Still a Huge Sin.

Well, it could be less of a huge sin, or hugely less sinning. I hugely sinned by converting 13" and 14" Superstar concert toms to double heads. And I revel in the orgiastic pleasures of playing them every night in my practice room. I am wondering whether the work involved to cut 2" off a large air chamber will garner the results you are hoping for. I see Superstar drums on 3bay regularly- You'd most likely be better off cutting off the batter side,so as to not affect the tom mount or badge placement ,if you go through with it...

I played a 16x24 Superstar bass drum for 23 years and loved that thing. What I grew tired of was the power toms. I would leave it be.

Wouldn't this be possibly cheaper? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Tama-Superstar-14-X-24-Bass-Drum-Only-Natural-/261361853656?pt=US_Drums&hash=item3cda6164d8

Disireable finish(re-finish?),but that drum looks like it was rode hard and put up wet.

I really don't think that 2" is going to make all that much of a difference,that a 18 to 14 would make.Consider also the expence,and symmetry of the lugs,and it's really not worth it.I'm against altering the drum also

Consider different tuning/head options first,if it's more punch that you seek.

Steve B

Thanks everyone. Here's the rest of the story:

I've had success cutting down a 12 and 13 to go with the kit. I had them done by Precision Drum and the results are awesome.

I do love the 14" bass drum, both aesthetically, and sonically. But I don't discount the possibility of not hearing a huge (if any) difference.

I'm all for keeping drums the way they were made to be, but I will be holding onto these for years and years to come, so I'm not concerned with resale value or anything like that. Plus plenty of Cherry Wine Xtra-sized kits are still out there.

As for the one on eBay, I do love the natural maple finish, but currently all of this kit matches.

Cost - I have a guy in town that makes great quality drums (RBH - check them out!) that I bet (hope) would do the cutting for me for a decent price.

This is basically what happens when I end up with a little Christmas money earmarked for drums and I don't have any huge purchases on the horizon. Although... I can't have too many ride cymbals! Thanks everyone.

Also, "Vintage" may have been misleading for a 1983 kit. Right? My Ludwigs are vintage (1960s) IMO.

By the way I'm thinking of cutting the Ludwigs down into timbale-tom sized drums. Cool, right? I'm totally joking. I do have some taste, despite wanting to slightly butcher an 80s Japanese kit!

My set is also 1983 Cherrywine. Let me know if you need a 15" tom shell w/hoop. Originally the set was 13,14,15,18,24 but I parted out the 15 to build the 13 and bought a single Imperialstar 14 concert tom to build the 14. Seems like there should have been a 12 in there somewhere...Burger Kin

I am sure there are plenty here that will disagree with me, But I don't really have a problem with turning concert toms into double headed toms and cutting down power toms into standard sizes, specifically when you get into the 80's. I wouldn't be quite so quick to do that with a 70's concert tom, though I do have a very minor hankering for a 10" Slingerland doubled headed tom, which I doubt exists without some modifications.

Some will say that if one were to wait for another ten to twenty years, the kits from the 80's will be considered vintage and any modifications we make to them now will be considered blasphemy in that future. To them I say... well actually I have no idea.