Installing Legs on '80s Tama Superstar Power Tom

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poot

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I dislike hanging floor toms and want to put legs on this 12" (depth) x 14" (diameter) Superstar power tom. I'll use it with my matching Superstar bop kit. Already converted my 18" FT to a BD, so I have the extra legs and mounts. This drum has plenty of dings already, so it'll be a great player.

Since it already has the original tom mount, I'm tempted to turn the drum upside down and drill/install the other two leg mounts. Then I'd only have to drill four holes instead of six.

To make it look right, I'd like to remove the T badge and re-install it upside down. Looks like I'd just need to carefully pry up the tabs that fasten the grommet to the inside of the shell. Any special trick to doing that?

Or, I could install all three mounts on the bottom side of the drum, leave the badge as-is, and use the top-side mount as a cowbell / jam block holder. Not that I've ever used either...

I'm leaning towards the upside-down approach. Just because I could...
 

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There's a 14" Imperialstar tom done up exactly as you describe on eBay right now. Check it out...

(broken link removed)

Cheers,
Ryan
 
Ryan, thanks for posting that! Jeepers, he's giving that thing away. Now I know I'm on the right path...
 
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Hey poot!

No problem, brotha. Happy to be of service. Just my humble opinion, but I would drill and mount 3 brackets on the bottom of that tom to make it a floor tom and use the original bracket as an available option to mount a cymbal-percussion-mic-? stand ala a cocktail kit.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
or use pieces of drumhead under the badge and "spin" it so its right side up (if you flipped it around)
 
You can buy Gibraltar hoop clamps and legs, i bought these for a 14" superstar power tom as well.
 
drumaniac said:
You can buy Gibraltar hoop clamps and legs, i bought these for a 14" superstar power tom as well.
Click to expand...
Hey, Maniac! Great to hear from you. Those clamps working OK for you? Any rattles or vibrations?
 
poot said:
You can buy Gibraltar hoop clamps and legs, i bought these for a 14" superstar power tom as well.
Click to expand...
Hey, Maniac! Great to hear from you. Those clamps working OK for you? Any rattles or vibrations?
Click to expand...
Hi Tim to be honest I purchased them but have not installed them yet. I will PM you with an update once I get around to it.

Good to see you posting as well. Keep in mind if you find any cherry wine red supes orphans I may adopt them before you
put them on the bay lol
 
drumaniac said:
You can buy Gibraltar hoop clamps and legs, i bought these for a 14" superstar power tom as well.
Click to expand...
Hey, Maniac! Great to hear from you. Those clamps working OK for you? Any rattles or vibrations?
Click to expand...
Hi Tim to be honest I purchased them but have not installed them yet. I will PM you with an update once I get around to it.

Good to see you posting as well. Keep in mind if you find any cherry wine red supes orphans I may adopt them before you
put them on the bay lol


I want to use the tom at a gig Monday night, so I'm gonna go ahead and drill today. Since a drill bit is $5.97 at Home Depot and the cost of three Gibraltar clamps might exceed the value of the drum, it seems like the right way to go. Decided to mount the legs on the bottom side like Ryan suggested. Seems a lot less trouble to mark and drill two more holes and install the third leg mount than to remove and invert the badge. After all, I'd hate to accidentally damage the drum whlie fussing with the badge. ;)

I still have the 14" Cherry Wine power tom; immaculate condition. Can I drill it for you? :)
 
In case you haven't drilled yet, I got some great advice on drilling my PDP 12x14 in this thread.

Very happy that I did it!
 
Tim I have a 14" Cherry Wine Red Power Tom and am gonna use the clamps.

I hear you on the cost of the bit versus the clamps lol
 
Turned out pretty nice. Just got back from the gig (jazz quintet, reception for my employer & clients). My 12x14 FT sounds fantastic. Got it tuned up tight and it complements the bop kit superbly. It's a keeper. Which is good, because I positioned two of the leg mounts to cover up some scratches on the shell. Concealed them real nice, but that left the badge panel as the equidistant location for the third mount. I was fine with that, but failed to consider how it would appear with a leg inserted in the mount. You can see for yourself.

I'm fine with it; it's a player. And besides, no one really notices or cares what the drummer is playing.
 

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Looks great, poot!

Wouldn't have even noticed that bracket on the badge panel as being odd until you pointed it out.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
So what did u use to convert the 18 to
A bass drum. Any mods ?
 
Mike Tama said:
So what did u use to convert the 18 to
A bass drum. Any mods ?
Click to expand...
Thanks, guys.

Did the BD back in 2002, before I learned about vintage drums, taboos on drilling, or cradles. For spurs I first tried inserting steel rods, bent to form crude spurs, into the existing leg mounts. That proved unreliable, so... I um, drilled a total of 8 holes and installed DW spurs. Now it's 100% rock-solid and I made my peace with the deed years ago. Sure, I'd buy a cradle instead if I had it to do over. Might even stain a pair of hoops to match the finish.

Bought those drums new in 1983 and they're not going anywhere anytime soon. Someday, after I'm gone, someone will encounter my badge-mount power tom/FT and my DW spurs and wonder, "What the hell was he thinking?" That will be his problem... :icon_smile:
 
Wow, that looks great! I actually owned a Superstar 14x18 bass drum in that finish for a while, and used it with my Gretsch walnut finish 8x12 and 10x14 toms. The finish matched closely enough, and like you said - no one but us drummers cares anyway!.
 
I found a new option to converting toms to bass drums or rack toms to floor toms with out drilling holes in your drums. The new mounting system is made by ATLAS hardware; you can see them on the Ludwig website. All you do is remove a lug and replace it with the new mount. Half of the mount bolts to the drum as a lug and the second half is a sound isolating system, used for just about any mounting you wish to use, i.e., legs for toms, mounting toms, cow bells, blocks, cymbals, etc.

A little pricy but you dont have to drill holes and it cleans up the look of your set and it may even do away with a cymbal stand if you need the room. On a small stage this is a plus.

I converted a 14" rack tom to floor tom and I'm changing my rack toms to this system.

If you are buying a new kit, buy it without holes and you may concider using the ATLAS system.

sherm
 
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