Has anyone had any experience with this? I have a 16.5x17 floor tom that I think would be cool as a bass drum. Also any other cool conversions or tips for making a mini kit would be appreciated.
Posted May 10, 2016, 10:41 AM UTC
I hated the bass drum lift that came with my Ludwig Breakbeats so I got this one to replace it and love it, it's much easier and takes up less space. I'm sure you could google replacement legs to help lift the front up.
The Jungle Gig Kit linked by u/ufig101 looks like it would work pretty well too.
Your drum is probably a 16x16. Take a look at Dunnett hardware. diy bass drum lifts might be a lot it trouble and not as stable. Look at danmars design as you could emulate it if you go diy
Yeah it's definitely a 16.5x17, it's a really old Ludwig that my dad has had since the 80s. I was thinking of taking a large piece of wood, sanding out the shape of the tom and putting some protector/fastener in-between the tom and holder. That would for the front while I could bend some extra floor tom/bass drum legs that I have for the back.
This thread is on the verge of convincing me to buy something but I still very much like the idea of a DIY conversion
you're probably just measuring hardware. the shell itself is probably 16x16. are you sure it doesn't fit 16" heads. regardless, bending floor tom legs to make spurs (utilizing 2 of the 3 floor tome leg brackets) is a fine idea. again look at dunnetts spurs to get a good idea of shape. his spurs are sweet. for the other end, i'd definitely recommend agaisnt anything DIY that isn't sturdy as heck. also take a look at dunnett R-class mounts for DIY inspiration, maybe you can make a tom holder out of the 3rd floor tom leg bracket (without redrilling)
http://bigbangdist.com/~bob/RMNT.jpg i have this mount, it's great! I drilled my bass drum with an old floor tom leg bracket (i had it machined out to fit the bigger diameter)
the pedal side is the trickiest... you really want this to be ultra solid. any play will neg affect your ability to play the drum. http://bigbangdist.com/~bob/RCCK.jpg you do need to find out your f-tom leg diamter for these kits.
RBDR BASS DRUM KICK RISER DUNNETT R4C 360 Swivel Throw- off w/ Dual Quick Release DUNNETT REK - All Colors RCCK10 R-Class 10.5mm Floor to
RCCK12 R-Class 12.7mm Floor to Bass Conversion Kit
i see the lift is available solo http://bigbangdist.com/~bob/RBDR.jpg requires one of these http://bigbangdist.com/~bob/RCUC.jpg
Yeah I forgot about rims. I guess it's 16x17, which is a little less weird. I'll definitely check all those out
haha, you're still measuring wrong, i'd bet a beer it's 16" tall, not 17 bearing edge to edge. this is how you measure drum, as if all the hardware was removed. you know someone is a new player when they need skins for their 23x21 bass drums (probably 22x18). I once ordered skins for my friends 28" bass drum only to find out the drum was 27.5"...now that was weird, but the drum was 80+ years old so you can expect weirdness. if your drum is 60s or later, it's likely going to be traditional sized, non metric.
You're looking for what's called a bass drum riser or bass drum cradle. Google those terms.
For the cradle style: DW makes one built like a tank. Danmar makes one that's been around for years.
The riser style usually clamps to the hoop and essentially gives you a lower lip to clamp your pedal onto so that the beater hits more in the center of the head. They often come with legs that fit into the holders for the regular floor-tom legs but are angled down like spurs. They end up looking a lot like the bass drum spurs used on old-timey vintage kits.
Or you could just drill the floor tom and mount spurs on them. You can find generic ones at Guitar Center or InterstateMusic.com or even have the GC guy order specific ones from a manufacturer. Interstate usually has everything so it can be a bit easier.
the dw cradle is super massive. honestly only worth the $ and weight if it you want to mount weird shaped drums like hand drums.
the floor tom/kick conversions kits like dunnett and pearl make are much more easy to pack up and that's generally what folks want when gigging with a 16 kick drum (portability)
I did this! Buy the pearl jungle gig kit and a pearl ISS mount and you're away! The ISS mount is just a rim-mounted device that you can use to have snares and floor toms as rack-mounted instead of needing a snare basket or floor tom legs respectively. The Jungle Gig kit comes with a pedal mount that fits into this, along with two kick-drum legs that you simply put in where the floor tom legs usually go. The whole thing is fairly inexpensive too (by drum hardware standards at least).
That's cool. I was planning on going the DIY route but I might just get these.
How expensive would they be on average and how do you like them?
I can't remember what I paid for them, but I just had a quick look and collectively you could get them for £40-£50 here in the UK.
The hardware itself is sturdy and reliable, which has been my overall experience with the small amount of Pearl hardware I've encountered. It definitely does the job, the one thing you will probably need to do is adjust the height of the beater on your pedal, but aside from that I've had a great experience with it!