CONCERT TOM REHABILITATION

OVERALL VIEW

Here's a quick side project I knocked out recently for a fellow drummer-buddy: this little 8-inch CB700 concert tom.  This diminutive drum that belongs to a student of his had several large problems.

First of all, it was missing a lug.  Yes, the whole thing.  Not just a tension rod but the whole lug.  It had been replaced with one that obviously did not match at all, and it just wasn't getting the job done.  I needed to track down a correct match.  And I was just the guy that could do it.

This was accomplished using that glorious and ever-useful medium known as Ebay.  Whatever in the world you are looking for, no matter how odd or obscure, somebody is probably selling one on Ebay (unless, unfortunately, it is a 16" Ludwig Black Vistalite floor tom which I have not been able to find after months of searching!).

FRONT VIEW

The good news is, this CB700 concert tom is Japanese-made and there are plenty of MIJ drum parts for sale on Ebay.  More good news is, drum lugs have certain shapes and names that (usually) make them fairly easy to match.  The lugs installed on this particular tom are designed to look like Pearl "Diamond" lugs, which is a very common design.  I tracked down a seller in no time that had several of these for sale and snagged one.

The most important factor besides appearance when matching and replacing drum lugs is "hole spacing."  You want to make sure that the screw seats on the lug you are installing fit into the holes drilled into the drum shell.  The seller of this "Diamond" Pearl-style lug claimed it had 1-9/16" hole spacing.  Taking a common, household ruler I measured the distance between the centers of the holes pre-drilled in the tom shell and was able to determine that it was indeed 1-9/16 inches.  Therefore the lug I purchased fit perfectly. Woo-hoo!

INSIDE VIEW

The other three lugs had tension rods that were a little rusty so I went ahead and replaced  those so that all four would be shiny and new (and match).

On the inside of the drum, I replaced all the mismatched screws and washers to give it a clean, uniform look.  This is one of those minor details that most people would never notice but it bothers me.  There were four lugs and each had different mounting screws: some hex, some Philips, some a combination of both.  Forget all that hassle!  Now they all match and they are all Philips, so all you need is a single short screwdriver, not multiple tools, and ones that are difficult to maneuver inside an 8" drum at that.

BACK VIEW

One interesting thing to note about this drum: if you look closely at the photographs, you may notice that the tension rods coming out of the lugs seem to bend outwards and up through the rim.  This is because while this drum has an 8-inch metal rim, the shell is actually only 7-3/4 inches in diameter, which means the tension rods have to lean out that 1/4-inch difference.  As a result, I had to be careful not to over-tighten the tension rods too much because at some point the lugs began to pull on the wood shell so hard that it was being pulled into an octagon shape!

This reveals the inferiority of these cheap wood shells that just can't match the strength and resonance of solid wood shells, but it also exposes another fallacy of less expensive drums:  we cut costs by trimming 1/4" off our shell diameter, but this puts extra stress on the tension rods, which magnifies the pull of the lug against the shell, which stretches the shell out of shape.....and the problems, which could have been avoided if you just hadn't shaved off that 1/4 inch, will snowball from there.  The key here is I just have to be careful with this drum.  When replacing the head, I make sure I properly center it and the rim by setting the tension rods into the lugs and proceeding cautiously, tightening the four rods evenly while keeping that rim centered.  Otherwise the head is going to pull too much one way and cause structural stress.

SIDE VIEW

Now for the final, most perplexing problem.  I have this drum cleaned, polished, refurbished and restored.  How are we going to mount it?  The owner wanted to hang it off of a cymbal stand but had no idea what kind of mount went with this piece of hardware screwed onto the shell.

Okay, no problem.  This is an old-school mounting method never used anymore called a "Clip Mount."  This was a quick and easy way to set up single-headed "concert" toms without having to deal with wing nuts, set screws, T-knob screws or what-have-you.  The drum, via this metal clip, slides easily on and off a tom stand equipped with a flat metal bracket.  In addition to quick set-up and tear-down, this also enables a long row of toms to be positioned closely together, side-by-side, as in an orchestra "concert" situation.

The only problem is, finding a stand for this dwarfish drum will not prove to be so easy.  I just bought a Ludwig stand for my 10 and 12-inch Black Vistalites and it cost me.....well, a lot, and I had to fight hard to get it.  I lost the first auction and had to bid super-high to win the second.  But, of course, I can be rather stupid and financially unwise when I really want something.  So anyway, I tried this little drum on my Ludwig stand and it didn't fit after all, so a Ludwig stand was out.  Must be a MIJ size.  Then I found a MIJ tom stand with a clip mount but discovered when it arrived that the tiny tom did not fit that either.  Hmmm.  Time to take matters into my own hands.

WHUSSRONG WHIFF VIEW?

The flat metal bracket that I needed to mount this wee drum was, after all, just a flat metal bracket.  How freakin' difficult is that to fabricate?  Not very.  Only about five dollars worth.  I took a piece of aluminum trim that I had lying around and fashioned exactly what I needed: basically an "L"-bracket with a single mounting hole.  Then I took this aluminum mock-up to a professional and had a duplicate made out of steel.

Now I can mount this metal bracket to any cymbal stand and I have a "clip-mount" tom stand that fits this undersized little pygmy percussion product known as an 8" tom.

Do you smell that?  That is the sweet smell of success!  No, wait.  That could be homemade cookies in the oven.....