tune them after you mount them.

Why do you want it to sing forever ?

I never said I wanted it to sing forever, just that it was that much of a difference. Certainly would prefer that over the plastic boxy sound though, as you can tame sustain, but you can't increase deadness.

One further note, I removed the mounting tube from the bass drum and slid it into a cymbal stand bottom to fashion a double tom stand, put them on that, and it sounds better as well. Maybe something to do with the way the tube sits in the bass drum...

Over the years, I found that anything attached to the shell or even how tight you tighten it, make a difference.

Although they are not vintage enough, if you put trim dampers like rubber or cork, on everything including the inside, you get a little life in the tone your talking about. Nothing heavy or thick.

Your mount and tube act just like squeezing your sticks. it puts weight/pressure.

Great points, thanks! Learning so much from this site!

If the toms are mounted on L-arms turn them around and mount them from the top instead of the bottom. For some reason I cannot explain inserting the L-arm from the bottom of the holder can kill the drum. If you turn it around and hang the tom by inserting the L-arm from the top the drum comes to life. There has to be some physics involved but I'm not a physicist. Try turning the L-arms around...

Alternatively, I use a snare basket for my rack tom with those cushions/dampeners they make for the stand that isolates the tom from the snare stand. I forgot their name you wrap them onto the arms of the snare stand.

Just in general I do not believe in hanging anything off of a bass drum. I think it kills the bass drum. I want my drum shells to vibrate freely. Doesn't make sense to me to buy an instrument and then kill it by adding all kinds of awkward weight and stress to it. Rack toms on snare stands, bass drums left virgin when possible.

John

John, thanks for those suggestions! I never would have thought about turning the arms over, but will try that just to hear the difference. And I would have just done the snare stand thing back when I was going for the 1 up / 2 down setup, but then I got such a good deal on the 12, I decided to go "Hollywood" with a 12 and 13, so a snare stand on either side might be a bit crowded.

I recently went through the same thing... 1964 Ludwig Super Classics (13/16/22). When the tom was on the rail consolette, it was dead. The difference in tone and sustain while holding it in my hand compared to mounting it were so extreme that I wouldn't have believed it was possible prior.

I took the tom into Jim Moritz of Chicago Drum and Restoration company to evaluate whether the bearing edges were good and true. When he put it on a leveling stone, the drum rocked on its bearing edges! I had Jim true it top and bottom, and he did a beautiful job recreating the round-over edges! All I had to do was treat the newly cut edges with some oil (linseed or tung), 3-5 coats.

In addition to that, I discovered that this drum (like many other vintage drums, as I've heard it) is slightly oversized, and Remo heads do not seat well on it. I found that Evans "Level 360" heads and Aquarians (all of them, not just the "American Vintage") fit beautifully, so I grabbed a pair of Evans UV1s.

Since doing this, the problem has diminished significantly, but there is still a difference in sustain between holding it and mounting it on the consolette. At least now it's more in line with a predictable variance.

Oh yeah, I started with the edges first!:)