Parts of a Cymbal Stand – Labeled Boom Stand Diagram

All 13 parts on the diagram

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Boom stand 7

Legs Three legs fold out into a tripod that holds the stand up.
Tubes Two or three tubes slide inside one another to set the height.
Boom arm It reaches the cymbal out to the side of the stand.
Tilter It sets the angle of the cymbal.
Counterweight It balances a long boom or a heavy cymbal.
Memory lock A clamp that keeps a height setting for the next setup.
Rubber feet A rubber foot caps the end of each leg.

The top 6

Wing nut It screws onto the top of the rod, above the top felt.
Felts A felt above and a felt below cushion the cymbal.
Sleeve It keeps the metal rod from touching the cymbal.
Bell The raised center of the cymbal, round the mounting hole.
Bow The main surface, between the bell and the edge.
Edge The outer rim of the cymbal.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01, a name kept only where two independent sources use it. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Cymbal stand, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbal_stand (the tripod, the tubes that set the height, the angle adjustment at the top, bottom felt, sleeve, top felt, wingnut, boom, counterweight); Drum hardware, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_hardware (boom arm, tilter, memory locks); Cymbal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbal (bell, bow, edge). (2) A drum magazine's review of a boom cymbal stand, 2004, full text at https://archive.org/details/modern-drummer-issue-297 (boom arm, cymbal tilter, wing nut, felts, memory lock, tubes, legs, tripod, counterweight) and its 2012 review of three cymbal stands, https://archive.org/details/modern-drummer-issue-395 (tilter, wing nut, memory locks, tripod). (3) Two unrelated drum hardware makers' stand manuals read on 2026-09-30 for the hi-hat stand page, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6666827 and https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-224085 (legs, rubber feet, memory lock, upper tube, felt). (4) A drum trigger user guide, full text at https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7324242 (cymbal sleeve, bottom felt washer). (5) Passages found by full-text search on archive.org in two drum tutors, Learn to Play Drums (2008) and The Everything Rock Drums Book (2009): the bell, the bow and the edge of a cymbal. Labels, hints, detail lines and position notes were written for this site. Licence: own work

The drawing: Own drawing from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The parts of a cymbal stand are named here on a boom stand: legs, tubes, memory lock, boom arm, counterweight and tilter. A second drawing pulls the top apart to show the wing nut, felts and sleeve.

Read the full guide

From the floor to the cymbal

Three legs form a tripod. Tubes slide inside one another to set the height, and a memory lock keeps the setting. The boom arm reaches out to the side, with a counterweight on its low end, and the tilter at its high end sets the angle of the cymbal.

What goes on the rod

The cymbal rests on a bottom felt. A sleeve round the rod passes through the hole in the cymbal, a top felt goes on above it, and a wing nut screws on last. On the cymbal the bell is the raised center, the bow is the main surface and the edge is the rim.

A straight stand has the same parts without the boom arm and the counterweight.

Questions and answers

What is the part that tilts a cymbal called?

The tilter. It is the joint at the top of the stand, or at the end of the boom arm, that sets the angle of the cymbal.

What is the sleeve on a cymbal stand for?

The sleeve covers the part of the rod that passes through the cymbal. It is most often plastic, and it keeps the metal of the cymbal from touching the metal rod.

What order do the felts and the wing nut go in?

From the bottom: a bottom felt, the cymbal with the sleeve through its hole, a top felt, then the wing nut.

What is the difference between a straight stand and a boom stand?

A straight stand holds the cymbal on top of its tubes. A boom stand adds a boom arm, which gives a second angle adjustment and reaches the cymbal out to the side.