V.The rounded end or top is the top of the mount.Should be closer to the top head...Mikey

Here is how mine is mounted on my 12" tom on my 60`s Stewart kit...The curved portion of the bracket is at the top and the Made in Japan stamp in the chrome is right side up...The mount is closer to the reso head as seen...

Cheers

I'm not sure there was a lot of consistancy with these mounts. I've always seen them installed with the curved side towards the batter side (up), but I've seen it both ways as to whether the mount was closer to the batter or resonant sides. Also, I've run across some that were anything but centered (horizontally) between the lugs.

I don't have any in stock right now, but do have a couple of toms coming in first of the week. IF they add anything to this conversation I'll post pics...

Bill

Can the name badge be spun around? On mine, the grommet holds it on, so if you loosen that a little, I can turn the name badge to be upside down.

Here is a pic of mine for reference:

[IMG]http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e23b/ewqepmrz226i1dp4g.jpg[/IMG]

You want to mount it closer to the reso so that the rims clear the mounting rail. If I move it one notch down in angle, the bottom rim rubs the rail as I play. If the tom sat lower, this would be give even less adjustability.

If flipped, the only option then would then be to slide it further down the rail so the rim isn't above the rail. I'm not sure if that would be in a comfortable position to play since that would make it much lower.

Tan

Sorry for the double post, but I thought of something worth mentioning. On my Stewart, the 13" tom is built "backwards" as if it were designed to be on the right side of the bass. The easy way to get the air hole/badge to face out would be to flip the tom over to be "upside down" and spin the badge. I tried it when I first got the kit because I was convinced I only had it mounted upside down.

However, in doing so, that would put the dampener pad on the reso head instead of the batter, as well as lower the drum so that it hit the rail (as mentioned above).

So when looking at my set from the front, the dampener on the 13" faces the audience. Unfortunately, without pretty major mods to the shell, that's just the way it is.

Tan

SnareTan -- your posted pic and descriptions definately shows why at least on some of them (maybe most?) the mounting plate is installed closer to the reso side; I don't think with one of those rail mounts it would work at all (as you described) with the mount closer to the batter side.

I do have an MIJ double tom mount out in the shop (somewhere in a box!). It has a much longer rail and was installed on the top of the BD. The parts that clip to the rails are much longer (taller) than what shows in your picture, which could allow for the plates on the tom to be installed closer to the batter side, or at least centered between the batter and reso sides.

Oh well, like I said before, not a lot of consistancy...

Bill

Here is a 60's MIJ tom,not tampered with as far as I know,Round side up and a bit off center.Works well for me....

Cool, thanks for all the help guys. I mounted it closer to the resonant side, like Snare Tan's picture. The name badge was loose enough that I was able to flip it 180 degrees, so now it's right-side up. The badge isn't loose and doesn't rattle, but was still able to be (barely) moved, which was good.

Snare Tan and billnvick bring up good points. My rack tom is an 8" x 12" and is the only rack tom with the kit. In playing position with the tom mounted on the left side of the bass drum (with 12 o' clock being the furthest away from me and 6 o' clock being the closest to me), the name badge is at about 9 o'clock. Kind of strange, since we know that very few MIJ kits from that era came with anything smaller than a 12".

Incidentally, I do not have a rail/consolette mount on this bass drum. Mine is a single post with a dual clip mount holder (similar to a Grestch round badge double tom holder). The clip "arms" are independantly angle adjustable on one center post. So I guess I could have mounted this closer to the batter and not had the rail problem to worry about, but I still like it better towards the resonant side. Thanks again for all the information!

It's funny, but with the clip mount towards one end of the tom, that's about the same place where Yamaha places their YESS mounting bracket, because that area of the drum is least effected by it. Maybe these MIJ companies were smarter than we thought?

I don't mind the clip style mounts. They are the only mounts that I haven't wanted to use a suspension mount on...they actually don't hinder too much resonance from the drum at all. Plus the lugs stick out further than the bracket does, so it's super easy to get into a case, or to get two mounted toms very close together.