if you decide to do it symmetrically, the drum ends up being something like 12.75 inches wide

it becomes mostly apparent with the badge, as the hoop ends up almost touching it, but it looks and plays fine

Tama and Ludwig had extra long power toms, and make the best candidates for cutdowns... i did a Swingstar, and will post photos soon

[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/41/q3al.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/811/pj7m.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/571/euv3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/268/pwl1.jpg[/IMG]

It's not for me to question your motivation to do this but.....

ask yourself a couple of questions.

1)what do you expect to accomplish. ie: what net benefit is the alteration?

2)could you accomplish the same thing at less cost, with less work and without changing this shell.

If the answer is not yes to the second question, then you must know what yer after.

if you only cut one side, the badge will look fine, but then the lugs will appear slightly off-center, which i didn't like the look of

1) I've always loved the 14" depth for responsiveness and sound. And I think it looks incredible cool.

Most of tamas drums were available in standard sizes. Cutting and drilling Japanese drums is no different than doing so to 50's and 60's US made drums. They may not seem so vintage to us now, but in the future...

Very few drums from the big three Japanese drum companies are actually made in Japan anymore.

As for the "I have no intention of ever getting rid of them" excuse. (Which I used to subscribe to) who will have them after you are gone?

I've got a few drums that I'm sure the original owners are no longer with us and while they probably thought it was no big deal to add a mount or move one. It matters to its current owner.

a photo showing relative sizes... the wine Superstar is a 16x22

[IMG]http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/640x480q90/23/irvq.jpg[/IMG]

True enough, however, if one were using their drums and the existing mounting hardware didn't work for you, and that was often the case, then you had to do something. Much of the mounting hardware back in the 60's and even some in the 70's was not particularly good. It may matter to us now, but I would not fault a user for making those mods as they usually had to.