HAYNES PRESS RELEASE
Drum-Kit Manual
How to buy, maintain and improve your drum kit
Paul Balmer
Publication: 2 February 2012
Format: Hardback
RRP: £21.99
The latest ‘how-to’ guide from Haynes: the Drum–Kit Manual
With forewords by Steve Gadd and Chad Smith
“The drum-kit is the blank canvas onto which we get to paint our next masterpiece.”
Chad Smith, Red Hot Chilli Peppers
In an ever-expanding list of Haynes Manuals covering musical instruments, this latest title shines light on how to buy, maintain and improve your drum kit.
With passionate and inspiring forewords from inspirational drummers, Steve Gadd (Eric Clapton, Paul Simon) and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), this is the must-have book for any drummer, whether beginner or proficient player.
Exhaustive, step-by-step instructions, accompanied by clear colour photographs, cover everything from choosing, setting up and ‘attuning’ an acoustic or electronic drum kit, to repairing, maintaining and adjusting your kit once you’re up and drumming.
Whether your kit needs preparing for the stage or studio, the Drum Kit Manual takes the reader through the joy of different applications and settings, all in the famously easy-to-follow Haynes format. Generic hardware, such as lugs, threads, boom stands, bass pedals and Hi-Hats are covered in detail along with maintenance details.
Written by Paul Balmer with input from John Good of DW, the Manual follows the drum-kit through its 110 year existence, with unique case studies on 12 specific kits including state of the art Gretsch, DW, Pearl, Roland, Yamaha, Premier and TAMA set ups.
Profiles of key drummers and their kits provide added inspiration; including an analysis of Steve Gadd’s studio kit, the Ludwig kit used by Ringo Star, and the first modern kit; Gene Krupa’s Slingerland ‘Radio King’.
The Author
Paul Balmer, author of six Haynes guitar Manuals, including Fender Stratocaster Manual and Gibson Les Paul Manual, is the son of dance band drummer Bill Balmer. Paul played drums from the age of 11 in the Liverpool Merseybeat boom of the 1960s. He built his own kits from bits and pieces and, having no other option, did his own maintenance. His perfectly preserved 1964 Premier kit is examined and restored as a case study. Paul lives in Northamptonshire with two sons who are both drummers!
Sales Information:
The Drum-Kit Manual is available from all good bookshops and direct from Haynes at or call 01963 442030, priced £21.99
Author Paul Balmer playing the Ludwig kit used by Ringo Star
High Res images available
ENDS
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