Now that I have built five of these triggers (two of which I used as guinea pigs for another ideas), I thought I would try to tweak my own design. Let me first say that, because of lack of funds and wanting to start another project, I will not be building the X4L any further than it is now. With that said, It would not be that difficult to buy a rack and mount these triggers to it. The concepts used in this project could be easily adapted for a bass drum trigger. You just wouldn’t have the 1/2″ L-rod mount on the base and you would move the sensor & plate down so it doesn’t make contact with the beater. Then bolt the trigger to a kick tower. I would suggest using a Gibraltar GBDP Bass Drum Pad and modifying it. Replace the standard rubber pad with the X4L kick pad. Here is a conceptual mock-up (before & after).

Before modsafter mods

The next thing I would like to address is the base of the trigger itself. Currently it is made of 3/4″ mdf, but after a little thought, it seems that 1/2″ would be much better. If 1/2″ is used a second piece of MDF would need to be stacked under the L-rod mount and the 1/4″ jack mount location. This can be seen in the over all “Updated X4L Concept” picture.

 

Updated X4L concept

Having this configuration fixes three things I did not like about my build. One, the pipe stand-off that had to be used to make the 1/4″ input jack not stick up so far into the trigger. Two the fender washers I used under the wing nut for the mount was 1″ diameter, which means it would hang over the thickness of the 3/4″ MDF. The third thing is, on the 3/4″ base, two half moon cut-outs were done two shed weight of the over all build. If using the new 1/2″ configuration, those two half moon cut-outs are not needed.

Finally, last major thing I would change is the wing-nut. I would replace it with a rubberized knob to give the build the most professional polish I could. The knob can be seen in the concept drawing above. Notice I also give a part number for that knob shown in the picture.

Well that’s it for this project. I can’t wait to see how some of you guys are doing with your X4L’s! Good Luck!