8Mile
Platinum Member
I ordered Ludwig Classic Maples 10 years ago and I got the bass drums undrilled (22" and 18"). After living with that setup for a long time, I've decided it's not for me.
I don't like having the tom positioning affected by the placement of the cymbal stands. If you're using some of the newer, ultra-lightweight hardware, it limits you even further. I switched to Yamaha Crosstown hardware last year and I'm not going to suspend toms from such lightweight stands, so I've started placing the rack tom on a snare stand. I find that to be a pain also.
Not sure if other Ludwig owners have noticed this, but I'm also not a fan of the suspension mounts on my toms; they don't fit perfectly, so they exert pressure against the two outside tension rods. This makes it impossible to finger tighten the rods when changing heads and I wonder if they're actually compromising the sound of the toms.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably have had the bass drums built with mounts attached and found a different way to mount my toms than the Ludwig suspension mounts.
I don't like having the tom positioning affected by the placement of the cymbal stands. If you're using some of the newer, ultra-lightweight hardware, it limits you even further. I switched to Yamaha Crosstown hardware last year and I'm not going to suspend toms from such lightweight stands, so I've started placing the rack tom on a snare stand. I find that to be a pain also.
Not sure if other Ludwig owners have noticed this, but I'm also not a fan of the suspension mounts on my toms; they don't fit perfectly, so they exert pressure against the two outside tension rods. This makes it impossible to finger tighten the rods when changing heads and I wonder if they're actually compromising the sound of the toms.
If I had to do it over again, I would probably have had the bass drums built with mounts attached and found a different way to mount my toms than the Ludwig suspension mounts.