As they had many of !! Still it remains the snare stand mounted toms works very well, If the proper mounting procedure is used. I've used it for almost 40 years with no problems at all. Maybe sometimes being Old and set in your head ain't always a good thing !!

Ah but it is. I will never put a tom on a snare basket, it kills it because of the squeeze. Just like playing your sticks, when you squeeze them they go dead, hold them lightly, they sing. Same thing happens with a snare stand. If your drum wont stay put, tighten it more til it does, that`s gonna kill it. It is designed to hang. The tube mount is just a small ring at the contact, the rest is adjustment material. The flat stock has lots of contact, sometimes it sits the entire length of the flat stock or hits on the bend if you raise the tom. Snare stands have the least contact but come with a squeeze, and that squeeze kills resonance, just like putting your hand on the side of the drum and squeezing.

I understood the fishing line comment, and the audience comment.

People buy rare or expensive vintage and expect it to come with a guaranteed liking. Clubdates are fine, you just gotta hit them, not baby them. If only a one hit note is the entire song, then sustain matters.

If I hit the 12, then immediately kick the bass, close the hats and wack the crash,...why do I need sustain again ?

Give me a beat with sustain,.....sounds pretty silly to me.

It`s easy to see on this forum, who plays by sheet numerically and who play by ear and the seat of their pants.

But isn't the whole idea to get your drumset to sound how it's supposed to sound? Yeah, I completely agree that a snare stand kills the sustain, and said as much. The OP asked if there was a better snare stand or an upgraded mounting system that would allow the drum to sound better than the stand he was using. Perhaps there isn't, which is why most of the recommendations were to hang the tom. I suggested perhaps using those foam things on a snare stand might yield better results. Dunno. Might help a little, might not...and probably still wouldn't sound as good as hanging it.

Of course no one's going to hear the sustain of a 12" tom every hit, but I'm not quite sure why the discussion has gone here. If I want my tom to sing, I want it to sing...even when I might be playing stuff afterward that would make the sustain of that drum inaudible.

I likely never will again, either. I tried it for the very first time a few weeks ago, and it lasted maybe a couple days before I mounted it right back on my bass drum. Yet I see this configuration all over the place, so I think it's an honest question to ask: how can I get my tom to sound better in a snare stand? Are those who have this configuration perfectly ok with dead-sounding toms?

I guess I understand the general point of leedybdp's first reply, that if the drums sound good to a recording engineer or the audience, then don't worry about it and just play. But I don't really think that has anything to do with trying to achieve better tonal quality out of your drumset.

Or maybe I misinterpreted his post entirely...which is very possible.

Well, yeah. But who's saying that?

Interested to hear which category I fall into, in your eyes.

Sometimes, even the composer specifies to mute the tympani rather than let them ring or sustain. Then, at other times like in Roman Legion costume epics, the guys playing the tympani on horseback let them ring for as long as they ring.

The only time I would want sustain or my single drum to sing, is when I`m marching. Behind a kit, it`s a non factor to me.

Even a snare drum with the snare turned off, sounds horribly dead on the stand.

To each his own, I suppose. I personally dislike muting drums in any way. The only drum I dampen at all is the bass, with only a felt strip on the reso head.

Well most people use the BD and HH, snare for a beat. Non of those should sustain but in some cases do.

I agree. Maybe there's a major breakdown in our communication, because I thought we were talking about a 12" tom. :)