I purchased a 20" floor tom with the rest of my old kit back in the '70's. I sold it, and recently bought it back. I got it from the factory originally and it was set up as a floor tom, with four legs.
So I got a couple of 20" tom-tom heads and found they didn't fit. The drum is apparently set up to use a 20" kick drum head...the collar being different.
I never changed a head back when I originally had it, so it was somewhat of a surprise.
I, too have a 20" floor tom. Champaigne sparkle wrap. Dated 1962. The rest
of the drums in the set are dated 1965. I'm looking for either a 16" or 18"
to add to the set.
As Dr. CJ stated no Magnum sets came with a 20" biggest was an 18" however the price list does show the 20" was available
My first kit, bought back in '71 I believe, was ordered by me. Slingerland, 24" kick, 15" rack tom, and 16" & 20" floor toms. I was kind of overwhelmed by the 20" back then, so I sold it to a friend.
Last year I took apart and thoroughly cleaned the kit. I bought back the 20". Luckily, he hadn't been using it, so it was in relatively good condition. I put new heads on all, and...knowing what I do now, got the whole thing sounding tremendous! The 20" is a cannon! I love the kit all over again. Looks beautiful. The photo is without the 20", but I had a Meinl timbale in there. The logo on the kick drum is just photoshopped at the time of the photo. I thought the old wood finish was like that of an old Chris Craft boat, so...
Hardware is Sonor.
The Chris*Craft logo is cool. They made some beautiful boats. As a kid I was no stranger to doing a fresh varnish job on the boat every spring. Man wood boats were a lot of work!! LOL
Nice Slingys you have there too. I have a old Slingerland 20 floor tom getting a makeover now. Like yours my old long gone Slingerland kit had a 18" and 20" floors too. Love them big drums! :D
Re: 20 inch Slingerland FT - I recall a friend of mine here in MI had one for sale at one time. If anyone is interested, I can check with him to see if he still has it. Let me know.
John
How do you guys tune up a 20" floor tom? I've got an 18" and sometimes it can be a bit of a pain to get it sounding good. Usually I tune the top quite loose and the bottom pretty tight, takes awhile but when it's there woomph!
big drums can not be tuned with loose or slack head tension your moving a lot of air must be tuned tight or tighter to get a nice tone out of big drums.
