Tom mounts are often over-looked in their vital role at helping your toms to sound their best. Don't assume that drum makers always install the best mounting system. Profit weighs out over quality in some instances.
To get a better understanding of tom mounts, let's start with....
At some point in history, drummers had to figure out a way to hang their drums (if they wanted to play more than one at a time). There have probably been many designs ranging from inventive to crude, but the goal has been the same.
Given today's sharp ears and knowledge base, tom mounts serve a much greater role than just holding the drums up. A lot of care goes into making sure the drum shell resonates to give a nice tone. All that crafting can go to waste if the shell is dampened by the metal holding it up.
Let's review several tom mount designs you can expect to find on today's drum sets...
SIDE NOTE: The purpose here is to present the types of tom mounts available today. As with anything, there are pros and cons to each. Each drummer has their own preference in the way a mount looks, how it affects the way a drum sounds, and the ease at which it can be to work with.
Types of Mounts
Lug Mount
DW Drum (reviewed here) made their own tom mount as part of their custom drum design. You could say that this mount is one of Drum Workshop's trademarks. The rubber lined mount only touches the drum's lugs to let the shell resonate freely. It is very unique and works great.
As mentioned in the talk about DW Drum, they have a division called Pacific Drums and Percussion (PDP). The picture below shows how DW carried this design over to their PDP line. Although the lugs and mount have an oval shape, the concept works just the same.
In 2003, PDP toms were outfitted with a tension rod mount (discussed next). They called it STM® for "Suspension Tom Mounts". A year later they went back to the lug mount style, probably due to a drop in sales.
As you notice with each of the tom mounts, the manufacturers use clever acronyms. These are pointed out so you'll have be familiar with what you're dealing with in your search.
Tension rod mounts wrap the drums like the lug mounts except they suspend from the tension rods rather than the lugs. This is the most popular design among drum makers today.
Gauger Percussion, Inc. (GPI) pioneered this suspension system back in 1979. GPI's system is called RIMS® which stands for "Resonance Isolation Mounting System". Their mount is designed to give maximum sustain and isolation. One of GPI's newest products is their "Alloy" aluminum series which offers the choice of several cool colors. Check it out-
Pearl Drums has a tension rod design that mounts at the top and bottom of the drum. The Pearl Optimount is shown below on the right.
You'll notice that the part where the tom holder attaches can slide up and down along the track made by the two metal brackets. This feature allows for additional adjustments.
Rim Mount
Pearl Drums has also designed a tom mount that attaches to the rim of the drum. Only the rim is touched by this type.
This approach is very innovative, just watch out for cheap hoops which may flex under the pressure and possibly make it difficult to tune.
Shell Mount
Yamaha Drums has developed a unique system that mounts directly to the drum shell. Oh no! Don't Tell Me It Touches The Shell!? Yep. So do your lugs and the drum can still sound great, Right?
That's the idea behind Yamaha's YESS mounts, which stands for Yamaha Enhanced Sustain System. The mount is installed through the shell, but there is minimal contact to ensure drum resonance.
Note that the picture on the right shows the mount on a snare drum, which is perfectly legal, and actually very forward thinking!
Connecting to the Kit
Attaching a tom mount to the kit is usually accomplished by a rod (straight or "L" shaped) which fits into a specially made bracket for adjusting the tom position.
The bracket is then connnected to a cymbal stand or through a hole and clamp at the top of the bass drum.
I highly encourage you to try different arrangements on your mounted toms. A great way to get ideas is to study other drummer's set-ups. You may find an approach that works better for you than anything else you've tried!
