Build Guide

I love playing drums, and I’ve always wanted to take them with me: down the street, wherever people are. This kit is how I do that. It isn’t something you can buy. I put it together slowly, one piece at a time, from regular drum hardware, a marching snare harness and a lot of trial and error, with a lot of help from good friends.

Many of you have asked how it’s built, so I’m sharing everything I’ve learned so far. I’m still learning and still changing things, so please take this as one drummer’s notes, not the right way to do it. If it sparks an idea for your own kit, that would make me really happy. The full setup currently weighs about 38 lb (17 kg).

This is simply what I did and what I learned along the way. It isn’t a fabrication manual or a safety certification. I haven’t documented rod lengths, bend geometry or leg cut lengths yet, so you won’t find them here.

1. The drums and where they sit

Positions are from the wearer’s view, facing forward:

Left: 12-inch Mapex Black Panther snare, tuned relatively high.
Center: custom 10-inch hi-hat. A Zildjian ZHT 10-inch Splash is the top cymbal and a Craftsman DGC Series 10-inch China is the bottom cymbal.
Right: 14 × 6.5-inch Mapex floor tom. It plays the bass voice of the kit.

There are also an 8-inch Wuhan Western Series Splash, a 13-inch Wuhan crash and a Latin Percussion LP205 Timbale Cowbell. The cowbell is mounted with the same type of stand and rod as the splash.

The assembled kit on a sidewalk, seen from the front and above: the marching harness stands behind two drums, with cymbals, a cowbell, a stick bag, a Minor Mishap badge and a clamp phone mount attached.

2. The harness and custom aluminum rods

The base is a silver REMO USA marching snare harness that I found on eBay. Its original carrier rods do not fit regular drum-set mounting holders, so they could not be used as they were.

My friend Chalo Colina fabricated replacement carrier rods from 7/16-inch aluminum rod.

For comfort, I added tactifans shoulder strap pads made for 2-inch straps.

A plain aluminum rod bolted to the harness and bent down into a drum mount on the snare, next to a black stick bag with a red speaker clipped on. — One of the aluminum rods Chalo Colina made, bolted to the harness and bent down into a drum mount. The stick bag and speaker hang beside it.

A black mesh tactifans pad wrapped around a harness shoulder bar. — A tactifans pad on the harness shoulder bar.

3. The U-shaped snare–floor-tom connector

The snare and the floor tom are linked with mounting brackets and a custom U-shaped connecting rod, also made from 7/16-inch aluminum rod.

Concept: James Hsu
Fabrication: Chalo Colina

A U-shaped aluminum rod linking a clamp on the snare hoop and a clamp on the floor-tom hoop. — The U-shaped connector between the snare and the floor tom. James Hsu’s idea, made by Chalo Colina.

4. The snare raiser

To bring the snare up to the same playing height as the floor tom, I cut the three original floor-tom legs down into very short pieces and held them on the snare with the same drum hoop mounting clamps I use elsewhere on the kit. The clamps are ordinary hardware; the trick is reusing the floor tom’s own legs this way.

Concept: James Hsu

I haven’t documented the cut length of the legs yet.

Close-up of the lower snare shell, with chrome hoop clamps on the bottom hoop holding short legs with rubber feet. — The snare raiser. Drum hoop mounting clamps hold the floor tom's original legs, cut very short.

5. Mounting cymbals without clamping the floor tom

I avoided extra brackets that clamp onto the floor-tom shell. Because the floor tom carries the bass voice, I want to keep as much of its low-end resonance as I can, and I found that hardware clamped tightly to the shell held back the sound I wanted.

Instead, I relocated the floor tom’s original leg mounting holes and use those positions to hold cymbal hardware. Where the holes go depends on where each player wants their cymbals to sit, so I give no drilling instructions.

