Tama Star Cast Mounts - really wobbly?

jginalbany

Senior Member
Hi All,

Given the glowing reviews here and seemingly everywhere regarding the Starclassic Performer B/B's, I picked up a set. I love the sound of the drums but the star cast mounts seem, er, awful. This is my first Tama kit, so perhaps it takes a bit of getting used to.

As you can see in the video, there is so much play in the tom and leg mounts. It took forever to get the rack toms set up because there's nearly an inch of play up and down, and more than that left and right. So, I would have to try to set the drums an inch or so above where I wanted them and then hope they settled at the right height/angle. The floor tom legs are a joke. At first I thought that I didn't have them installed correctly, but lo and behold, everything is as tight as can be.

Does anyone else have a Tama kit with these new mounts? Am I doing something wrong? I'm seriously considering returning them because the lack of stability of the mounts is so unnerving.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvGdH1uGLaU

(sorry for the background noise - kids and wife were playing xbox). :)

Thanks.
 
Whoa, That is definitely messed up. It appears the rods are too small a diameter for the size of the holes in the mount they insert into, thus much play. I presume you have the wing nut tightened to the max?
If not I would return them.
 
The mount isn't rotating on the rods; rather, there just seems to be a lot of play in the mount assembly itself.
 
Do you have the black locking switch in the locked mode?

By switching the black switch off you can remove the tom leg with half of the bracket still on it. (memory lock design).
Then after you insert the leg and half of the bracket into the other half of the bracket, you put the black switch in the locked position.

.
 
Wow! Are they just designed to have that much play, let's say, for "isolation"? That would bug the s#!t out of me, but I have never used any type of isolation mount to be honest. I have seen some drummer's toms seem to float a little when they are being hit. I wonder if this is common.

All my Tamas are from the Granstar Artstar age. A tactical nuclear weapon could go off and that hardware wouldn't budge. I guess times have changed.

Not sure if Ludwig has that much play with their Atlas mounts, as I just went with Keystone and snare baskets.

That would bug me too much to keep. Good luck.
 
I have the older generation before the integrated memory locks. Mine don't do that. Everything is solid. You either have something defective, or, more likely, are experiencing user error.
 
Definitely a problem with that kit. I have one too, it's nothing like that. My rack toms move up and down, not side to side.
 
You either have something defective, or, more likely, are experiencing user error.

Believe me, my default assumption is that I've screwed something up, but in this case, it doesn't seem like there's anything to screw up. The "switch" that allows for the quick release is in the "lock" position on all the mounts and all the wing nuts are as tight as I can turn them.
 
Yes you do have the switch in the lock position.
In that case, yes I agree with you these mounts are garbage. I'd return the kit.

The Tama kit I have has great hardware. And it is was made in 2014.

I have these brackets

MTB30_2010.gif



.
 
Wow. What a mess. If this is not the way this is supposed to work --- and I sure hope not --- then it looks like like you got a lemon. What a hassle.

I sure hope that they kit I ordered doesn't have this problem!
 
My kit does the exact, same thing, and I just thought it was supposed to work that way. Like the OP, it took me forever to set the rack toms in the proper position. Does someone have a video demonstrating how they should work?

Regardless, I love the new system. Once you have the settings dialed-in you're good to go.
 
I hate wobbly drums.
I don't like to mount my toms off of cymbal stands for that very reason.


.
 
Thanks. It looks like they're wobbly in that video too.

There's some movement (maybe a little bit of bounce), but the OP's video is ridiculous.

I'll have to admit though, I'm not terribly sure about that mounting hardware.
 
Is there an adjustment to set the tightness pressure of the locking switch? The old Granstars had a lever tightener instead of a wing nut and that lever had an adjustable set screw to set the tightness of the grip.
 
Your drums are fine. Tama recently incorporated some of the design features from its flagship Star line into its Starclassic lineup. Toms are designed to float, which Tama claims increases resonance. Embrace this. Three of my four Tama kits have the same mounting system and I love it. Your drums are performing as designed.
 
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Your drums are fine. Tama recently incorporated some of the design features from its flagship Star line into its Starclassic lineup. Toms are designed to float, which Tama claims increases resonance. Embrace this. Three of my four Tama kits have the same mounting system and I love it. Your drums are performing as designed.

More specifically, the design allegedly reduces vibration transference from drums to the tom stands or floor tom legs.
 
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