1- When firstly unpacking all drums and hardware, you will find one or two drums will be assembled, and the remainder will require skins to be fitted. The Box or Boxes will contain 5 drums, hi-hat & crash cymbal, stands & skins.When layed out, this is generally what will be in the box.

2- Unpack Rod bolts and T bolts for fitting skins. The long ones will be used for the bass drum, and the short for the remaining drums. Ensure each has either a metal or nylon washer on the bolt.

3- Skins. The package will require you to fit the skins to the drums. The 22" Black skin is for the front of the bass drum. The skins with this set are clear, however some packages will have white, clear or brush finish skins. This is generally the case for a white skin to be pre-fitted to the snare drum.

4- First drum to set up will be the bass drum. Using the claws pictured in step 3, slide the long bolts through claw. (once again include a washer)
Then place the bass drum on it's back, with the shell facing up as pictured above. Place the appropriate skin (black for front) on the shell as pictured. The front of the drum will be the end with the block closest to one end. The legs on the bass drum are also at the front of the drum.

5- With the skin now sitting on the drum, place one off the large hoops on the skin as seen above. Place T-bolt & claw on the hoop, and using the drum key, tighten in opposites until the skin has just gone past the wrinkle stage.

6- You will need to repeat this stage for the back side of the drum, however before assembly, dampening must be added to the drum to stop it ringing. We recommend either a pillow or a blanket be placed in the drum. The more dampening material, the quieter the drum. This is the case for all drum sets.

7- Now with the drum fully assembled, and dampening material inside, place the drum horizontally, and angle the bass drum spurs down as pictured below. Undoing the large wing nut anti clock wise, angle the leg forward to be approximately level with the front of the bass drum hoop. This will be a 35-45 degree angle forward. Using the drum key or wing bolt, loosen the key bolt half way down the spur, and lower this so the drum is supported by both legs, and the front of the drum is elevated 1-3cm at the front of the drum.

8- Now it is time to move onto the toms. The drum hoops will generally be stacked together on the drum, with a few rod bolts securing these in place. Using the drum key, undo the bolts, and remove the hoops, keeping the bolts aside for later use. With the drum facing up, place the appropriate size skin on the drum as pictured below.

9- As seen in the last picture above, place the hoop on the skin, and using the drum key, screw the rod bolts in again to the point where wrinkles will just start to go with tension on the skin. The skins with the package will be the same, so there is no need for one to specifically go on one side of the drum. As mentioned in step 2, ensure each bolts has either a nylon or metal washer. Tension the drum as stated in point 5 by tensioning in opposites like a car wheel. Generally 2-3 turns clockwise, then repeat this on the tuning point opposite. Then move around to the right to the next rod bolt, apply 2-3 turns, and go to the opposite side again. This will evenly tension skin before tuning ( discussed later) and have the skin approximately centered on the drum.

10- Repeat this step for fitting skins to both sides of the drum. You will now have the drum fully assembled ready for tuning. Follow these steps for the remaining toms fitting skins to both sides of each drum. The snare drum from the kit will be pre-assembled with skins. At this stage we should now have 4 drums with skins fitted as pictured below, plus the snare drum.

11- We are now ready to set up the drum kit. Firstly make sure the bass drum is supported on the spurs and level as mentioned in step 7. One of the hardware boxes will contain tom arms. These are generally a round tubing, however some kits will have slightly different systems. Undoing the wing nut on each arm will allow you to set the arms at near a right angle, and then place in the double tom block on the bass drum. You may need to again loosen the wing nuts on the bass drum block, and
slide the arms in.

12- With the arms now in the bass drum, slide the 12" tom (smaller tom) onto the right tom arm when looking from the front. The toms will run smallest to largest from right to left again when looking from the front. You may need to again loosen the wing nut on the tom block on the drum to allow the arm to slide into the block. Being new drums, you may need to swivel the drum on the arm a little to get the arm into the block.

13- Repeat stage 12 again for mounting the second tom on the arm as pictured above. There is no set height the drums should be at. We recommend the drums be close together, at the same height as each other, and on an angle so the skins can comfortably be reached. There is no advantage have the drums on steep angles. The picture below is how this will look with toms mounted on the bass drum.

