Here Come The Drums!

Ikebe Gakki is one of the biggest musical instrument chains in Tokyo.

This Sunday in Akihabara they had a HUGE sale with some very enticing discounts on a lot of music gear. I don't need any more guitars, but it doesn't hurt to look, does it?

In their advertising material I noticed they were selling an older model Yamaha electric kit for 98,000 yen. I don't consider myself a drummer, but for that price I think that's as cheap as they'd ever get.

We left later that I expected and arrived there about 10:45. The crowd was quite large, but they had a workable ticket system to stop a mad rush. For the Drum Station we were number 50, but the more popular Revole guitar store we were a much further 270.

By the time of the 11:00 opening, you could see quite a sizeable crowd forming. I waited in the drum line while she waited a LONG way around the corner and across the bridge in the guitar line.

It didn't seem to take that long to make it into the drum store. I asked one of the staff about the kit, and he said it was already sold. I was a little disappointed, but he soon came back to me to say that it was actually still available.

The drums were an instore demo so I could easily see a little bit of wear on the pads, but it didn't look too bad at all. My main concern was how big and heavy it was, and I had to consider the logistics of A) being able to set it up in the apartment and B) shipping it back to Australia.

I had to make an after hours withdrawal at the bank, but in no time it was mine. Luckily they offered free delivery to the apartment.

The guitar line took about 3 hours to get in. Since we had a number to get back in line, we decided to go to Maccas for some free coffee to escape the heat, and relax for a long while.

Not surprisingly by the time we got inside all the good stuff had been snapped up. There was a 9,800 yen Squier "Hello Kitty" guitar still up for grabs, and more interestingly a Fender Am Deluxe Strat for 69,800 yen, but neither made me want them. I think I secretly didn't want to find myself buying yet another guitar.

The drums arrived on the Thursday, about the usual 11am. Lucky for me it was my day off, so I had all day to be at home to sign for it.

I almost died when I saw the boxes. Not one, not two, but three of them. The largest was SO big. They were all quite heavy too. All together they were about 50kg. "Holy Shipping expense Batman!"

I found a tight corner where I managed to set up just the kick, snare and hi-hat to test some sounds out. Unfortunately chopsticks were my only drumsticks at that time, but they did the job.

I dread the time when I have to pack and cart this to the Post Office. For the time being I'm going to have a bit of rhythm fun.