My summer gig schedule usually has a few patios in tight spaces. Sure, I can do what I’ve done in the past – minimize what I bring to the gig. But I thought it was time to do something different. I wondered what it would take to make a cocktail drum kit with a floor tom and one of the kick pedals I had laying around.
After doing some searching online, I learned that it was possible to convert a standard kick pedal into one for a cocktail kit. The modification to the kick pedal mostly involved reversing the cam — the part of the pedal that the chain connects to and rides on. This modification required me to disconnect the chain and reconnect it to accommodate the new position of the cam.
Let’s look at what it took to get this cocktail kit making some music.
Will it work on any pedal?
I’m not sure if this will work on every kick pedal design. It should work if your cam and beater holder can be removed, flipped 180 degrees, and reinstalled.
Stability is my biggest concern when it comes to pedal design. Since a cocktail kit pedal doesn’t connect to a bass drum hoop, it would be resting on the floor. I thought it would benefit from the increased stability that a solid base plate provided.
I chose an old Pearl Power Shifter pedal. It’s been through so much over the years and never let me down. Plus, I wasn’t using it for anything else. What did I have to lose by sacrificing it for sake of the cocktail drum kit?
What tools do you need?
At first glance I noticed that there were some hex screws holding some of the pieces together. It was also apparent that I would need a wrench to loosen the nut holding the drive shaft in place. I chose a socket whenever I have the space because of the way it grips the nut or head of the bolt more tightly, making it less likely to slip off and break something or cause injury.
The tools depend on your pedal design. The Pearl Powershifter that I modified required the following tools.
- Metric hex wrenches
- Standard hex wrenches
- Phillips head screwdriver
- Drum key
- Pliers (maybe)
I started with a set of standard hex wrenches with limited success, loosening only a couple set screws. It wasn’t long before I realized that I just didn’t have the exact size to finish loosening all of the screws. After a quick trip to the hardware store, I had a metric sized set of hex wrenches and was able to finish dismantling the kick pedal.
To remove the master link in the chain, I used a small pointed driver that I found in a computer tool set. Maybe I could have found a better tool, even a safer one. That was the tool that I had in my bag, and it worked.
What could go wrong?
I chose a pedal that I didn’t need anymore, so I wasn’t worried much about what could go wrong. I took a few precautions, however, because I wanted this project to be successful.
My first concern was to not strip the set screws. The screws are small and could easily be stripped and get stuck in the pedal. I avoided this problem by making sure the screws were clean before testing the size of the wrench.
Once I started dismantling the pedal, I realize that some parts were greasy and I didn’t want any dirt getting stuck to them. I avoided the dirt issue by laying the pieces on a clean table. The table was cleaned in advance for this reason.
My last concern was the chain. It would be a shame to break one of the links on the chain. It already had a little bit of rust buildup from some neglect over the years but not enough to really compromise the integrity of the links.
I think these concerns were reasonable, and luckily nothing bad happened. Everything went back together with results that worked great for the cocktail kit.
What are the steps?
| Step | Tools |
| 1. Remove the beater. | Drum key |
| 2. Loosen the horizontal drive shaft. | Wrench or socket |
| 3. Disconnect the spring from the drive shaft. | Fingers |
| 4. Loosen the set screws on the spring keep, beater holder, and cam to slide out the drive shaft. | Hex wrench |
| 5. Disconnect the chain from the cam and reconnect it in the new position. | Phillips head screwdriver |
| 6. Place the cam in the new direction, and install the drive shaft. | Fingers |
| 7. Install the beater holder in the correct position. | Fingers |
| 8. Tighten the set screws when the cam and other pieces are in place. | Hex wrench |
| 9. Reconnect the spring and adjust the tensioner as needed. | Fingers |
| 10. Adjust the beater where you want it, and it’s ready to play. | Drum key |
How to flip the cam?
