question for will...or anyone i really

[ninjas and tacos]

i plan on building my own drumset at some point in the futre, and i know basically what i want but there are a few things i'm not sure on. i play with two floor toms, but i hate dealing with floor tom legs. so i was planning on using rims style mounts for them, but i couldn't find any for 18" drums.... cause i wanted 16" and 18" floor toms.

so to get to my actual question... would it make more sense to get 15" and 16" drums, or two 16's and tuning one lower...or should i just suck it up and live with the legs?

also if i do go with the rims mount things, what is a good depth for the shells? it seems to me that a 16x16 drum would be too much for a little L arm thing....

[meandthisarmy]

First off, you should consider matching with your existing toms. What size are your rack toms? I would go with the 15/16 combo, but that is because I feel an 18'' floor tom is cumbersome. You can still get a nice, warm, deep sound out of a 16, depending on what type of shells, lugs, etc. If you're looking for that fat sound, you may want to go with Evans Hydraulic heads. Those will give you that nice deep sound without being floppy or giving too much ring (Plus they make them in blue!). As for the mounting, the tom arm will hold an 18 just fine, the big thing is the stand you're mounting that on. Make sure it's a nice double braced stand with a pretty wide stance. I hope that helps.

[Thrill Kill Will]

i tour right now with a 9x12 rack and 12x14 floor tom.

the rack has a standard old school tom mount (two holes in the shell) and the floor tom is on legs (a total of 6 holes!..the horror). both are 6 ply keller maple shells with maple hoops. and they both have a lower tone and more sustain than any other drums i've come across. with the thin shells they favor lower tunings.

i personally think 16x16 floor toms typically have too much air in them, they tend to get flappy or buzzy at low tunings. i've heard people use a control sound (black dot) head on the bottom to help control some of that.... never tried it though.

the first thing i would do is try to think of what type of sound you are looking for. 15/16 might be too close of an interval than you'd like. maybe 14/16 is the way to go. but i know most people are scared by 14" floor toms. plus bonham had the 16/18 and thats what most people think of when they think big rock drums.

if you do use floor tom legs, try pearl resonater feet. i think they help.
also consider a thinner shell drum if you want a lower tone or tuning range from your toms. but understand that you may be sacrificing some projection and volume. also consider what type of shell. maple shells are always good for rock drums. but mahogany is said to have a ton of low end, but finding mahogany shells is a hard task.

i know i didnt answer your question, i just asked more. i personally would avoid two 16" floors. nothing wrong with it, but i'd atleast get 15/16. for the 18" mounting system. look at all different manufacturers, check their high end kits and see if they offer 18" hanging toms. tama's starclassic mounts, pearl's optimount, DW's rims type system etc. someone has to do it.

good luck
-will

[ninjas and tacos]

thanks...guys. umm the toms on my existing set: 13" x 10" rack tom, and two 16" x 16" floor toms. i only play with the one rack tom and it's decent, but it doesn't comfortable go as deep as i'd like. so i i was planning on getting a 14" tom for my next set. for my floor toms i have one of them tuned perfect for my needs, but the other sounds decent tuned lower, but it's a little floppy.

my exact plans for the set i want to build go like this:

some purple acrylic shells (sizes still to be determined), with all black hardware. i want some adonis lugs, drilled so they're offset...becaus that looks cool. i had already been planning on getting the evans hydraulic heads...in black, rather than blue. i think the black heads would look cool with the black hardware. i was also hoping to get one of those nice big dw double tom stand things for my floor toms...