty keeping my electronic hi-hat pedals in one spot. They always seem to skate around the kit carpet no matter what I do. I've extended the steel spurs as far as they go. I've tried Velcro. The whole "tie a cord around it and attach it to the drum throne" approach is unappealing and presents positioning limitations. Nothing really worked except placing a several-pound block of steel in front of it.

Well, I came across the perfect solution. It's called number 085 Carpet Anchor. It's like the hook part of Velcro on steroids. It comes in a strip about an inch wide and features rows of plastic teeth with little T-shaped ends. Cut a couple of strips 6 inches long, glue them to the bottom of the pedal, place on the carpet, and bingo, sticks like glue. Unlike glue, you can rip them up and reposition them with little effort. Brilliant stuff. I highly recommend it. I found a number of places selling it on the inter-tubes but you may have to look around to find it sold by the foot.

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electronic hi-hat

*shudder*

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 16 Apr 2008 #permalink

Don't office workers use this glued to their hands and knees to crawl up the cubicle walls ? The miniature "T" shaped thingies on plastic are on everything that has to stick ( and be repositionable ) to fabric like stuff or shaggy surfaces. Baby monkeys use the same things on their palms to hang on to their shaggy mothers.

By S.Krishnan (not verified) on 17 Apr 2008 #permalink

Sven: While I agree that one can't do as many subtle things with an electronic hi-hat, it is a positive boon that I can dial up any number of different hi-hats at any time as well as place it anywhere I find convenient (for me, that's directly in front of the snare of symmetric kit and it doesn't get in the way of the toms on either side). Cheap electronic hi-hats are a curse (those with only open and closed sounds, and maybe one half-open), but a good quality implementation can be very convincing,

SK: I believe the original intent of the stuff was to glue it to the bottom of plastic carpet runners so they wouldn't slide over the carpet. I never quite understood the concept of carpet runners to begin with, though. I mean, if the carpet is at high risk of getting dirty, maybe carpet is not the best choice to begin with. The process reminds me of the person who buys plastic slipcovers for their living room furniture so that the "good" cloth slipcovers underneath don't get wrecked. None the less, I think it would take a prodigious amount of 085 to allow an ordinary person to scale a cloth wall! Gecko-city!

Count me as the third! Although I'm more a wannabe drummer, I only get to sit behind the kit when the rest of the band's not looking