L brackets do have some gauges not pictured but they're rather small and not wide, so hopefully will still grip.

I looked closer at photos of new eye bolts and see what you mean--I had no idea they were supposed to be ridged. Thanks much! I can stop going crazy now.

Mister T

May I assume the eye bolts in the tom lugs should be ridged too?

Yes, they should be. This was a very typical issue with those Ludwig mounts. I recall most drummers having problems with them back in the 70's. Drums falling, rotating around, and generally causing unwanted havoc, the pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth...that sort of thing. Guys here have success with them because we are all older, more patient and have figured out how to not strip things by over tightening. Of course, if you forget to bring that hex wrench to your gig, you were in big trouble.

I recall several drummers that actually transported their gear with their mounted toms left on the post so they didn't have to mess with the hardware. Just slide the post in the kick drum with both toms already attached right down to the hose clamp they were using as a memory lock. And we wonder why some many of these kits are beat to death.

Cool kit for that money by the way! Very nice.

Thank you, and that makes perfect sense! I guess we all start somewhere...

Ordered eyebolts from that ebay link and they fit perfectly--thank you!

I'm now considering replacing the L arms just so I have a perfect fit with no further decay.

Does anyone know of new parts that match the old Ludwig L arms? I found some here by Steve Maxwell which say they will fit, but the lower part of the L appears longer in photos. Not a big deal but it would be cool to find a match.

Has anyone ever succesfully re-tapped the straight grooves on these puppies?

x-mas2

If that bass drum shell is warping under pressure, time to stop mounting the toms on the BD! All the worn parts on that mount, L-arms, bolts etc. are all easily replaced.

I would look for a good double-braced stand (base) to mount the tom holder in. Besides eliminating the danger of damage to the bass drum shell, you'll be better able to control the position and height of the toms using an independent stand. Just suggestions...

John

we had an older Ludwig kit (b/o badge so 70's I guess) with the same exact issues with the tom mounts in my high school... The drums sounded great, but the tom mounts were a serious PITA. I think we had brass shim in there at one point to give it a better grip.

We had a larger (I think it was a 15") second rack tom, and a 20" floor tom with this kit (plus a 16" FT and another rack tom, I guess it was a 13?) The 15 rested on the bass always. The mount did not have it in it to keep that drum up and withstand a teenager pounding on it.:(

That 20" floor tom was SICK...Excited

PS we had dark green vistalite triple toms for marching... My Jr. High school had red-white-blue striped vistalite triples!

By my graduation we got 'modern' Pearl marching drums, with quads in white...

I've thought this.

Hopefully with new repaired hardware, I won't be over-tightening things. So theoretically problem solved, though there'll unavoidably always be more stress around the tom mount.

When I acquired the kit, there was already a crack from the bass drum tom insert direct to one of the nearby lug holes. The crack does not go all the way through the plastic shell, but it's a definite line. So I kinda figured the damage had already been done.

I've always thought separate tom mounts were better anyway, I've just never used them so hadn't really considered them. Perhaps I should. Although BD is drilled for the tom insert--I guess I could think of it as a giant grommet. Coffee Break2

Is that the measurement of the threaded part (1/4" versus 5/16")?

Scott

Looks like new Ludwig memory locks are not serrated with "teeth"... If I use them on L brackets, will they start mashing in the L bracket ridges?

Chewie: