On drums...

Hey everybody! How are you all doing?

Not sure if this is of interest but thought I would share it with you all. Since buying my ML Designers last Xmas I have noticed my 12" tom resonance getting worse and worse and the other night noticed there was a little bit of play in the tom mount where the tom actually attaches to the tom arm on my kick drum. Thought I would investigate so I brought it home and stripped the drum down for a good old look. Now as you will see in these pic my drum is rebuilt but I only remembered to take photo's after I had completed the job!
So I removed the large clamp knob from the tom and also the part that goes on after that to show the large threaded cylinder in which the tom arm passes through

I then inserted a large screwdriver into the hole and turned the entire cylinder clockwise which makes it screw further into the tom mount itself therefore making the hole tighter.

After a quick rebuild the tom holds firm and my full resonance is back!
Just thought I would share my findings in case anybody else has found this problem. Man these drums are awesome!

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Ron

Thanks for the post Ron - I'm sure it will come handy for lots of guys here.

Aren't you forgetting something? Like a full picture of the kit set up?!?


Cheers,

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Goki - short from Goran

Let the good drums roll!!!

Hey Goki good to see you!

I'm sure I posted pics of my designers when I got em but if not here they are the day I got them.

I have since stripped all that horrible paint of the kick hoops to unveil the same finish as the shells. Why on earth would somebody paint over the birdseye finish?!?!?! My only complaint is that the 10" tom is a slightly darker shade of purple to the rest of the kit and is obviously an add on. Also the fittings inside the shell are not golden in colour that are black. The hoops I stripped back are also the slightly darker shade and I assume this is due to them being painted and not fading like the rest of the kit has.
While I'm talking about designers I would have to say I prefer the hardware and fittings on these to my SQ2's. The built quality is off the chart and just feels better to me. Don't get me wrong I LOVE my SQ2's and would not change them. Most of all it's the tom holders I prefer. The thickness of the designers, the design and the way the tom slides onto the holder and only slides on so far looks nice and neat. With the 600 series SQ2 tom holders the tom slides onto the holder down to where it bends 90 degrees and if you have the clamp unscrewed a little to much actually goes a bit too far towards this bend so when you tighten it the tom actually wants to rise up a little to get a good fit. Not sure if I'm making sense here but I was delivered the 400 series hardware with my kit by accident. Now those tom arms had a longer shaft (the hexagonal part) and included a memory lock which the tom sat on perfectly and was far easier. The 600 series is much shorter and like I say no memory lock and its only the bend that stops it sliding down too far. Possibly I'm missing something here but thought I'd throw it out there for discussion.

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Ron

Nope.



The kit is beautiful, Ron.


The engineering at Sonor has been following a course leading away from Germanic precision. What was exceptional has given way to the commonplace. People say that the Sonor sound keeps them loyal to the marque, and while I have no way of voting one side or the other on that issue, I know it isn't the engineering, because there is no longer anything exceptional there (vis à vis other drum makers) other than the price of purchasing it.

I'm not sure why your Designer tom clamp should have given way. I suspect pilot error in many of the complaints I've heard about Designer clamps, both of the over-tightening and the inexact-placement varieties. Link through Designer era engineering always presumed a certain amount of mechanical sympathy and finesse on the part of the buyer. Congratulations of your fix! Help me understand: the cylinder is threaded into the its holder?

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Gregory

All I did was held the tom mount in one hand and turned firmly the screwdriver in my other hand which makes the entire threaded cylinder (the one with the screwdriver shaft passing through it) screw further into the tom mount therefore making the hole for the tom arm post slightly smaller as the screwing in motion draws the cylinder further into the mount. Still not sure if this is making sense and may possibly have to take more detailed photos!

Thanks for the compliment on the kit Gregory I appreciate it

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Ron

Makes sense, alright.

You're welcome on the compliment. Thanks for posting the photo.

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Gregory

Just heard back from Gerd at StDrums that a new washer on the clamp should help some of the play in the designer tom holder too. Noticed last night it has a split in it so needs replacing anyway. Pity the postage from Germany will be about 4 times the price of a few washers! Now just to find a couple of designer tom arms and try that kick with the track off! Never played an undrilled kick and have a thirst to try it out. I know technically the kick is undrilled already but want to try it with toms mounted on stands either side of the kick and see if the lack of weight from the track, crucafix and toms makes a huge difference in sound. I'm guessing it will actually be further away from what I like in sound but still wanna give it a go! Will of course post my findings if I ever find a set of these! Anybody on here got any going spare?

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Ron

Technique ordering from Gerd; order an entire set of tune safe rubbers for your kit. You will save about 400% compared to ordering them in this country, and the shipping won't be any more than for the washers. Buy washers for all six of your tom legs, while you're at it. And the knurled rubber rings for the floor and rack knobs. Those items are all expendable.

As to the kick, not sure you will know the difference. The shells are heavy enough that they won't deform, particularly with the weight spread out and isolated. But by all means try it out and report back.

What spares are you looking for? I'm not following.

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Gregory

Hey Gregory,

Spares I'm looking for is the large plastic washer that sits against the large knurled knob you tighten to hold the tom to the tom arm. Basically a large black plastic washer.
Ok decided I should take photos!

Also I'm looking to get a pair of designer tom arms but been looking for about a year now!
Last order I got from him I ordered tune safes, knurled knob rubbers and extra boots for my kick legs.

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Ron

I recall the different arm designs you mention. There does not seem to be much rhyme or reason for the shift, but if the 400 was a good idea, it's hard to understand why the 600 is better. Or, if the 600 is better, why does the 400 still exist? In addition to the features you've identified, the 600 arm is bent at a 90º angle and the 400 bent at something less, so that when the arm of the 400 series is projecting perpendicularly from the stand, the tom is already leaning at an angle toward the drummer.

The main consequences to the 400 design is that 1.) the tom is lifted higher on its mount and at an angle away from the wing nut of the ball clamp (which may have been thought to permit easier access to the wing nut on the tom prism clamp and vise versa), and 2.) the tom clamping mechanism leaves the tom clamp visually distinct from the ball clamp, cutting down on the visual chatter. Contrariwise, the 600 arm is more elegant, using less moving parts and requiring less persnickety adjustments, and, on its own, looks less as if Reuben Goldberg had been part of the design team. With the 400 Series, it would appear that engineers were working overtime to answer mechanical questions that no one was asking.

I'm unaware that there is any substantive difference in the ball clamp and arm mechanisms. I'll wager that Sonor decided to keep the 400 design in order to differentiate the line from the 600 series, even though it (the 400) was probably more expensive to manufacture.

It doesn't need saying, but the Designer clamp was a magnitude more mature design than either, in function, in beauty, and in sheer mechanical interest, but it was undoubtedly a lot more expensive to produce.

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Gregory