Packing your drum kit!

Almost every rock, pop, or jazz music band has a drummer who sets the rhythm of the song and who is responsibile for tacking care of his precious instrument. This part of the job is most uncool for the drummer. In fact, a drummer needs to manage a whole drum set which usually contains some drums, toms, cymbals, accessories, and other hardware. But, with help of Intermove Bosnia, you will able to rock on in any location on the planet available without worrying about how to pack your drum kit and how to ship it. Intermove will drum with the movers sweat and you will drum with rock,n,roll sweat.

Packing and transportation of drum kit is difficult because of its complexity and size. That is why Intermove  have prepared some tips on how to pack  a drum kit for shipping and send it on his rock,n,roll way. We like to help rockers because our business is pure roc,n,roll but without girls and drugs. Only with sweat.

Firstly gather packing supplies!

The first thing you need to do is to protect the drum kit accordingly and properly whether you want to send a drum kit overseas or domestically. Because of that we provide a list of packing materials required for drum kit protection and packaging so that you can relocate your instrument in a secure and reliable way:

  1. Cardboard boxes. It is preferable to use original boxes provided together with a drum kit initially. In case you do not have one, you can buy cardboard boxes at the office supply store or provide it from your moving company (Intermove Bosnia will be glad to help you and your rock,n,roll requests).
  2. Scrap paper. You can use newspapers or heavy brown paper to fill voids inside the box.
  3. Cardboard scrap. Intermove recommend using cardboard scrap both for wall protection and wrapping the outside of drums.
  4. Bubble wrap. Use it for covering fragile and small items of the drum kit. Bubble wrap grants additional protection to larger items. You can find it at any stationary or hardware store. Also it is the best packing material because it provides excellent protection to your fragile items due to it,s stronger and cushioning caracteristic
  5. Packing tape. It is necessary for securing the elements of the drum kit, additional packaging materials, and the box itself.
  6. Drum key. This item is crucial for assembling and disassembling the items of the drum kit. Without that piece of tools you will be just like a man on desertet island with a can of meat but without can opener.

Steps on how to pack your precious!

Before shiping a drum kit, you need to pack it accordingly by following these Intermove instructions. This is necessary to avoid any damages during transportation even if you choose the most reliable and trustworthy logistics service providers. We acknowledge that there are various configurations of drums sets, but Intermove will guide you on how to pack the set of drums of three to five pieces.

  1. Strip the hardware. Remove the stands, legs, and other hardware items, and put them aside. Disassembly your drum set accordingly.
  2. Prepare the bass drum. Firstly you need to remove drum hoops and drum heads. After that, wrap the bass drum hoops with bubble wrap and slide them onto the bass drum shell.
  3. Pack drums. Use bubble wrap for protection of the bass drum and a floor tom. Wrap it around the diameter two times, take cardboard scrap to cover bubble wrap, and fix it with packing tape. Repeat this procedure for all drums except the snare drum.
  4. Prepare the box for the bass drum. Put a layer of bubble wrap or packing paper on the bottom of the box and create additional protection of the walls with cardboard scrap.
  5. Put drums in the box. Place the drum bass shell inside the box, then nest a floor tom into it. Remove one head from the floor tom and put a hanging tom inside it. For larger sets, additional floor and hanging toms could be packed separately by adhering to the principle of nesting drums.
  6. Prepare the bass drum heads. Put the bass drum heads in the appropriate box and make sure those do not shift around it. Then, fill all remaining voids inside the box with the drums and put a smaller one with the bass drum heads on top. You can fill the upper part of the box with packing peanuts.
  7. Pack the snare drum. As the shape of the snare drum is flattened in comparison to others, it is better to pack it separately. Cover the drum with bubble wrap and cardboard scrap. Prepare the box as described in step 4 and put the snare drum inside it.
  8. Pack the cymbals. Cover each cymbal with bubble wrap and secure it with adhesive tape. Prepare the box as described in step 4 and put the biggest cymbal on the bottom first. Separate each cymbal with a layer of cardboard scrap. Fill the voids with bubble wrap or scrap paper to make the cymbals fixed.
  9. Wrap small hardware items. Use bubble wrap and adhesive tape for packing the tensions rods and claws. Put them inside the floor tom or other empty spaces. Fill all the voids in the box with scrap paper or bubble wrap and reinstall the floor tom head.
  10. Pack the hardware. Wrap cymbal stands, hi-hat stand, bass drum pedals, floor tom legs, and other pieces separately. Depending on the size and weight of the box along with the empty spaces available, you can place some hardware elements inside as well. But you need to be sure that they will cause damage the drums.
  11. Pack other items. You can put a box with cymbals and remaining hardware elements into a larger box. Similar to the bass drum box preparation, put a layer of bubble wrap or scrap paper on the bottom. It is recommended to put the hardware elements on the bottom of the box so that they do not shift around it. Put the box with cymbals on top and fill the voids with scrap paper.
  12. Prepare all the boxes for shipping. Seal each box and secure all sides with packing tape. You can arrange a drum kit for shipping depending on its configuration and the number of items. Simply put smaller boxes with cymbals, floor toms, or hanging toms into a bigger one. However, make sure that the entire package is not overweight and that its components are placed accordingly.

In case you need any more information on how to pack and ship a drum kit, you can contact us by e-mail or phone. Our expert will be glad to help you especially if you please them with some of your drum solo act.

Happy moving and,

bang on.

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