Installed my bass drum tom mount!

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
I've gone ahead and drilled my bass drum and installed the tom mount base plate onto the bass drum.

When I originally got the base plate, it came with a steel plate meant to be on the inside of the drum so as to sandwich the wood between in and the actual tom mount on the outside (it is a Tama piece).

As I went to install the screws, it seems the bubinga shells are thicker than usual and the screws did not extend far enough through the shell to connect to the base mount. However, if I remove the steel plate on the inside of the drum, the screws fit fine (all four of them have a lock washer and a bigger round washer that makes contact with the shell.

Question: do you think this inner steel plate necessary? Does "sandwiching" the wood make for a more stable mount or do you think it would really matter? Anyone do this and find it damaged the bass drum?

I suppose to do it right I'll have to locate slightly longer screws, but I'm willing to bet you can't just walk into a Home Depot and buy them, eh?

My bass drum is still in pieces, so there's no damage being done to them yet by hanging toms off of the mount. I'm wondering if I should be so concerned with that darn steel plate first. Any advice?
 
I would get longer screws. That plate will spread the pressure of the tom mount evenly and provide better support. Four longer screws are much cheaper than a new shell a year from now.
 
Get longer screws!
The reinforcement plate is needed.
You should be able to buy matching hardware. If Home Depot doesn't have it, a hardware store will.
 
Third vote for "use the backing plate ... and get longer screws/bolts". Home Depot, or any good hardware store should be able to fit the bill.
 
I would get longer screws and use the backing plate. The bracket needs the extra support, especially with the weight of the bubinga toms.

Dennis
 
I would also hope there is a rubber gasket for the outside of the shell for between the plate on the outside. If not make one.
 
My apologies for the newbie question. My frustration level went down a few notches after this post because I stopped, grabbed something to eat, then took a shower. I was getting frustrated trying to figure out why it wasn't fitting.

I may have made a slight mistake by having one of the bolt holes a little off, so tomorrow in the bright noon day sun, I'll tackle that part of the job by just making the one hole a little larger. The other three screws fit with the plate, this one seems just off enough to keep the screw from going straight into the base plate. If that doesn't work, I'll go find a slightly longer screw. And yes, I have a rubber gasket that goes between the base plate on top and the shell.

Looking at the bass drum with just the plate sitting in the right spot has me all warm and fuzzy inside. And to add to the serendipity, my Gibraltar flat-based straight cymbal stands finally arrived. Those are way better than the Ludwig flat-based cymbals I had.
 
bo, you have some serious balls.

i would never drill into any of my b/b's.

Yeah, I contend with that all the time. I've come to the conclusion that I like high-end gear to play on, but I like to tinker too and make it work for me. I think this started when I was a kid learning how to make my own leather straps when I broke them on my Slingerland Tempo King pedal. It's been one modification after another over the years. My first DW kit (in zebra finish) I installed a Yamaha base plate for a tom mount, for some reason I didn't sweat that job so much.

Another influence has been the guys at Pro Drum Shop in Hollywood. They were really the first custom shop when they opened in '53. People didn't like the hardware of some drums, so you could go there, order the drums without the mounting hardware, and the guys would install what you wanted. I've seen lots of old Ludwig kits with Rogers mounting hardware. I installed the big Ludwig curved spurs on my Slingerland bass drum when I was 13. Although it happens less and less, Pro Drum still does that kind of work.

But somebody here said it best when he said "the drums work for me and not the other way around". I guess I'm doin' the same thing.
 
Totally with you there. All of my guitars have at least had their wiring replaced at least once, my small kit was a restoration job and I'm always thinking of the next modification!
 
I am a big fan of simplifying my kits.
The less stands that I have to lug around and fuss with, The better!
A bass drum mounted tom works for me on a 4 piece just fine.
If I play a 5 piece kit with 2 up and 1 down, I use a double tom floor stand that can also hold a cymbal. One stand holds three things.
I also like to set my ride over the bass drum.
It works for me.
 
Another influence has been the guys at Pro Drum Shop in Hollywood. They were really the first custom shop when they opened in '53. People didn't like the hardware of some drums, so you could go there, order the drums without the mounting hardware, and the guys would install what you wanted. I've seen lots of old Ludwig kits with Rogers mounting hardware. I installed the big Ludwig curved spurs on my Slingerland bass drum when I was 13. Although it happens less and less, Pro Drum still does that kind of work..

Yup.

I've had Pro Drum put Ludwig strainers on both of my DW snare drums.
 
Hey they're just drums. Drill em, hit em, whatever you want. They are your property and I think that you can do to them whatever you want if it makes you happy. You serve the music, the drums serve you. If installing a tom tree mount is devirginizing, then I guess I brutally raped my kick drum with the DIY internal pressure muffling system I mounted inside mine. I have no regrets whatsoever.
 
Hey they're just drums. Drill em, hit em, whatever you want. They are your property and I think that you can do to them whatever you want if it makes you happy. You serve the music, the drums serve you. If installing a tom tree mount is devirginizing, then I guess I brutally raped my kick drum with the DIY internal pressure muffling system I mounted inside mine. I have no regrets whatsoever.

Agreed, I didn't mean to imply he had no "right" to do any of this. People can do anything they want with their instruments. And if they discuss it on an open message board, others are just as free to comment on it, and others on that, and so on.
 
Sorry DMC, my post could be construed as slightly combative, but I really didn't intend it that way. My bad. That's the great thing about DW, the variety of opinions here. I am all for individual preferences, and differing opinions as long as respect for each other is maintained. I apologize if you felt I was dissing your preferences, I wasn't, because you rock.
 
Sorry DMC, my post could be construed as slightly combative, but I really didn't intend it that way. My bad. That's the great thing about DW, the variety of opinions here. I am all for individual preferences, and differing opinions as long as respect for each other is maintained. I apologize if you felt I was dissing your preferences, I wasn't, because you rock.

It's cool, we're all friends here.
 
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