Upgrading Hardware

I own two el cheapo Pulse drum kits. I've generally been pleased with them except that the hardware that attaches the toms to the bass drum is very cheap, prone to loosen, and I feared, apt to fail at a moment's notice. I've experienced enough other kits now to know that I really like Pearl-style hardware, and so I decided to try to up grade my kits to this kind of tom mount.

I purchased the BB-3 and two BT-3's from Musician's Friend. This weekend was the conversion.

I learned that my 1990s era Pulse, though it seems to have the exact same hardware as my 2010 era Pulse...in fact does not. The tubing on the older kit is smaller in diameter, too small, in fact, for the Pearl hardware. The newer kit's tubing fit perfectly though. The BT-3's went on the suspension mounts just fine. Unfortunately, I discovered that the holes drilled in the bass drum only matched up with half of the BB-3. I could screw in two screws and line up the tubing...but couldn't line up the other two screws. I thought this might work, but as soon as I tried it and set things up it became apparent that this would lead to ripping a whole in my bass drum due to the two missing screws. Also, the old holes and the new holes that would need to be drilled would be far too close...so there was no hope for the BB-3. So I am now partially upgraded. I'm happy that the MORE key connection is the one that worked out fine.

I also lubricated the bass spurs on the new kit in hopes that they will become easier to loosen.