Honestly, my answer would be no. Hang the tom off a cymbal stand with a Gibraltar clamp with a 3/8 L-rod in it. MUCH better resonance and better positioning. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Just some general info concerning fasteners. There are different grades of bolts, nuts etc sorted by material, tensile strength....etc. Each are marked on the bolt or nut etc.... If you wanted to stick with the rail mount a better grade carriage bolt and nut would do the trick. Here's a site with a chart to compare grade and strength. Something to keep in mind while shopping. :-)

http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/boltgrades.htm

Edit to add.......

Here's a chart for carriage bolts.

http://www.wholesalebolts.com/carriageboltheadmarkingandstrengthchart.aspx

Glenn gave you a good solution for the hardware problem. To increase the resonance of the tom while mounted, turn the L-arm upside-down! If the L-arm comes in from the top instead of the bottom of the mount, the drum opens up and none of the resonance is lost.

Turn the L-arm the other way around!

John

I would look into getting the new Ludwig Atlas rail mount.

It's incredibly solid, looks retro, and best part is that you don't have drill any holes, because they mount where the lug goes..

Thanks guys. I'll need to check into the tensile strength of my hardware store's various carriage bolts. I just assumed Ludwig's old bolts were garden variety hardware. I realize now that I might have had more success with them if I'd put some lithium grease on the threads first.

I'm pretty over hanging toms off a cymbal stand, because I find myself constantly moving things around to get both the cymbal and the tom where I want them. That's why I like bass drum mounted toms: I know where they're gonna be and I can move my crash at will with no disruption.

I'd not heard of mounting the tom off a downturned l-arm increasing resonance before. Interesting.

I'd LOVE to just buy a new Atlas rail mount, but Ludwig, in their infinite wisdom, changed the hole pattern from the vintage ones, so that's out. I just lost out on a bid for the Steve Maxwell rail mount on Ebay a little while ago. I do like that his design is like the improved Ludwig rail with the ratchet teeth. I wish mine had those - it would be a non-issue.

Anyway, thanks all for your input!

John, I don't think an upside down l-arm is gonna work with the way the old consolettes are designed.

You mean cuz the tom will hang too low and hit the rail, right? All I can tell you is I used a Luddie rail mount in a punk band and it performed admirably for many many shows. Just make sure all the parts are in good shape.

Mitch

David - Trust me, turning the L-arm upside-down -works- to restore resonance to the drum. And you're correct, the rail is too low to use the technique. Dbl. tom arm posts can be raised higher to accommodate flipping the L-arm and still having clearance. I guess I needed to see the photo of the rail mount to be reminded how low they sit. Flipping the arm works though, it was good advice to solve the problem you identified.

Trying to help...

John

Mitch and John - yes, the low rise of the consolette prevents turning the arm upside down. But that IS a cool technique for increasing resonance - one I'd never heard of before. But, for this project, I'm just gonna ride the tom off a Ludwig Atlas flat-based snare stand. For whatever reason (thicker rubber on the claws?), it doesn't kill resonance at all, unlike so many other snare stands I've tried.

Interestingly, I have another set of 1971 Luddies that has the newer double tom ratchet holder (pictured) and has no problem with tom choking whatsoever. Something about those consolettes, man. Slingerlands that I've played have the same problem. I wish they didn't look so cool and "correct".

Question: Do you worry about slippage when having your tom suspended upside down? I'd be kinda nervous.