Guess: 1954

Thats a very good guess I think BEC!...

I'm sure it's more towards early 50's then later,but sure hard to put an exact date on it...

Anyone else care to guess?

The 1955 catalog still shows the Gladstone mounts on all the floor toms but under Misc. parts it does list "diamond plate for shell mount cymbal holder" so the part was in inventory by then. It's just a matter of when somebody realized that those would also make good leg mounts.

Hard to narrow down since expensive catalog artwork was re-used as much as possible (58 catalog looks the same as the 55). Possibly study the ads in Down Beat (and such) which were probably more current with the publication date and find when the diamonds started popping up on endorser's sets.

Thanks for that KO...good idea on the Downbeats...those are so cool anyway...esp the yearly Percussion issue..

See..123 views..only 2 guesses...told ya it was a tough question...!

I think it was a long, slow transition, like 8 years! Similar to the "die cast" style 14" stickchopper appearing alongside the regular style 14" stickchopper...for whatever reason they made drums with both styles for at least a few years.

Someone here had a really early floor tom, I want to say '53 or '54, that had diamond mounts and no extra holes. And there was a 6 ply Starlight kit on ebay a year or two ago that had all hardware from the '58 - 61 era, but Gladstone FT leg mounts, again with no extra holes.