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trouble with Randall May drum stands

Posted by Obi Ron Kenobi on 4/10/2025, 11:48 am

I have trouble with them. I believe it's mostly the fault of my students for not treating them well and partly me for not teaching them better. Here's the trouble I have. Please let me know if you have similar trouble, know of solutions or know of a better model/company to buy.

The T-bolts fall off and get lost.

The legs won't slide even though I've greased them two different ways. I assume this is caused by small nicks and dents from kids mistreating them and/or dirt and grit getting in the tracks. I bought the bag cases one year to mitigate the dirt issue but the top half of the bass drum stands don't fit at all.

Despite the fact I know how they operate stands, they tend to fall over because they're imbalanced.

Plastic feet pop off.

The 4-claws of the bass drum stands fit no bass drum I've ever put on them, any brand, any size. Not really. Kinda, but not really.

Re: trouble with Randall May drum stands

Posted by Trent Curry on 7/4/2025, 7:25 pm, in reply to "trouble with Randall May drum stands"

Hey there! TBH most rubber feet fall off all stands at some point, it's just something to always talk about with kids and keep a look out for. T bolts too, although that's a bit more rare for me. Only happens when they loosen too much when leaving performance areas and don't retighten. Def have that convo with them

As far as the legs sliding, I have not had that issue, although I do not use Randal may anymore because I had other issues with the air frame and legs (slipping and falling even when tightened well)

At this moment in time, Pearl is the best all around. Dynasty great too but the legs don't allow for much adjustments in the stands- good at everything else. Mapex is the same way. Yamaha uses Randal May too unfortunately. Ludwig I am unsure of hardware wise. That's about the only options in the market as far as I am aware!

Good luck to you and your students!

Re: trouble with Randall May drum stands

Posted by Warhawk on 4/11/2025, 8:33 am, in reply to "trouble with Randall May drum stands"

Trying getting parts for their harnesses. Took me 18 months to get 2 of the slider plate assemblies and that was before COVID

Re: trouble with Randall May drum stands

Posted by Me on 4/11/2025, 7:35 am, in reply to "trouble with Randall May drum stands"

You are not alone. Randall May is really not good quality hardware and there is a reason all the companies that use them no longer do (after getting out of really really really bad contracts). My suggestion if possible would be to replace them with another brand of stands and carriers if possible. Thats easy to do with some instruments like basses, but a a bit trickier with tenors and even some snares. Just know that all marching stands take a beating and will degrade faster than concerts stands. It's inevitable. If buying new stuff isn't possible, you can try to reach out to schools that have old stands and see if you can get replacement parts from them. Sometimes you can get lucky and find something that will work at a hardware store, but the stands are designed to have specialty parts so you have to go through Randall May. Randall May is the reason I've never considered a Yamaha line since I've been teaching (I personally used Yamaha in HS and College). Would strongly consider now though since Yamaha is making their own hardware it is looks pretty good when I saw it at TMEA.

Re: trouble with Randall May drum stands

Posted by Dissatisfied customer on 4/10/2025, 1:52 pm, in reply to "trouble with Randall May drum stands"

I have issues with them too. There are way too many moving parts and things that need adjusting. It's fine if a drum corps is using them, but for a typical high school, it means that more things can go wrong.

I have a Mapex drum line and I'll be switching over to their line of carriers and stands. I saw them at TMEA and they seem like they're more durable than the RMs.

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