Jules
Anyway, just saying hello.
This is my sweet little Force Custom kit.
Picked it up about 7-8 years ago and have been a very happy camper ever since.
This is the bop kit. 18-12-14-14x5.
Shells are the 9 ply Maple/Mahogany shell that may have ended up on the second version of the Sonic Plus drums. Never knew the thickness, but 12" tom appears to be around 6.5mm.
I like the balance in sound I get from the maple and the "mahogany". I've found I'm not always happy with a 100% Maple shell. It can be a bit much at times. The softer Mahogany adds just the right amount of fatness and warmth. The whole kit really agrees with me.
Found someone who was looking to get rid of a wood batter hoop shortly after I got the kit and I thought it would be a fun experiment since I'd never used one before, so I put it on my snare drum.
Didn't change the sound of the drum at all but I now create rim clicks that can bring a building down!
Drums had a mix of heads on them when I got it, and the seller said they were only on there to protect the edges, so I picked up a set of Aquarian Texture coated's and a Jack DeJohnette for the snare batter. I think the snare side is an Ambassador and it works fine, so I left it on there.
The front BD head was the Fiberskyn and I've great luck using those as bass batters on 18''s, so I swapped ends with it and put another TC on the front. Sounds fantastic.
The cymbals are a mix of makes but they all sound great.
Ride is a 22" Turkish Millennium and I love it. Thin and crashable but it has a good ping to it and it's not trashy. It's like....perfect.
Couldn't be happier!
The other cymbal is a 20" K. Zildjian Light Flat Ride I've since sold and replaced with an 18" Masterworks paper thin flat ride. GOOD TRADE. The K was a bit too lively to qualify as a "flat ride" to my ears. The Masterworks fills that role so much better. Again, couldn't be happier (but I need to update the pic of that kit).
The hats are 15" Istanbul AGOP Traditional medium hats. I get why people are so enamored with Istanbul now. When I first got them, I put them on the stand and stepped on the pedal.
They crunched.
I was in heaven, right there (I still can't believe the luck I've had with hi-hats. I've got 2 sets and they're both fantastic).
Nice thing is, they're also heavy enough to rock out on, as well.
There's also a 19" A.Custom crash, for times when I don't need the flat ride.
Past that, cymbal stands are cheap generics I got off of Amazon. The hat stand is a Sakae model I picked up on sale just before Sakae left the American market. The throne is something that came with a cheap kit I picked up a few years back (although I do have a nice Gibraltar 7500 cloth round seat, too) and you can just see the puffball beater that is connected to my Camco by Tama chain drive bass pedal I've had for about 35 years now.
All in all, I'm really happy with this kit. I think I may have found my forever kit (we'll see). =)
....and, as The Friendly Giant used to say, are you ready? Here's my Castle...