Building A Suitcase Drum Set

A lot of drummers today are looking for a smaller, more portable drum set which is easy to carry around and takes up less storage room. However, not everyone can afford a brand new kit. If that sounds interesting to you and maybe you have some unused drum gear, why not build a suitcase drum set yourself? Not only do they look cool, but you can also fit all components of the kit inside the suitcase for easy transportation.

My name is Pascal, and if you want to know how I put together my suitcase drum set and how you can build your own, you‘ve come to the right place. My kit is equipped with:

• 16“ bass drum head (in the suitcase)
• 13“ snare
• 12“ tom
• 14“ hi-hat
• 18“ crash-ride

I already had the key elements lying around in my rehearsal room. So I bought a used suitcase online and put on a pedal mount. Next, I added some bent floor tom legs for stabilization and a 12“ tom, which I cut off in order to save space. Both are attached with tom clamps. On top of the suitcase, I put on two tom holders, one for the cymbal and one as an auxiliary mount. At first, I played the actualsuitcase with a rubber bass drum beater. That worked fine, but at some point I got tired of the suitcase being much lower in volume than the rest of the kit. So I decided to add a drum head to it. I got an old 16“ tom from a friend and cut it off right behind the lugs. Then I cut a 16“ hole into the suitcase and mounted the head inside. I completed the kit with a metal laundry basket with an old drum throne top as my seat. Inside of it, I can load additional stuff like microphones or my stickbag.

All you really need to build your own suitcase drum set is a suitcase, a snare and a hi-hat. You can also mount everything on the suitcase, it just depends on how you want to use it. You need to put on a bass drum pedal mount, but it doesn‘t have to be very sophisticated. If you want, you can add a cymbal, tom or whatever else you like. There is no blue print for a drum set, especially for a suitcase drum set. Just be creative and use what you have to create what you want!