14- Fit the floor tom legs. There will be 3 floor tom legs. These are the skinny poles with rubber feet on one end. Each leg will slot into the block on the floor tom. Allow approximately 5-10cm to extend through the block, and lock the leg in place with the wing nut on the block. The blocks are located closer to the bottom of the drum to indicate the correct side. Turn the drum over so this is now supported on the rubbers on the legs. The aim is to have the drum at roughly the same height as the players right leg when sitting behind the set, with your legs at a right angle.

15- Sitting behind the drum set, the drum set will now have both toms mounted on the bass drum, and the floor tom will now be on the right hand side for a right handed player. The set up is reversed for left handed players, with the toms running from right to left smaller to larger when sitting behind the drum set.

16- Remove hardware from packaging. The hardware or stands included with the set are for the snare drum, crash cymbal, bass drum pedal, hi-hat stands & throne. Firstly set up the snare stand so all 5 drums will be placed ready to play.

17- The snare stand is the stand with a tripod base, and the 3 span basket to support the drum. Simply remove from packaging, and with the wing nut loosened on the base, put the top section of the stand into the base, and open tripod base. This is pictured above.

18- With the snare stand assembled, place the drum in the basket, with the drum resting on the rubbers. Turning the winder under the basket clockwise will allow the basket to clamp the drum in place. The stand height can be easily adjusted from the knuckle where the two pieces of the stand we slid together. Set you snare drum height similar to that of the floor tom, being around the height of the top of the players leg when sitting at a right angle.

19- With the snare drum now on the stand, place the drum almost directly below the 12" (first mounted tom) drum. This will be to the left of the floor tom, so the player can sit with a leg either side of the snare drum, and have the floor tom still on their right.

20- Assemble the bass drum pedal. Some packages will have the pedal fully assembled ready to clamp straight to the drum. For this example, firstly slide the beater into the beater holder. There is only one place this can go. The holder is next to the chain on the cam as seen in the picture to the right. Allow around 2cm of the beater shaft to protrude from the bottom of the holder. Make sure the shaft is not exposed further out than the chain, as this will cause the beater to score the drum head. Lock the beater in place with the drum key.
You may also need to lock the cam angle. The key bolt at the top of the spring assembly may also need to be locked. As seen in the picture, set the beater angle between 35-45 degrees, and lock the key bolt. You may also need to tension the spring. Set this by loosening the top lock on the spring assembly, the tension lower knob to tension spring. The aim is to have adequate tension for the pedal to easily spring back. Approximately at half tension on the spring.

21-Clip the Radius rod ( wire than runs under the foot plate) into the holes on the pedal uprights. The holes are approximately 4-5cm up from the floor on the uprights. Slide the pedal onto the drum by placing the bass drum hoop between the pedal base, and the tongue of the pedal, and using the wing nut, turn clockwise to secure in place.

22-At this stage we now have all drums assembled, and in correct placement, with the bass drum pedal secured ready to play

23- The next stand to set up is the hi-hat. This is the stand with the 2 hi-hat cymbals on, which is played with the left foot. This is the only stand left over with a foot plate the same as the bass drum pedal. The stand will be in 3 pieces. Firstly open the tripod base on the bottom section of the stand so the base is slightly elevated, and lock this in place with the wing nut at the top of the tripod. Similar to the bass drum pedal, clip the foot plate in place by clipping the radius rod ( wire that follows under the foot plate) into the base section of the stand.

24- Remove the clutch from the thin rod. This hi-hat rod will now be screwed into the base section of the stand. As seen on the above right, the shaft will screw into the female rod that runs thought base of the stand at the knuckle section of the stand.

25- The top section of the hi-at stand is now placed over the hi-hat rod, and can be locked in place at the knuckle. The stand is now complete, and ready to have cymbals fitted.

26- Hi-hat cymbals. We are now ready to start putting the hi-hats together. Hi-hat cymbals are 14", which are the same size as the snare drum. In this case both cymbals are the same, however if indicated top and bottom, follow as stated for the next stage. Place one of the cymbals on the stand, by passing the hi-hat rod through the centre of the cymbal, and have the cymbal rest on the hi-hat seat as pictured to the right. Make sure the bell of the cymbal is facing down for the bottom cymbals.

