Four-Foot Fiend

Mike Eaton, the drummer for the Colorado-based Christian rock band Renewed, assembled this month’s featured set with the goal of minimizing his touring kit’s overall footprint onstage. “I’d always imagined mounting several cymbals and drums using a very minimal amount of floor space,” Eaton says. “With this custom rack, I’m able to set up eight drums and ten cymbals using only 48″ x 48″ of floor space.”

Eaton built a custom chrome rack with various Gibraltar parts to optimize his set’s onstage presence. The rack toms, cymbals, and legless snare stand are mounted on two 36″ horizontal bars that stand 6″ off the ground.

Eaton explains that the kit’s DW drums were purchased after being used by “Queen” Cora Coleman-Dunham during a Prince show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It features DW’s Black Galaxy FinishPly wrap and Coleman-Dunham’s autograph on each of the set’s Remo heads.

The set’s drums include 7×8, 8×10, and 9×12 rack toms, 14×14 and 14×16 floor toms, an 18×22 bass drum, and 5.5×14 and 7×14 snares. Eaton outfitted the kit with Sabian cymbals, a DW 9000 series hi-hat pedal, and a DW 5002 double bass drum pedal. The cymbal arms are made by Pearl.

“The entire set fits into two Anvil road cases,” Eaton says. “I love to see the look on stage managers’ faces when I tell them that the drums only need 48″ x 48″ of stage space!”

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