Packing a drum set for moving is not as straightforward as you’d like it to be. While the entire packing process consists of highly logical steps, you’ll soon find out that the packing technique is, in many ways, way different than anything you’ve seen until that moment.
The good news is that you only need to follow these step-by-step packing instructions to learn how to pack a drum set safely and securely. That is, once you understand how it’s done, you’ll be able to use the right drums packing method over and over again, whenever you need to move your drum set.
The following steps are intended for packing and moving a 3-piece drum set (bass drum, floor tom, and rack tom) but once you understand the whole packing idea of nesting smaller drums into larger ones, you’ll be able to pack 6-piece drum sets as well.
Follow these 10 steps for packing up a drum kit for moving.
What to know when packing drums for moving
Here are the top 3 things you need to know when packing up your drums for a move:
- Drums look imposing and even sturdy in a way, but the reality is that they are very fragile and can easily get damaged when being moved from one place to another. So, in order to protect your investment (yes, drums are expensive!), you’re going to have to use the right packing technique to prevent any chance of costly transportation damage. Read on for more details.
- The best way to pack a drum set for moving is to use the nesting packing technique when smaller drums are packed securely into larger drums. The nesting packing method used for protecting drums on the road offers a couple of great advantages:
1) it reduces the total amount of boxes, thus lowering the packing and shipping costs, and 2) it minimizes greatly the gaps inside the moving box which practically eliminates any unwanted movement of your drums and drum accessories inside the container during the haul. - To pack your drums and your drum accessories safely, you’re going to need the right packing supplies too. Below you will find a list of all the packing materials needed to protect your drums on the road. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting beforehand that the key to packing drums efficiently is the generous usage of scrap pieces of thick cardboard.
Packing supplies required to pack your drums for moving
One thing is clear – you won’t be able to pack up your drums safely without the proper packing materials. Here’s the packing supplies you’ll have to prepare in advance for a smooth packing experience:
- Large cardboard box. You’re going to need to find a strong cardboard box that is approximately 4 inches larger on all sides than the diameter of the biggest drum in your set – that’ll usually be the bass drum. For instance, if you’re moving a 22’’ bass drum, you’ll need a 26’’ cube box made of strong corrugated cardboard.
- Kraft paper. For best results, prepare a stack of Kraft paper – the heavy brown paper that you can purchase from office supply stores, home improvement stores, or online. Soft white packing paper should also do fine for padding but you’re going to have to use much more to get the same degree of protection as Kraft paper.
Newspaper can be used but only for filling empty gaps – newsprint should never touch directly any parts of your drums for fear of staining them with ink. - Scrap cardboard. Use scrap pieces of cardboard to protect the outside areas of the drums and pad the inside of the drum shells as well. Getting scrap cardboard should be easy enough – you can cut them from any useless cardboard boxes as long as those pieces are clean and sturdy.
- Bubble wrap. Prepare large pieces of bubble wrap for the ultimate protection of your drums.
- Packing tape. Get a roll of high-quality packing tape.
- Utility knife. You’ll use to cut out the scrap cardboard pieces and, at the end of the packing process, to cut down the excessive height of the cardboard box. Read on to find out how it’s done.
See also: How to pack a guitar for moving
How to pack a drum set for moving: 10 Packing steps
Now that you have the packing supplies ready, it’s time to pack up your unique musical instrument for safe transportation to the new home.
These are the detailed steps to packing drums for a move:
Step 1. REMOVE all tom legs and holders
The very first step is to remove the basic hardware items from the drum set – remove the legs of the floor toms, then do the same with the tom holders.
For the time being, you can leave those disassembled hardware pieces aside to be packed later.
Step 2. WRAP the bass drum
The bass drum is often the trickiest drum to pack due to its large size.
- Take off the two bass drum hoops by unscrewing the drum claws and the tension rods.
- Remove carefully the bass drum heads.
- Pack the drum claws and tension rods separately by wrapping each piece in Kraft paper, then securing them by packing tape, and placing them inside a Ziploc bag for safekeeping. These metal pieces should never come into direct contact with each other during the haul.
- Wrap well the two bass drum hoops with bubble wrap, then secure the bubble wrap with small pieces of tape. Slide the two hoops back onto the bass drum shell.