27- Hi-hat clutch assembly. The clutch is the part which was removed from the hi-hat rod when first unpacking the stand. The aim here is for the cymbal to be on the clutch with a felt either side. As seen in the picture on the left, remove the bottom lock nut, and remove 1 felt. Now place the clutch through the centre of the cymbal from the top, making sure the bell is facing up. With the clutch now running through the cymbal, place a felt on the bottom side of the hi-hat and secure lock nut back in place. You may need to adjust top locking nuts to clamp the cymbal slightly tighter between the felts. Allow the cymbal to still move, and be mildly restricted.

28- With the top cymbal assembled with the clutch, now slide the clutch onto the hi-hat rod so the cymbals can meet. Set a gap of approximate 1-2cm between the cymbals, and lock the clutch in place with the wing nut on the clutch. With the cymbals sitting on top of one another, press your foot on the hi-hat pedal. This will cause the rod to depress, and you can lock the clutch in place on the rod at a height that is comfortable to the player.

29- The cymbal stand is the last stand to be assembled for the kit. This will generally be in 3 sections. As discussed previously, firstly open the tripod base and secure the wing nut to lock the base open. Generally open the base to a span of 40-50 cm. Slide the 2nd tier into the base section, and again secure with approximately 20-30cm of this section exposed from the base. Now fit the top section to the 2nd tier, and secure this with the wing nut. Set the stand at a height so when a cymbal is onto, this will clear the 1st tom by 20cm or more.

30- Place the stand as mentioned in step 29 to the right of the 1st tom when viewing from the front as seen in the picture on the right. There is no right or wrong with cymbal placement, this is purely a guide for absolute beginners. It makes more sense to have the cymbal on the right if you are practicing fills on the toms.

31- Fitting the crash cymbal. Similar to that of the hi-hat, the basic rule with all cymbals is between the felts or rubbers. As seen in the picture on the left, remove the top locking nut, and remove one felt or rubber. Place the 16" crash on the remaining rubber, then place the rubber back on top of the cymbal, and fit the lock nut back in place. Make sure the cymbal can still move freely.

32- With the cymbal now on the stand, place the cymbal to the right of the 1st tom as mentioned previously. This can be seen in the picture on the right.

CONGATULATIONS...YOU MADE IT!!!!! You have now set up your first drum set. Reference the pictures below for final positioning and placement.

TUNING: Tuning drums in a very involved process. Each drum will work differently. As mentioned previously, the basics are about tuning in opposites. The aim to to have each tuning point at the same pitch. As there is not set not like a guitar, this isn't a 2 minute job. The basics are have your bass drum just past the wrinkle stageand even. Snare drums work best with a very tight bottom, and control the pitch from the top. With toms, the bottoms will need to be slightly higher than the top, so the drum wont drop in pitch after hit. Here are some helpful links to cover tuning more indepth:

http://www.drumsdatabase.com/tuning-drums.htm
http://www.acousticdrums.com/ad_frames/tuning_free_old.html ( This one is great)
http://drumnetwork.com/howto/tuning.htm (Also really good)

Your package may include a stool. Although there are many types on the market, this is the most common stool with entry level packages. Generally these will be in 3 sections.

33- Firstly Open the tripod base to a reasonable span, and lock this with the wing bolt at the top of the tripod section.

34- Insert the bar with the coach bolt and wing nut into the base section. The bar will have a series of holes. These are to determine the height of the throne. Generally put the bolt through the 2nd or 3rd hole for an average height. Remember to set this so the player when sitting down will have their legs at an approximate right angle.

35- Place the seat top on the stool shaft, and lock with the wing nut under the seat top.

WE HOPE THIS HAS MADE YOUR SET UP A SMOOTH AND ENJOYABLE PROCESS. IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CALL THE FRIENDLY DRUM POWER MUSIC FACTORY STAFF ON (03) 9720 4581. FACTORY 2/55 MALVERN ST. BAYSWATER. VICTORIA. HAPPY DRUMMING!!!!!