Crazy Mini Buffalo Kit!

Introducing the Crazy Mini Buffalo Kit!
8" snare, 10" tom and a 14" bass drum - all mounted to the snare stand.

Click here to see a video of me playing it.

It took a little wrangling with clamps to get the bass drum stable and positioned correctly. I'm no fan of muffling drums, but the 14" Buffalo drum was a little too pingy, so I put some foam in it. The foam really gives it a nice thud.

The tom sounds like a roto-tom and the snare is very dry and popcorny.

The whole thing weighs about 8 pounds - including the snare stand and clamps.

This would be a great kit for busking - super portable and it sounds great! I'm going to cut down some crappy hi-hats that I have to a 10" diameter - the 14" hats are just too loud for this tiny kit.

Front view:

Side view - look how shallow the shells are!

From the driver's seat:

A view of the clamps I used to attach the bass drum to the snare stand.
The black clamp is a rim-mount accessory clamp. The silver clamp is a post clamp.
I picked up the threaded rod at a hardware store for about a buck.

Buffalo Kit video!

Here it is - a video of me playing the Buffalo kit!

 Click here to see the Buffalo kit!

Crazy Buffalo Drum Kit updated!

Well, here is the finished version of the Buffalo Kit! This drum kit is pretty crazy! It is also one of the most portable kits I have ever built  - without the hardware and cymbals, the six shells weigh maybe 12 pounds. I have added 2 more toms to it. You can't really see it in the picture, but there is a 5/16" foot long screw screwed through one of the pre-drilled holes at the top of the bass shell. The screw goes through a post clamp that is mounted to the ride cymbal stand. This helps to keep the bass drum super stable and prevent it from moving, since there are no spurs on it. I originally tried mounting the long screw through the side of the bass drum shell, but it wasn't nearly as stable as the current through-the-top version. My buddy Mikey came up with the idea of putting the screw through the top. The bass drum doesn't move at all now. The tiny shell by the hi-hat is an 8" snare; there are 8", 10" 12" and 14" toms as well. All the shells are 3.5" deep. All the toms and snare are bolted together using the pre-existing holes in the shells.  The entire snare/tom assembly sits on a snare basket. No hardware, no tuning, weather proof, water proof, bullet proof (nearly!). I love this kit. The hi-hats I'm using are 1961 Zildjian 14" beauties - they are really jazzy and dry. The ride cymbal is a 20" Sabian B8 that I found in the gutter one day. (Really!) That's a poster of Neil Peart and his Time Machine tour kit on the wall behind me.

I loved this kit - it incorporated all the elements I was trying to include in my crazy drum kits - lightweight, easy to set up/tear down, weather resistant, and inexpensive. However, as of February 2015, there is no more Buffalo Drum kit - I sold the various parts. I'm waiting for Remo to figure this out and bring out their version of it.

Truly an amazing little crazy drum kit, and I'm glad I made it!

Crazy Buffalo Drum Kit!

I've been using a snare drum that I made from a Remo Buffalo Drum for almost 2 years now. There's a post on here somewhere showing how to do it. I absolutely love the dry sound I get from my Buffalo snare. I decided to make a whole kit from Buffalo Drums. I had a 22" Buffalo Drum laying around that I had intended to turn into a portable bass drum. I drilled a couple holes in a board and used 2 bolts to attach the 22" drum to the board. The board allows me to use a bass drum pedal with the Buffalo Drum (since there is no rim). I then taped some sheets of cork to the bottom of the non-batter side of the board in order to lift it up and make it level. The cork is also nice and non-slip, an unexpected benefit. I used some hippie ass looking duct tape to secure the cork to the board. I bought the board at a thrift store for one US dollar ($1). The sheets of cork were 25 cents apiece. I used three sheets of cork to level the board. The pic below shows the board and bolts. (All of the Buffalo Drums come with convenient holes pre-drilled in them for rope handles. The holes are 5/16").

22" drum bolted to the board.

The finished bass drum assembly.

I had been using my 14" Buffalo drum as a snare, but I wanted it for a 'floor' tom. I cut some snare wires to length and screwed them into an 8" Buffalo Drum (which makes a super dry popcorn type snare sound, almost like a drum machine snare sound!). I then bolted the 8", 14" and 10" Buffalo Drums together to create my tom/snare set up. The pic below shows the snare wires and bolts. These drums are so light that I can put the whole thing in a snare basket!

The bottom side of the snare/tom assembly.

Top view of the snare/tom assembly. Snare is on the left.

The Buffalo Kit is pretty high pitched and there's no way to tune it. It sounds like hand drums being played in kit fashion (of course, because that's what it is!). It's a lot quieter than a normal drum kit, making it perfect for apartments or small spaces. I want to add two more Buffalo Drums to it as toms. The snare/tom assembly weighs maybe 4-5 pounds, the bass drum assembly maybe 4 pounds (without the pedal). I set the tom/snare assembly up in front of the bass drum. This is a super fast kit, with no space between the drums at all! It sounds great though! Set up time is about ten seconds. Put the drums in the snare basket, clip on the bass pedal and it's ready to go. This is a great kit for people on a budget! The Buffalo Drums will cost you about $160-190 total, depending on which sizes you buy and how many you use. This is a great practice kit - leave your full sized kits at the rehearsal studio and play this bad boy at home!

The fully assembled Buffalo Kit!

I have given away every Crazy Drum Kit that I've built, but this one is a keeper and will be with me for many years to come. (LIES! I sold most of these.) The shells are weather proof! Super light, super easy to set up/tear down, and the shells are only 3.5 inches deep, making them easy to nest inside of each other. Although this kit does not sound like a full sized kit, it's a great alternative for small spaces where you need to play quietly.This kit is good for playing outside too! Another benefit is that you never need to tune it. I really love this little bastard. I've been playing the shit out of it.