- Wrap the bass drum heads in bubble wrap, then place them inside a drum head box (ideally) or create a custom-sized flat box out of the large cardboard pieces you have lying around.
- Finally, wrap the bass drum around its diameter with bubble wrap. Go two times around drum diameter with the plastic padding material for extra safety.
Step 3. WRAP the floor tom and rack tom
Now it’s time to protect your floor tom and rack toms.
- Bubble-wrap the floor tom twice along its diameter just like you did with the bass drum.
- Use large strips of scrap cardboard to cover the outside area of the floor tom. The idea is to create hard-shell protection for your floor tom in order to keep it safe during transport.
- Tape the external hard shell made of scrap cardboard. Make sure it’s taped well so that the cover won’t move inside the box, thus exposing the hardware to potential damage.
- Repeat the above sub-steps to protect each tom drum in your drum kit.
Step 4. PREPARE the large moving box
Here’s what you should do to make sure the large cardboard box is ready for your individually packed drums.
- Cover the bottom of the large box with pieces of bubble wrap to create a soft padding layer that will serve as a cushion to the entire packed drum kit.
- Place a large piece of cardboard over the initial bubble wrap layer for extra stability and added firmness.
- Add a piece of scrap cardboard to each interior wall of the carton to reinforce its sides and protect the first drum that will go into the container – the bass drum. This extra step will also make the entire box more resilient to harmful forces from the outside.
Step 5. PACK the bass drum into the box
Now it’s time to pack the bass drum for moving.
- Place the shell of the bass drum with the open parts facing the box bottom and you. The bass drum should fit comfortably into the extra scrap-cardboard reinforcement you created in the previous step.
- Line the shell interior of the bass drum with one layer of scrap cardboard. The idea here is to protect the inside shell from the floor tom that’s coming next into the box.
Step 6. PACK the floor tom inside the bass drum
Now it’s time to use the nesting packing technique to pack your drum set for moving:
- Place the bubble-wrapped floor tom inside the bass drum shell. Do this slowly and carefully, without exerting too much pressure.
- Insert pieces of paper (Kraft paper or wrapping paper) inside the space around the floor tom so that the drum gets fully immobilized and cannot move around.
Step 7. PACK the rack tom inside the floor tom
It’s time to add the rack to the large moving box. This is how it’s done:
- Remove the top head of the floor tom.
- Insert the bubble-wrapped rack tom inside the floor tom.
- Place on the top the tension rods you have wrapped in paper and inserted in a Ziploc bag.
- Fill the space inside the floor tom with paper to make sure the rack tom and the tension rods on it cannot move during the haul.
- Reposition the floor tom head and tighten it slightly with your fingers.
Step 8. FINISH packing the cardboard box
You’ll be done in just a few simple packing steps:
- Fill in all gaps inside the large moving box with packing paper. Keep adding padding paper until all drums are covered completely.
- Add the floor tom legs on the top, making sure they are not in direct contact with any of the drums.
- Lay the pre-boxed bass drum heads on top
Step 9. REDUCE the box height
This is the penultimate step to packing a drum set for a move:
- Reduce the height of the cardboard box if there’s too much room on the top once you’ve packed up everything. This will increase the overall safety of the box contents.
- Use the utility knife to cut lightly all interior sides of the box in horizontal lines a bit above the bass drum head box. Do it without cutting through the cardboard as you’ll only need to fold the container at those lines.
- Insert the utility knife (the blade should be facing upwards) into each box corner from the marked lines up and cut those corners with an upward motion.
- Fold the box walls over the packed drums, effectively eliminating the excess space at the top of the box. Bear in mind that you don’t need that extra space.
Step 10. Close and tape the box
You’re almost done – all you have left to do is seal the box and label it.
- Lift and shake the box slightly – do you feel anything moving inside? If not, then you’ve done a good job of packing your drums for moving.
- Close the moving box, then use plenty of packing tape to secure it.
- Label the big moving box appropriately. Don’t forget to write FRAGILE in big red letters.
Packing drums when moving house is not overly complicated but the dreadful thought of having your expensive drum kit damaged due to improper packing is enough to make you doubt your own packing skills.
To play it perfectly safe, hire professional packers who are experienced enough to know the best way to pack drums for moving.
Read also: Should you hire professional packers?
