Floor tom leg length

Zickos

Gold Member
I have never understood the length of floor tom legs. Most floor toms are 14" to 16" deep and most floor tom legs are 18" to 20" long. That means you can't put the drum in a case (I never travel without cases anymore) without REMOVING THE LEGS! ARRRG!! Most floor tom legs are clamped to the drum at around the mid point. For what use is this extra length? I have two sets of legs that are 16" but the rest are 18" or longer, I don't want to cut them off because it would mess up the chrome.

So, if anyone has sets of 16" legs, knurled or otherwise, and would like to trade them for longer ones, please let me know.
 
I have never understood the length of floor tom legs. Most floor toms are 14" to 16" deep and most floor tom legs are 18" to 20" long. That means you can't put the drum in a case (I never travel without cases anymore) without REMOVING THE LEGS! ARRRG!! Most floor tom legs are clamped to the drum at around the mid point. For what use is this extra length? I have two sets of legs that are 16" but the rest are 18" or longer, I don't want to cut them off because it would mess up the chrome.

So, if anyone has sets of 16" legs, knurled or otherwise, and would like to trade them for longer ones, please let me know.

IDK, man. Could it have something to do with people being different with regards to both their height and set-up preference?
 
FWIW, the legs on Tama floor toms are never long enough. To get them where I like them, I have put the legs as far down as they will go almost inside the hole, which makes me have to clamp down harder, which slightly distorts the metal of the holder. It's annoying and I had the same issue with the Rockstar kit and ArtstarII kit as I do the Silverstars. I'm 6'2" and I don't sit that high. I guess I need to invest in some RIMS for the floor toms, which would allow me to position them higher, or get longer legs.
 
FWIW, the legs on Tama floor toms are never long enough. To get them where I like them, I have put the legs as far down as they will go almost inside the hole, which makes me have to clamp down harder, which slightly distorts the metal of the holder. It's annoying and I had the same issue with the Rockstar kit and ArtstarII kit as I do the Silverstars. I'm 6'2" and I don't sit that high. I guess I need to invest in some RIMS for the floor toms, which would allow me to position them higher, or get longer legs.
lol! Rack mounted floor toms...

I'm actually looking to do this, too.
 
FWIW, the legs on Tama floor toms are never long enough. To get them where I like them, I have put the legs as far down as they will go almost inside the hole, which makes me have to clamp down harder, which slightly distorts the metal of the holder. It's annoying and I had the same issue with the Rockstar kit and ArtstarII kit as I do the Silverstars. I'm 6'2" and I don't sit that high. I guess I need to invest in some RIMS for the floor toms, which would allow me to position them higher, or get longer legs.

How long are yours and would you like to trade for 19"?
 
Floor tom legs are too long (and therefore require complete removal and re-installation) because setup/teardown is the most effortless aspect of drumming, and drummers have WAY too much time on their hands before and after gigs. I'm always looking for ways to make it more cumbersome.
 
I guess I'm on the other side of the fence on this one... basically only 14 and 16 toms CAN have legs. On all my gretsch stuff, the legs would be way too short for, say, a 12 x 14...
 
FWIW, the legs on Tama floor toms are never long enough. To get them where I like them, I have put the legs as far down as they will go almost inside the hole, which makes me have to clamp down harder, which slightly distorts the metal of the holder. It's annoying and I had the same issue with the Rockstar kit and ArtstarII kit as I do the Silverstars. I'm 6'2" and I don't sit that high. I guess I need to invest in some RIMS for the floor toms, which would allow me to position them higher, or get longer legs.

i thought it was just me with my Modern Imps.

same problem.
 
Funny, I'm pretty short but I have the legs on my 16" floor tom extended as far as they'll go. They won't fit in the case, either, but I couldn't use them any shorter.

I guess that's why they make 'em in different lengths.
 
i thought it was just me with my Modern Imps.

same problem.

I have a fairly new Superstar "custom" with a big ol floor tom... I think I have it set about 3/4s of the way up the legs. Must be ya'll are sittin' too high!
 
the mount points on my tom are also not center on the drum... If the finish wasn't specific "fade" I would be able to flip it over and get a bit more height out of it... Badge wouldn't be right side up, but so what?
 
Floor tom legs are too long (and therefore require complete removal and re-installation) because setup/teardown is the most effortless aspect of drumming, and drummers have WAY too much time on their hands before and after gigs. I'm always looking for ways to make it more cumbersome.

Exactly!

A hypothetical ...

Say you set up with the top of your snare approx 27" off the ground. If you had a 14" deep floor tom, you would need a leg 18" long to get it level with the snare after losing about 5" going into the fitting.

You'd think that in an age when we can explore the surface of Mars and map the human genome that they'd have come up with something clever with telescoping technology for floor tom legs.
 
my pearls have memory lock clamps so i take them off anyway, just put em in the hardware case. the nice thing is that the floor tom set up is the same every time
 
It would be great if we could keep the legs attached to the drums while in their road cases. But having the little locking collars on the legs is a good enough compromise for me.
 
I hear what your saying because it pisses me off to sometimes but keep in mind. Are you wanting the best sound or any easy pack up? Sometimes how far the floor tom is off the floor has much to do with its sound.

Try this. put a floor tom on cement or hardwood floor and hit it. Check it out. Then move the floor tom to a carpet and hit it. Check out the huge difference. Move the drum up and down and check out what happens. So many things effect drum sounds. So of course you can't set up to get the best sound because well, you set up so your comfortable. So maybe that's why sometimes they make the darn things so long.
 
Having said all this, who wants to trade a set of 16" floor tom legs for a set of 20" or 21"? I have three sets.
 
Maybe you could check with Andy Doerschuk of DRUM! magazine. I sat in on his kit once and for a basically regular size guy, the drums felt like they were on the floor. There must have been like 5" from the bottom of the floor tom to the floor. It works for him, he's all on it. But I bet he would be able to use shorter floor tom legs.

I'm of the opposite bent, although not as much as some young drummers who have things way up and flat. If I keep my shoulders up, I can play a pretty high kit and I like having room for my legs (I'm 6'1").

Everybody has a different set up. With my new kit, I have hanging toms on the side so it's a different world.
 
I gave up on short floor tom legs when I sold my Mapex Venus series kit :p

Ever since then, the legs come off and go in the hardware pile. I use gaffer tape to mark the heights so I don't have to stuff around adjusting them when setting up. Sure, it adds 30 seconds to set up time, but I can deal with that.
 
Vintage Ludwig legs measure out to about 16.5". They are the shortest that I have seen. They are 3/8" diameter.
I use memory locks on all of my floor tom legs. I set the mem lock on the outside leg longer than the two inside legs.
I set the inside legs at an identical length that is shorter than the outside leg with mem locks.
I mark the longer outside leg with a band of black tape to identify it for quick set up.
I put a rubber band around the three floor tom legs and I place them in my hardware bag with all of my other stands,etc during transport. I would rather have the legs off of my FT for transport anyway.
The vintage Lugwig legs work perfect for me because it just so happens that the 16.5" length is at optimum height for me when I set the outside tom leg to maximum height on my 16x16" floor tom.
I have other kits with longer legs and I simply adjust accordingly with the same method as above without setting the outside leg to maximum height.

I don't know why I shared all of this nonsense with everyone but I was board. :)
 
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