Another no drill tom mount solution

[TheDrummerFromAmsterdam]

Yeah, I purchased an older style Yamaha mount, (2015 build year appropriate), from Murat but just can't bring myself to have it drilled. Plenty of local drumsmiths around but can't drill through that beautiful natural burl finish.

If it helps. The current PHX is factory outfitted with this smaller mount now too.

But I know the feeling of not wanting to drill in beautiful wood

 

[IAN-DOG-402]

This one has been talked about before, but no one really posts photos of it, so I wanted to share mine with y'all. This is the Pearl Opti-Mount (Opta-Mount) bridge mount solution for mounting toms over your bass drum:

The fit is tight as these mounts are not designed to fit on drums larger than a 16/8 lug, but a 22/10 lug bass drum is within spitting distance of the same hole spacing as the 16/8. Since these lugs do not have swivel nuts I had to ever so slightly turn them in towards the center so the tension rods didnt bind up too much. Fortunately these are single point lugs and turning them was easy. I haven't tested this on a drum with regular lug casings and swivel nuts, but I imaging there is enough play in those swivels to pull the claws ever so slightly together and get it to work. Some people have mentioned stepping on the opti-mount and spreading out the receivers, but I have the Opta-mount version (aluminum) and bending them just isnt in the cards considering the chrome plating and the rolling over of metal to provide additional strength. The standard opti-mount (painted steel) should bend pretty easily and is slightly cheaper than the aluminum Opta-mount.

As an "older" drummer, I've seen innovations of every persuasion - they come and go and the old tried and tested ideas drop back into being the norm!
This above idea is yet another variation on a theme..
The one thing that has made me tut and shake my head the most, is younger players inability to accept that bass drum mounts fixed into or on to bass drums are not the work of the devil. Yes, virgin bass drums are very nice but if the mount for the toms is attached directly, the sound difference - in my opinion - is no better or worse. If I was offered a pre-Beatles Luddy at a fair price I wouldn't walk away just because there's a "hole" at the top of the drum!
Maybe this is no longer my world and I should just accept change for change's sake!
Peace.

 

[RCDCllc]

Nice Idea, but be careful. That much weight on just 4 tension rods/single screw lugs spells trouble IMO. They may bend and you are taking the chance of breaking or pulling the lugs and damaging the shell. Let alone tuning issues. The set up that DanRH shows on his D'Amico kit seems like a much better solution. Good luck I hope it works out for you and it did inspire me to look at other mounting systems and different ways to use them.

 

[RyanLovesDrums]

Do you think it would work with an older Yamaha tom arm? The one with the longer rod.

 

[RCDCllc]

Do you think it would work with an older Yamaha tom arm? The one with the longer rod.

Yes, it would work, but when using on a kick drum, I wouldn't risk the damage to the lug, tension rods and shell if better options are available. These mounts were designed to mount a tom vertically with the majority of the weight being carried by the lugs themselves.

 

[RyanLovesDrums]

Yes, it would work, but I wouldn't risk the damage to the lug, tension rods and shell if better options are available. These mounts were designed to mount a tom vertically with the majority fo the weight being carried by the lugs.

It was just a thought because I’ve always wanted to try out my old Rock Tour Custom floor tom as a kick. It has the recording Custom style lugs and they’re built very solidly so I don’t think mounting a 10” tom on it using Tommy’s method would be a big deal. But it doesn’t matter because I can’t put spurs on the tom because the floor Tom brackets are pretty stripped, they barely even hold the floor Tom legs.

 

[wikkid1]

I personally really like my INDe drill-less Tom mount. Seems like it has lots of spacing options and is a well thought out design.

 

[hawker]

But are we adding a lot of weight and mass.....just to refrain from drilling four holes?

 

[Elvis]

This one has been talked about before, but no one really posts photos of it, so I wanted to share mine with y'all. This is the Pearl Opti-Mount (Opta-Mount) bridge mount solution for mounting toms over your bass drum:

The fit is tight as these mounts are not designed to fit on drums larger than a 16/8 lug, but a 22/10 lug bass drum is within spitting distance of the same hole spacing as the 16/8. Since these lugs do not have swivel nuts I had to ever so slightly turn them in towards the center so the tension rods didnt bind up too much. Fortunately these are single point lugs and turning them was easy. I haven't tested this on a drum with regular lug casings and swivel nuts, but I imaging there is enough play in those swivels to pull the claws ever so slightly together and get it to work. Some people have mentioned stepping on the opti-mount and spreading out the receivers, but I have the Opta-mount version (aluminum) and bending them just isnt in the cards considering the chrome plating and the rolling over of metal to provide additional strength. The standard opti-mount (painted steel) should bend pretty easily and is slightly cheaper than the aluminum Opta-mount.

Never heard of that before.
Thanks for the heads up, Tom.
I wonder how hard it would be to talk Pearl into making one of those bass rail mounts for a 24" deep shell?
If so, then you could build yourself a pretty wicked cocktail kit off those rails.
Maybe use two; one would hold a snare and a tom, the other would hold a couple of mini booms for cymbals.
...yeah, I like that idea. =)

Elvis

 

[Elvis]

As an "older" drummer, I've seen innovations of every persuasion - they come and go and the old tried and tested ideas drop back into being the norm!
This above idea is yet another variation on a theme..
The one thing that has made me tut and shake my head the most, is younger players inability to accept that bass drum mounts fixed into or on to bass drums are not the work of the devil. Yes, virgin bass drums are very nice but if the mount for the toms is attached directly, the sound difference - in my opinion - is no better or worse. If I was offered a pre-Beatles Luddy at a fair price I wouldn't walk away just because there's a "hole" at the top of the drum!
Maybe this is no longer my world and I should just accept change for change's sake!
Peace.

You make a good point, Ian.

 

[Tommy D]

Never heard of that before.
Thanks for the heads up, Tom.
I wonder how hard it would be to talk Pearl into making one of those bass rail mounts for a 24" deep shell?
If so, then you could build yourself a pretty wicked cocktail kit off those rails.
Maybe use two; one would hold a snare and a tom, the other would hold a couple of mini booms for cymbals.
...yeah, I like that idea. =)

Elvis

The mounts can be completely disassembled, so in theory you could install whatever length rods you want to give you the length you need. I think it's just 1/4" hollow rod (you would have to measure what the stock one is and how thick the walls are) that just needs to be tapped to the proper thread pitch for the Allen head screws that hold the whole thing together.

It's really a simple system that can be made fairly adjustable. The real limitation to the system is the width. Im surprised Pearl didn't make these wide enough for an 18/8 drum but they must think all 18's deserve to be on legs.