i'd recommend putting some blue painters tape on both sides of the shell -- then put the marks on the tape. Tape will also help avoid drill entrance/exit splintering. Also recommend taking the head off first and use a triangle/square to align the holes perpendicular to the bottom bearing edge. "recommend".
Seems like the bracket could work at different heights, depending on the lenght of the leg. Looks like your's (Rick) is a little closer to the bottom of the drum than the top of the drum. Does it matter?
I basically copied the format on my other floor toms and haven't had any issues at all. Only problem I see with setting the brackets up higher, is the legs would rise above the top rim of the drum if you were to set the tom lower to the ground.
Thanks for the info, Rick. I just eye-balled it from other floor toms, and it seems to work okay. Only problem is that I didn't consider that any side to side skew error (bracket not exactly vertical with itself) would be multiplied. So, one leg is visibly cocked, but I can correct for that at the footprint by rotating the leg inside the bracket. Tough to describe this shit!
Thanks for the great video. I want to do exactly as you have done with your tom. I also have a Yamaha, but it's an Absolute Maple. Before I do this, in your estimation, what will adding legs do to the value of the kit? Thanks.
All I know is, my tom is way more valuable to ME now, because that's how I like my set up. You could have Neil Peart's kit, but if it doesn't suit your playing style... not worth much at all. Happy drumming! :)
+ilian senovski Hey, sorry for taking so long to get back! Was on a bit of a holiday. I used a small level to make sure I wasn't too far out in either direction. Use a sharpie, or something similar to mark the holes first, then use the level to check the balance. I'm no expert at leg installation, but the toms I did have worked perfectly ever since :) Cheers, Rick
+ilian senovski As far as where to put them... I just used my existing floor toms as an example. I wouldn't spent too much time worrying about it. As long as the three legs are in a similar position, you will be good to go.
+ilian senovski Yeah I mounted my floor tom right where the high tom goes and it worked. And I get what you mean by getting scared, lol I know how you feel having one kit and experimenting with it is intimidating!
Hi Bobby, I simply used the number of lugs as a guide to evenly space the mounts around the drum. I just went by eye. There are three legs, so as long as you form a decent tripod, you're good to go. Each leg is bent at the bottom to give a wider radius when you rotate them, so you'll have no trouble if you're off by a few millimetres in any given direction. Cheers
