The rail consolette wont stay tight enough to really hit the rack tom. And when I attach the tom it kind of sags and wont stay 'up' enough. It's frustrating because I would prefer to use it over a stand, but I need the set to play and be solid. Might the incompatibility between the mount and the tom come from the fact that they are slightly different designs from different companies?

I see the possible problem with your rail consolette.Sumo Dude The "arm" is two piece. Over the years it most likely has spread slightly and just won't tighten up. You could try some bench work, or better, watch ebay, they show up quite frequently in other configurations, like the one on mine that wraps around. Tell you what, if I find an arm that has a blade on either side, I'll get the extra one to you.

As for the shells, the bass is a Star line, maybe Stewart? Zimgar? Who knows. Another hint for you concerning those reworked edges, take some candle wax and burnish them in real good. It will give those heads a little more wiggle room. I treated all of mine after reworking and they sing now. It makes it easier to tune in either direction, and after I did the snare, some of the ring went away. I am replacing all of my heads with single ply as that is what these edges were designed for. The old single ply "Soundmaster" heads that came on them still have a minute or two left in them, only after I waxed the edges do they resonate again.

[COLOR="DarkRed"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Arial Black"]Dammit...I want an umlaut on MY keyboard !!!!!![/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

http://cgi.ebay.com/GENERIC-TOM-HOLDER-PART_W0QQitemZ230379645419QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a3b269eb&_trksid=p4999.c0.m1

Here is a tom arm that will work for you!

Hello,

I hope you are well. I just found your pics about this drum set and would like to let you know that after searching all the web trying to find something about this CUSTUM drumsets brand this is the first i find. And. I also have a set like this!! that's why i'd like to share a few ideas about this drums. First i honestly think you don't have the original bass drum and snare. The mounting system for the rack tom on the CUSTUM i have is very different, Yours is pretty much more loke a Slingerland? I'm not sure. Second the sanre drum i have has the CUSTUM badge on it and it's steel. The set i have is blue sparkel. And i agree with you the sound from this drums is great. i'd really like to hear some more about this drums and some of the history.

i promise to share some pics ASAP.

Thanks for reading and sharing this pics. i Finally found another CUSTUM drums.

MarcoG (Mexico City)

Nice start so far, looks to me like you have a bit of work to do on the bass drum at least, but I have a couple of tips that might ease your work. There is still a lot of grunge on the hardware and you can clearly see the glue residue on the bass drum hoops.

Tip number 1

That glue residue is definitely difficult to deal with, but here is what you can do. Pick yourself up a can of acetone at your local home depot or Lowes. That stuff will definitely remove the glue while not harming the chrome. Don't let it get on the sparkle finsih though, it will eat through it so I recommend removing the hoops from the drum while you clean them.

Tip number 2

Just discovered this one tonight, normally I use real fine grade steel wool (0000 gague), but I discovered that all you need is a bottle of Windex and a soft cloth. Takes the grunge right off, and way easier than steel wool, also less risky to the chrome. You might still need to use steel wool for tough areas, I haven't yet tried Windex on anything as severe as what you've got there, but it's worth a try, you can always fall back to steel wool if the Windex won't do the trick.

I would not recommend any steel wool on this kit - with only one exception: threads - which can also be cleaned with a wire brush.

Steel wool, no matter what grade, creates scratching. Even if you can not see it, the scratching is the culprit when you chrome looks dull as a result.

John

Well, I'm very sorry to have to disagree with my esteemed colleague who in other areas I respect greatly, but this is just absolute pure nonsense. Steel wool of the finest grade will in NO WAY create scratching or dulling whatsoever, except perhaps under microscopic examination, but to the naked eye, it simply is not true. I've used it as a mainstay on dozens of kits. It just does not happen.

Now, I will say that, you can easily overdo it and have some problems as a result, but in my experience, which is not trivial, it's not usually an issue. Now here is why, Chromium has a mohs hardness factor of 8.5, while steel which is a derivative of iron has a mohs hardness of at absolute best 5.5. Quite literally, it is mathematically impossible (and by a pretty wide margin I might add, quite literally as big as the difference between diamond and glass) for steel to scratch chrome. Period.

Under normal and reasonable conditions, it will not damage your chrome, it's a matter of old wives tales, vs science. I don't know about you, but as a professional engineer I will come down on the side of science every time. Having said all of that though, I still consider it a last resort for only the toughest of areas. most hardware grunge can be liberated with Windex, or even dish washing soap and water. Still some tough areas will only come off with an abrasive treatment, and in my experience, steel wool is the mildest option.