Drum Care

Contents

Learning basic drum care can help maintain your drumset and keep it looking great for a long time. For the most part, these things are common sense and many of the products that are available can be easily made yourself. I’ll cover a few of the basic care options below.

There is a wide range of polishes and cleaners on the market that will keep your shells looking nice. Many of them are multi-purpose and work on both wood shells and the chrome hardware used in drumsets. Personally, I have never used any of these cleaners on my drums, so I cannot really recommend one over the other.

Whether you use a polish or not, I do recommend cleaning your shells often. A simple water and soap solution is sufficient for cleaning dirt and debris off of your shell. Any time you change drumheads, you want to be sure to clean the bearing edges, hoop and rods and check them for damage. It’s amazing how many wood chips and dirt can pile up underneath your heads.

There are also some packs that include cymbal care products too. You can learn more about how to clean cymbals on the Cymbals page.

If you keep your drums set up when you’re not playing, you can eliminate a lot of the dust build up by using a throw over. On Stage makes a water-resistant nylon cover which I think would be handy if you were playing a show outside. It keeps rain off your drums and blocks UV rays. It also has weighted corners which helps keep it in place. But, if you’re just wanting to keep dirt off of it indoors, then you could get by with just using an old sheet.

One of the most important things for keeping your kit in great condition is a drum case or bag. You can find these in almost any size and use them for drums, pedals and hardware. Find a huge selection on the Drum Bags page.