Vintage Snare Drums - Vintage Tom Mounts

Ludwig designed their own version with the wider stance of four-bolt mounts. It offered a greater lateral stability. (Photo 10) Their tilter used an “L” rod instead of a spade, allowing the tom to be swung back or forth. The rail key secured the tom in any set position.

Ludwig 1960s rail consolette and bracket - Earl Thompson

Photo 10

The Ludwig bracket that replaced the older style diamond plate was also used for floor tom legs, folding bass drum spurs, and shell-mounted “L” arm cymbal holders. Wing nuts worked well enough for floor tom legs, spurs, and cymbal holders, but the mounted toms really needed to be wrench-tightened. (Photo 11)

Ludwig 1960s P-1972 bracket with hex nut and with wing nut

Photo 11

It’s not uncommon to find vintage sets with wing nuts in place of hex nuts and vice-versa. By 1964, Ludwig had replaced the W&A link with their own version. (Photo 12) The Ludwig design was later copied in a similar style made by upcoming Japanese drum company Hoshino (later Tama).

1964 Ludwig No. 782C Rail Consolette - MichealSJ-Vintage Drum Forum

Photo 12

In 1960, Rogers introduced their Swiv-O-Matic holder, designed by Joe Thompson. (Photo 13) (Photo 14) It used solid hexagonal rods and a key-tightened ball and socket joint. Vintage drum specialist Emory Grodek agrees that the Swiv-O-Matic should’ve been beefed-up and made a little thicker and heavier. It may have been if Henry Grossman had not sold the company. Ringo Starr had a Swiv-O-Matic installed on his beloved Ludwigs. So did many others who played brands other than Rogers.

1960 Rogers Swiv-O-Matic holder - Earl Thompson	Rogers 1960 Swiv-O-Matic mount - Emory Grodek - Drumatix.com

Photo 13	Photo 14

In 1968, Slingerland introduced their Set-O-Matic tom holder. (Photo 15) This ball and socket design used a solid nylon ball atop a steel riser tube, sandwiched by a key-tightened split collar which allowed for swivelling and tilting to nearly any angle desired by the turning of a single keyed bolt. The tom holder arm was not round. It had an indented crease, like a keyway, in which the tom bracket thumb screw prevented the tom from being able to swivel. All of the tilting, turning, and angling came from the ball. The nylon ball came in both white and black. Over the years, the Set-O-Matic design was applied to several variations of Slingerland’s double tom holders. (Photo 16)

Slingerland 1968 Set-o-matic holder	Set-o-matic holder - indented crease on tom arm

Photo 15	Photo 16

1968 was also the year for a new Ludwig tom holder, which seems to have had double-duty as a single tom holder. (Photo 17) (Photo 18) A retractable riser rod was topped with a ratchet tilter, upon which was mounted yet another hex-nutted tilter with an “L” arm. This holder was introduced with the Ludwig Standard line as the S-220 Uni-Sphere holder. In 1980 it was used with the classic line, listed as the 783 retracting holder.

Ludwig Standard 1968 S-220 Uni-Sphere retracting tom holder	Ludwig 1980 783 retracting holder

Photo 17	Photo 18

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