How To Set Up Your Hi-Hat Clutch In 7 Simple Steps
Photo credit: Alotor
A lot of drummers ask me how to do this and to be honest I had no idea the first time I had to do it. But its really very simple to set up your hi-hat clutch.
Usually your clutch will have 5 different parts to it:
- Main body of clutch
- Washers x2
- Felts x2
- Lock
How To Set Up Your Hi-hat Clutch
1. Put a washer on the threaded part of the clutch with the flat side facing up and screw it to the top.
2. Put on the other washer with the flat side facing down and screw it on until its tight against the other washer
3. Put on a felt and push it up to the 2 washers.
4. Put on your top hi-hat cymbal with the bell facing up.
5. Put on a felt.
6. Put on the lock and screw it on as far as it will go.
7. Screw the washers down so the hi-hat is held snugly between the 2 felts. If you get this too loose your hi-hats will wobble. Too tight and your hi-hats will be held rigid and may break more easily.
Attaching The Clutch To The Stand
With the wing nut unscrewed, the top hi hat will sit on top of the bottom one. To be able control the space between your 2 hi-hat cymbals you need to screw the wing nut of the clutch onto the pole so that the top hi-hat sits above the bottom one.
Try this: The easiest way to do this is to press your foot down on the pedal so that the pole moves about 2cm (1 inch) then tighten the wing nut. When you release your foot on the pedal the top hi-hat will now be sitting at the perfect height above the bottom one. And all with no heavy lifting!
That’s it. Simple. Your clutch may be a slightly different design to what I’ve mentioned here but the principles will be the same:
Washer - felt - top hihat - felt - lock
Doing a gig without a clutch is possible but its not much fun so always take a spare.
In fact, a spare clutch is one of the 7 essentials for the gigging drummer that I recommend you should take to every gig.
Alex
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