It was hard at first to visualize which way the cam needed to go. I thought about where the change needed to grab the cam as well as the direction it needed to pull for the correct rotation. Since the rotation would just be reversed, striking upwardly, the cam simply needed to be reversed.
The first step was to loosen and remove the nut holding the horizontal drive shaft tightly in place. Horizontal shaft slid out of the bearing housings by easily, in the cam slid off the shaft with no trouble at all. The cam was held in place on the drive shaft with the hex set screw.
Reversing the cam involved turning it on it’s Y axis. By turning the cam on its Y access 180 degrees, that meant the chain would now be coming toward my toes up and around to connect to the part of the cam closest to the front of the pedal.
Why does the chain need to be disconnected?
The chain will needs to be disconnected because it is connected to the cam. This can be complex for some pedals and simple for others.
Some of the strap drive pedals fasten the drive strap with a single screw and washer. My old Pearl Power Shifter had a chain that needed to be removed and then reconnected once the cam was rotated on its Y axis.
At first, this seemed to be somewhat of a daunting task. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get the chain off, and I didn’t know if the chain was actually going to stay together once I removed the master chain link. Likewise, I didn’t know if the chain would hold up after disturbing it.
The master link came off with some constant, careful pressure. I didn’t want to launch it across the room when it decided to come loose. It’s important to inspect your pieces because breaking or bending the piece is going to lead to less confidence in the performance of the chain which is not something you want when you’re on a gig with specialized gear like a cocktail drum kit.
The master link snapped back together a little bit easier than it came apart, and it wasn’t hard to run the chain around the cam into its new position.
How hard was it to adjust the beater?
Pearl kick drum pedals are easy to adjust. The height or position of the beater is adjusted with a drum key. It’s as simple as loosening the clamp where the spring connects to the driveshaft and moving the beater to the position you want.
Some pedals are not as easy. You may find that you have to adjust the beater by positioning the beater holder on the driveshaft, similar to the way we positioned the cam. In other words, there might not be as much adjustment. You may only have a few different options to position your beater.
At first, I made the mistake of not positioning the beater low enough, which limited the distance it would travel before striking the drum. This is a significant problem because, like your stick height, the distance from the beater to the drum head will determine how much force when you combine that with the velocity that you put into the beater. With the increased distance from the head, you can achieve a louder sound from a greater force striking the drum.
Will the pedal stay where I want it?
Many of my search results showed people who had tried to make a clamp that would hold the pedal between the floor tom legs. This design wasn’t as appealing to me. I felt like it would limit where I could put the kick the kick pedal.
Other designs that I came across in my searches included Velcro on the bottom of the pedal base plate and tying the pedal with either rope or wire to your seat or drum throne. I didn’t like these designs either because of the restriction in terms of where I could place the pedal. Plus, they didn’t seem strong enough.
You can solve this problem with a set of spurs that clamp on the front of your kick pedal. I knew that you could buy spurs that keep your double from walking away. Re-purposing the hardware for my setup was the easiest part of the cocktail kit project.
So far, the pedal hasn’t moved unless I want it to.
How about the rest of the cocktail drum kit?
Now that the pedal was modified and not moving around, it was time to piece together the cocktail drum kit. I looked at the floors toms, snare drums, and hardware in my collection and re-purposed some things.
Mounting the snare drum the hi hat stand reduced the hardware load. I chose a 12-inch steel soprano snare because it was light. It also worked well because it didn’t bounce much with the Pearl ISS mount.
The kit only needed two stands, two drums, and two cymbals. This kept things to one trip into the gig and ensured a tight footprint on stage.
I’m pleased with the overall results. Next time, I’ll cut big holes in the floor tom to let the air out. I might also cut a floor tom around the circumference to make two drums like the Tama cocktail jam kit.
Related Articles
“What’s the Best Kick Drum Size For the Gig?”
“Turn Your Floor Tom Into a Kick Drum in 8 Easy Steps”