Like many other drummers, the UK's Steve Holland craved greater control over his hi-hat when using both feet on his double bass pedals.
Conventional drop-clutches simply drop the top cymbal onto the bottom one so you get a closed sound, albeit a fairly loose closed sound. But what if you want a half-open, washy sound?
Steve's dilemma led him to invent a double drop-clutch, actually one with three positions - open, closed and part-closed - instead of the usual open or closed.
After successfully using his own-design prototype for 18 months, Steve has got it into production via German company DrumCraft.
Build
Standard drop-clutch designs have a hooked lever which unhooks the clutch, dropping the top cymbal. Then when you step on the pedal again the hook re-engages, bringing the top cymbal back up to its normal position.
Steve's design adds a second hooked lever which allows the top cymbal to drop part way, giving you the sizzle.
The unit comes in two parts. First is a replacement for your normal hi-hat clutch with an eaved dome for hooking under. Then there's the double lever mechanism, which incorporates the two hinged and sprung steel levers with a solid aluminium mounting block.
The hi-hat pull-rod goes first through the clutch, which holds the top cymbal, then on through the mounting block with its big securing wing nut.
Hands On
Fitting the unit takes seconds. You clamp your top cymbal in the clutch as normal then adjust the height of the aluminium block to get the required position for your partially-open sizzle setting.
Once happy with this, operation while playing is simple. The two rubber- coated levers each extend 9cm (3½-inch) horizontally so are easy to aim at with your stick while playing flat-out. And they are colour-coded so you don't hit the wrong one.
Play the hi-hat normally and, when you go to double kicks, strike the black lever and it drops to the part-open position. From here strike the white lever if you want to drop further to the closed position. Step on the hi-hat to bring it back up to normal.
The only slight drawback is to reach the closed position you have to strike black and then white in succession.
