Yeah, those pictures are the correct way to mount it. The only exception I know of is on the Ludwig Jazzette model (18" bass drum). In the case of the Jazzette, the consolette is centered at the top of the drum between the two top lugs. As far as how far front-to-back, I'm not sure.

Hey there, Pratt !

-- Refer to your other post of this same title - I've posted there, too. But I'll add a little here as well.

What O-Lugs mentioned about the Jazzette set-up (and some others I've seen) being mounted on the center of the shell, well, that's an option a lot of guys take when they don't want their tom positioned so "outboard", as Jaye had mentioned in the other post.

The reason the rail consolettes were originally positioned with the tom being outboard like that is because they were mimicking the positions of the toms when the old hoop clamp link holders were used. Back then, it was common to see a tom hoop-clamped on the left, and often another hoop-clamped on the right of the bass drum, and they were usually quite a bit outboard -- but that was the style way back when...

With most rail consolettes during the '60s, we all slid the link as high up toward the right as possible to keep the tom from being so outboard. But that also puts the tom at a higher elevation, too. For 20" bass drums, that's not much of a problem. For 22" and 24" bass drums, it matters. For 18" bass drums, you might want an extender spade to put the tom a little higher up. I use an extender spade on my 20" rb bass drum.

I have an article on this website all about vintage tom holders - I'm not sure how to access it from here, but it's up and posted. Here's a link Dave provided - http://vintagedrumguide.com/tom_article.htm

Happy restorations, brother Pratt !

Thanks so much for the info O-Lugs and Beatnikjazz, especially for the article on vintage tom holders - didn't know that was there, excellent, thank you.

One thing I should have mentioned is that the bass drum it's going to go on is a 26"! I've had these Bonham sized drums for so long that I've finally decided to go ahead and just set it up, green sparkle and all. I'm just not sure of how far up to set the rail etc. The tom is a 14x10 (diameter x depth) so I've got to consider all of those things.

This is basically how the kit will end up looking if I do it Bonham style:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaFVUlV0rvI[/ame]

[COLOR="Teal"]I like the idea...kinda no way NOT to set the rail off to the left if the bass is 26", eh ?????[/COLOR]

I always assumed the consolette placement on the top of the Jazzette was because it was the only way to get the tom high enough to be in a comfortable playing position. And that's also why the Jazzette did not utilize a bass drum mounted cymbal arm. Because by placing the rail consolette in the "top" position, it compromised ("crowded") the space for the bass drum mounted ride cymbal. That's why you had to have a free-standing cymbal stand for the Jazzette kit.

I can't even imagine what to do with a rail consolette on a 26" bass drum! That's an interesting dilemma. The angle on Bonham's kit is too severe for my soft style of playing!

Hi Guys,

Yeah, I think you guys are kinda getting the idea of my dilema. The size of the bass drum kinda throws everything off being a 26" monster. I thought about it for the longest time and decided that if Bonham could do it...and with a consolette too.

I think it should be fine.

I'm not even near getting that kit restored yet, wanted to get some feedback and hear what everyone had to say before I dove into this project.

I'll post photos when I eventually get around to it.

Thanks to all who commented. Really appreciate it.