When I bought my Gretsch set in 1972, I was sure that the stock rail holder was in a stupid place, so at 15 I drilled holes and mounted it right on top.

Boy do I regret that, and I ended up putting it back where it originally was.

I'll bet that near 100% of the people who drilled holes in old drums to mount stuff later wished they hadn't... so I'd strongly advise NOT drilling anything.

There might even be a visit from the Gretsch Police with baseball bats if you do.

How about a rims mount on a double floor tom stand on the right side of the bass drum to hold the tom, and use the other side of the floor tom mount to put your ride cymbal on?

I don't like my ride cymbal way up for many reasons, and prefer it in the stock low bass drum position. I like using double floor toms and that's an option that retains the vintage look and sounds good too.

But... I will say "drill it and you'll regret it later", I'd put money on that.

Drill? A RB Gretsch? ......

I hear the rumbling of thunder, lightning will strike you.

Yes, the harm that will result will not be limited to the drum.

No no no! I never ever ever ever would drill a hole. That's why I asked if there was a way to do this "without doing harm" in the subject. :)

Accordingly, "drill now and regret later" is wrong. I would regret immediately. There will be no drilling...trust me.

In the early 80s I was already collecting things that hadn't been ravaged by this sort of treatment in the 70s (adding pick ups to guitars, drilling holes, etc).

However, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate what people wanted to do. It's just how they went about doing it.

What surprised me is that I thought many would have had the same "problem" I am having, but I actually found nothing on this in my research. Believe me, if I can't have two ride toms without drilling the bass or drilling the second tom, then I won't do it. Period.

Two floor toms might be the answer if I can find a 14" but those can be costly in Gretsch as they are part of the sacred set jazz set up.

Thanks for your views.

If the rail consolette is mounted on top of the bass drum -as opposed to off-center, then you might be able to add a second clamp to the rail and mount the second tom that way. It wouldn't permanently alter anything.

Unfortunately it's not. It's the off center style. You can see the actual kit if you go the "what's it worth" section and click on the thread about the early 60s Gretsch champagne sparkle set. There you will find a link to a bunch of photos.

Ah, yes. I just checked it out. beautiful kit. If it were me, I would just play the kit as a single tom mounted and add a second floor tom.

That is very well what I may end up doing and I appreciate your opinion. It will be awhile before it gets to me in Italy, but when it does, I look forward to posting photos of it after I have cleaned up the chrome.

Sorry - I'm just overly paranoid about this!

I know what you mean by the floor toms being expensive - especially 14x14's, so I'd just do the Rim's mount and ride cymbal on the double tom standarama.

What size is the tom you might buy (guessing 8x12) and what do you have (9x13)?

Another not so bad setup I actually like better than two toms on the kick (just can't handle the ride cym so high) is you put both toms (assuming you're right handed) on a double tom tripod stand (with Rims mounts) to the left of you're kick and you can still have you're ride low, and you wouldn't permanently do anything to the set. You can even mount your crash off of that stand with a clamp on cymbal mount.