The mounting hardware includes low-profile M8 cymbal stackers, a Z-shaped cymbal boom arm, drum hoop mounting clamps and a hi-hat hoop clamp with Z-rod. The exact count and position of each piece is not fully documented. The Parts List has the product links.

A straight cymbal stacker rod standing in the floor tom’s leg mount, holding a cymbal above the drum. — A cymbal stacker standing in one of the floor tom’s leg mounts.

A knurled Z-shaped arm rising from the floor tom’s leg mount and holding a small cymbal. — The Z-shaped boom arm in a floor-tom leg mount.

A chrome clamp with two hex bolts gripping the snare hoop, with a knurled rod running down from it. — A drum hoop mounting clamp on the snare.

6. The hi-hat

The center hi-hat is mounted on a bracket that comes off the snare. On my kit that works because the snare is tuned high. That is an observation about this kit, not proof that a bracket never affects a snare.

A TAMA Quick Set Cymbal Mate lets me set by hand how tightly the two hi-hat cymbals touch. There is no hi-hat pedal.

Side view of the floor tom and the snare, with a long bent rod running from a clamp at the bottom of the snare up to a cymbal between the two drums. — The Z-rod that holds the hi-hat, coming off a clamp on the snare. The U-shaped connector is underneath.

A black quick-set cymbal nut with red release tabs and a felt sleeve, on a cymbal bell. — The TAMA Quick Set Cymbal Mate.

Zildjian ZHT 10-inch Splash, used as the top cymbal of the custom hi-hat.

Craftsman DGC Series 10-inch China, used as the bottom cymbal of the custom hi-hat. Product by Craftsman (@craftsman_tw).

7. Accessories

Two phone mounts, used at the same time: a TELESIN magnetic neck mount and a Khazylorr clamp mount with a magic arm. What each one films and exactly where each attaches is not documented yet.
A JBL Clip 3 Bluetooth speaker clipped to the front of the harness.
Vater Wire Tap Wood Brushes, held in Yamaha MBMH-2 mallet holders that I use as brush holders.
Vic Firth Nate Smith signature sticks, carried in a ProMark PQ2 two-pair marching stick bag.
A KEMIMOTO bicycle cup holder with a pouch.
My Minor Mishap Marching Band badge.

Some of these parts were designed for bicycles, guitars or marching drums. I used them where they worked for this build.

A grey TELESIN neck mount with a black magnetic phone ring, held in a hand. — The TELESIN magnetic neck mount.

Two Vater Wire Tap wood brushes held in a white Yamaha clip holder on the floor-tom shell. — Vater Wire Tap brushes in a Yamaha MBMH-2 holder on the floor tom.

Two Vic Firth Nate Smith signature drumsticks lying across the snare head. — Vic Firth Nate Smith signature sticks.

8. Weight distribution: don’t skip this

When you carry a whole kit, left/right balance matters a lot. Uneven load causes real discomfort and strain.

I use two digital luggage scales, one on each side of the suspended harness, and move components until the two readings are close. Then I wear the kit and check front/back balance, shoulder pressure, how secure the fasteners are, and how stable it feels while moving.

In one measured configuration, each scale read about 6.5 kg. Those readings were for that suspended configuration only. They are not the weight of the complete kit, which is about 38 lb / 17 kg.

Two black SKEAP digital luggage scales hanging side by side from a ceiling rack, each marked "MAX. 110lb/50kg". — The two SKEAP digital luggage scales used for the balance check, one for each side of the suspended harness. Each is rated to 110 lb / 50 kg.

Being able to mount a drum kit on your body and being able to wear it safely and comfortably while playing are very different problems. Equal scale readings are a useful check, but they do not prove a rig is safe.

9. Always a work in progress

This started with a floor tom attached at my waist and grew through many changes to brackets, connectors and accessories. I treat each upgrade like a software release, with a version number and a changelog. The current documented release is v3.2.0.

Thanks to James Hsu for the design ideas and to Chalo Colina for fabricating the custom aluminum parts. See Credits for details.