Ergonomics and Chromey

[Pat A Flafla]

So I recently played a friend's Chromey replica complete with the weird, customized hardware. He's pretty obsessive about the positioning of everything. We jammed some Rush tunes and I had a very hard time playing them the way I would on my own kit, or even on someone else's more ergonomically positioned kit. Man, that thing's brutal and exhausting to play. No wonder Neil's joints were wrecked.
The awkward things I had to do to end up on any of those crashes coming out of fills with a good angle were completely unnecessary. What's in the primary crash spot near the hihat and 1st rack tom? A splash--not a crash (the primary's further to the right), and the angle of the far right and left crashes require lots of shoulder work. Same with the concert toms. Don't get me started on the china. (That beautifully unusual crash in the first Tom Sawyer fill makes more sense now, after seeing how he liked his highest crash positioned earlier than that recording.)
The only cymbals that were comfortable to play were the ride and that center splash.
The gist: I'm not sure Neil had to beat his body up the way he did to make all that wonderful music. He still would've expired at the same time, but maybe his soft tissue could've caused him less pain up to that point.

I had an opportunity to pay to play on the real Chromey a long time ago at PASIC but I passed. I kinda wish I hadn't just so I could've passed information about it on to this replica's owner.

 

[green glass drum]

I did not know what a Chromy was.....until now.

 

[paulwells73]

I’ve played the real Chromey a lot, and Neil’s red Tama kit a bit. Both kits were also setup with incredible attention to detail to replicate the exact heights and angles that Neil set everything up at. I found them extremely hard to play as well. However, remember that Neil was 6’4" tall (I’m 5’8") so none of that stuff was anywhere near as much of a reach for him.

 

[TheArchitect]

I’ve played the real Chromey a lot, and Neil’s red Tama kit a bit. Both kits were also setup with incredible attention to detail to replicate the exact heights and angles that Neil set everything up at. I found them extremely hard to play as well. However, remember that Neil was 6’4" tall (I’m 5’8") so none of that stuff was anywhere near as much of a reach for him.

True.. and remember that era hardware was a lot more limiting than modern hardware

 

[Treviso1]

True.. and remember that era hardware was a lot more limiting than modern hardware

Yes, there was virtually no such thing as even a multi-clamp back in that era. No bass drum clamp for the hi-hat stand to get the pedals next to one another! I always think about setting that kit up with all of the mic stands! Every mic had its own stand! Can you imagine the hardware case and all of the mic cases? Whoa!