Buying Advice - Drums

Ritz Music opened in 1991 as a specialist drum shop, and although we now deal in a much broader range of instruments, we still stock the most popular beginner drum kits and related products:

Main Types of Drum Kits:

Full 5-piece drum kits

A '5-piece' drum kit is considered the 'standard' set up, consisting of a bass drum, floor tom, 2 smaller mounted toms, snare drum, cymbal(s), hihats and ancillary hardware. Unfortunately, none of the 'entry-level' kit manufacturers offer the option of buying drums individually... drum kits generally have to be purchased as a complete set. In common with most other instruments, Chinese-made kits now dominate the market. These are very affordable and perfectly adequate for home use. In general these kits will consist of real wooden shells with fairly basic cymbals and hardware... with reasonable care they are quite durable, but the more highly stressed components (Bass drum pedal, Hihat stand & tom holders) usually need replacing/repair within 2 years. Very popular 'up-grades' for these kits include fitting USA made Remo drum heads (which greatly improves sound quality) and replacing the single 'crash/ride' cymbal with 2 separate cymbals. These kits are available as part of the Ritz Music Rent-to-Buy scheme.

We also stock mid-range drum kits, such as the Pearl Forum FZ (the world's best selling kit). These are an excellent choice for any serious adult/child beginner as the build quality is good enough to endure the rigors of band rehearsals, gigs etc. and they will give many years of good service.

5-piece kits are available in the following sizes: Jazz kit (18" bass drum etc), Fusion kit (20" bass drum etc) and Rock kit (22" bass drum etc)... we generally stock the Fusion sizes as we find them to be the most versatile, but other sizes can of course be ordered, including Junior-sized 5-piece kits with a 16" bass drum.

Snare Drum Kits

If you do not wish to purchase an entire drum kit, then one option is to buy a Snare Drum Kit, which consists of a standard metal snare drum, snare stand, snare drum case and drum sticks. Although not as much 'fun' as a full kit it's possible to learn many of the fundamentals of drumming on a snare drum, so it can be a sensible way in which to 'test' how serious a child is before committing to a full drum kit!

Electronic Kits

Electronic kits were originally very expensive practice/recording tools for professional drummers. However, leading brands such as Yamaha and Roland now offer 'cut-down' versions of their 'pro' kits which are aimed at beginners. Although still considerably more expensive than a Chinese-made acoustic kit, the advantages are obvious... they can be used with headphones in complete silence, and will typically include an electronic 'brain' with a large choice of superb sounds and even songs to play along with.

Drum Accessories

We stock a wide range of drum & percussion accessories at Ritz Music, including: Sticks, brushes etc - we stock a selection of popular drum sticks by Promark, VicFirth & Zildjian as well as brushes by Regal tip and Hotrods by Promark. We also carry lightweight budget sticks suitable for young beginners.

Drum hardware

We stock a selection of budget and intermeadiate cymbal stands, hihat stands, snare stands and bass drum pedals.

Cymbals

We stock popular 'add-ons' such as Splash & China cymbals, as well as replacement/upgrade Crash and Ride cymbals.

Drum skins

We stock a selection of Remo drum heads, the most popular professional drum heads in the world.

Drum Maintenance

On a new drum kit, the first thing that may need attention are the drum heads/skins... snare drum heads are most liable to split as they are at particularly high tension and are generally hit harder. We stock replacement drum heads at Ritz Music and also offer a fitting/tuning service if required. Apart from regularly changing/tuning the heads, drum kits do not generally require on-going maintenance... it's more a case of the most highly stressed parts wearing out - in particular the bass drum pedal, hihat stand and metal tom holders on the bass drum. These parts are occasionally repairable but often a replacement is necessary, at which point it may be worth considering a higher quality 'up-grade' version such as those offered by Pearl.