Gibraltar and DW make updated versions of the rail consolette that fit into the two hole versions. They both have their ups and downs (pun intended)...some folks like them; I find them bulky. Unfortunatey, neither company makes one for the 4 hole version, which is on most of my Slingerland sets, so I haven't been able to use either one as a retro-fit.

RCI Starlight drums was making a copy of the Ludwig version that was pretty expensive, but correct looking.

Frankly, for playing, even if the rail was missing on one of my sets, I wouldn't mind as I find that a tom on a RIMS mount off a cymbal stand sounds much better, and is much easier to work with.

Those rails really choke the sound of toms...

I agree with almost everything Rich K has said.

The DW rail consolette is bulky and way over-built (like many Taiwanese-made components these days) ...and what on Earth is the point of the memory-lock on there?

I don't think RCI Starlite is still making that rail consolette anymore. It was an exact copy of the later Ludwig ratcheted "Sun Ray" (That's what Jim Petty called it, anyway)...but I don't see it anywhere on their site, now.

I have to also agree that the rails tend to rob sustain from the toms, but I like the way the tom and bass drum "interact" sometimes....like, the tom triggering some sympathetic vibration in the bass drum, for example. Things that are tied together like that tend to interact...and that produces a third timbre that is missing from more isolated drums. It's probably more noticeable to the near-field sound than anything else, but it's there all the same. Most of my drums are small and headed with thin heads and left "wide open" for the most part...so these interactions are more apparent than they would be on drums set up differently. I also play quite softly, so the stability thing has never been an issue for me.

I have to confess that a big part of the vintage-vibe for me is related to the look. I just can't get past it. I am finding that to be a big reason why I only want to collect things that are in as pristine a condition as possible -era-specific with as much intact-ness as possible...the heads and everything else...the total package.

I could take the railmount away and iso-mount the toms in order to make the drums sound "better"...but then I would kind of be doing something to make a vintage drum sound into a more modern drum sound...and I already have modern drums for that. I make the analogy to cars the same way...If I want to drive a Corvette Stingray, then it's going to drive like a Corvette Stingray drives. I could improve the suspension and steering, etc....but, then, part of the essence of that feel will disappear. And, besides...you have to drive those cars slowly, anyway -so that all the chicks can see you clearly! heh hehFalling Do

One of my favorite drummers was Larry Bunker circa early 1960's. He played Ludwig and Gretsch drums -both kits had rail-mounted toms and both sounded wonderful! -and that was back in the old days when there wasn't any close-mic'ing in many cases (especially on tv dates). Diplomat weight heads, tuning preference and really excellent technique will also add resonance and sustain to drums, too.

I have to say that I recently went to the rims mount on my 66 slingerland kit and I have never had the tom in a more perfect place. It was always a struggle to get that rack tom just right. And I always felt that I was to close to the bass drum. Now I feel I have the best of both worlds, Kick-!!! sounding drums and fantastic solid hardware(dw). Just my 2 cents.

That's a grteat point about the positioning limitations with some sets of vintage drums. On sets with larger-sized bass drums (22's and up) it would be a bugger to get the tom in a comfortable position. On my SuperClassic kit, the 13 toms sits a lot higher than what I am used to on most of my other kits...because most of my other kits are very small jazz kits. For the smaller-sized kits, the railmount is not a problem for me in this regard.

Also, I should mention that some people position their rail arms to sit kind of "flat" (parallel to the ground) so that they are a bit lower...but even then, the bottom rim comes into contact with the top of the 22" bass drum. I think the 20" bass drum and the offset rail position is about the limit for comfort.

Good point.