STM Mount for older PDP Tom?

About six months ago I got a second bass drum for my 1 year old PDP X7 kit. Since that time I've been looking for a second 12" tom to add to it.

After coming up with nada all this time, I've now found a CX series 12" in the right wrap color. However, it has the older style mounting system. I've emailed DW to ask if a new STM mount will fit and if they sell them but haven't gotten a reply yet.

So while waiting for the Official Word From On High I thought I'd check with all the super knowledgeable people here...and tack on a third question. Anyone know of someplace other than DW where I buy an STM mount for a possibly better price? I've googled all this but must not be asking the right questions because I haven't found any site with an answer.

Many thanks in advance.

Just to double check. Is your 12" tom a six lug. It should be. I think the only 2003 and earlier PDPs that had 5 lug toms were in the 8" and 10" sizes.

If so, besides a random miscellaneous part owner, DW is your best bet. The current 12" PDP STM for an oval lug PDP will fit. The same STM for your X7 12" tom will work on a CX 12" tom.

Go through Guitar Center if you can and you'll most likely get the best discount from a DW dealer but you can wheel and deal with any DW dealer to order the part at the " best price"

TTNW said:

Just to double check. Is your 12" tom a six lug. It should be. I think the only 2003 and earlier PDPs that had 5 lug toms were in the 8" and 10" sizes.

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The tom I'm talking about buying is a six lug, so that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't bought it yet because I want to make sure I can return it if the color doesn't match. In case anyone out there is a PDP expert, my X7 kit is Midnight Blue. The CX tom is "Electric Blue."

TTNW said:

If so, besides a random miscellaneous part owner, DW is your best bet. The current 12" PDP STM for an oval lug PDP will fit. The same STM for your X7 12" tom will work on a CX 12" tom.

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I found an email reply from DW at the same time I got the email saying you'd replied to my post. With the same answer. Is your secret identity "Craig Kasamis - DW Customer Service Representative?"

TTNW said:

Go through Guitar Center if you can and you'll most likely get the best discount from a DW dealer but you can wheel and deal with any DW dealer to order the part at the " best price"

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DW tells me the mount retails for $75 and that I need to have a DW dealer order it for me. Guitar Center sounds like as good a place as any to start.

Thanks for the help!

HipshotPercussion said:

The tom I'm talking about buying is a six lug, so that shouldn't be a problem. I haven't bought it yet because I want to make sure I can return it if the color doesn't match. In case anyone out there is a PDP expert, my X7 kit is Midnight Blue. The CX tom is "Electric Blue."



I found an email reply from DW at the same time I got the email saying you'd replied to my post. With the same answer. Is your secret identity "Craig Kasamis - DW Customer Service Representative?"


DW tells me the mount retails for $75 and that I need to have a DW dealer order it for me. Guitar Center sounds like as good a place as any to start.

Thanks for the help!

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Your welcome. I hope you get a good price on it.

As far as the colors go. Aren't lacquer finishes on the X7s? The CXs were all wraps. Also, there is no Electric Blue that I've ever heard of. They had a Blue Onyx (Ludwig's old Sky Blue Pearl) and a Royal Blue Onyx which looks like this.



If there is an old CX wrap called Electric Blue that color matches the lacquer colors on the X7s, that's news to me.

When I got my X7, in November or December of 2009, it only came in 3 wraps: Candy Apple Red, Sparkling Silver, and Midnight Blue. In photos the "electric blue" MX appears almost identical to the Midnight Blue wrap. The only difference seems to be that the Midnight Blue wrap has just a trace of sparkle in it. A skosh, as they say.

My thinking when I bought the PDP kit was that the colors would last awhile and add-ons would be easy to obtain because DW was such a good company. But since then models and finishes have come and gone with the same lightspeed as Firefox browser updates, and with just as much support...that is to say very little, or none.

The wrapped X7s were $750 at Musicians Friend. But I would've waited and paid more for the lacquers if I'd known they were coming.

I didn't know that about the early X7s.

Well then you're all set. Check with Jammin' Sam in Arizona. He carries lots of wraps. Since it's a 12" tom, you could rewrap it pretty cheaply if you wanted to.

Just did a "Buy Now" of the tom on eBay, after getting the seller's email guarantee that I could return it if the color's wrong. I'll contact Jammin' Sam's about the wrap, though, to keep that route open too.

Thanks for the help. I'll let you know how this turns out.

The 12" CX tom finally arrived today. Took too long for my taste, but then most things do.

The good news is that the color is a very close match to my X7 kit. Tone/hue/et al are right on. Only difference is that the X7 has a little sparkle thing going that the CX doesn't. In most light no one will notice.

(Except me, but I've already begun blocking it out.)

Further good news is that it's in great condition and sounds wonderful. Its sweet spot is a little lower than my X7 12", which means its sound fits perfectly between that and my 14".

The expected bad news isn't a big deal. It needs an STM mount, which I'll order soon. There also was unexpected bad news. The attachment plate on the old mount has a smaller diameter than that on my X7 so it wouldn't fit onto the bass drum - until I swapped out attachments with one of my rarely used Tama toms.

Here's how it came out. Today's arrival is on the left:



So now the New (Old) Kid is solidly in place with the rest of the gang, and when the STM mount arrives no one but those of us on the inside will know he's adopted.

Again, thanks for your help.

The STM mount has arrived, but it wasn't all that easy.

The only one could find online with the right part number was an "in-store bargain" at a Guitar Center in Texas, and that was the wrong size so I asked the local music store to order one for me. After 2 weeks they called to say, "We can't get in touch with PDP about it" because they were calling the wrong number and refused to believe they needed to call DW.

(Seems there's a belief in the Seattle area that "Pacific Drums" is local because, you know, the Pacific is local.)

I finally got them to call DW, and the store promptly (well, another week later) reported that DW wouldn't sell them the mount because they weren't "an authorized DW dealer."

Being phone-o-phobic, I emailed several Seattle area shops including the famed Donn Bennett Drum Studio, giving the part number and asking if they could get it for me and how much would it cost shipped to my home.

No one replied. (And still haven't.)

That's when I broke down and did what I should have in the first place, except that I was trying to support the hometown economy by staying as close to home as I could. I emailed the ProDrum Shop in L.A. Got a reply 2 hours later with the price and shipping time.

I sent these illustrious dudes my info last Friday, and UPS delivered the STM today, the third business day since the order. It came direct from Drum Workshop, with the box containing shipping labels naming both DW and ProDrum.

15 minutes later, I had the old mount off and the new one on.

I'm very satisfied:



The new tom and mount are on the left.

Here's an attempt to show the whole set-up. My drum room is a dormer room in a '30s Craftsman house. 3 full kits plus misc. drums and parts in a room that's 25' wide by only 8' deep. This is the best view I can give - alas: