cdrums21
Gold Member
Re: Cool tom tuning techniques!!
Thanks bro, just doing unto others as I would have them do unto me....As far as the "full turn" thing goes. It doesn't take too many full turns to come to the desired pitch. Depending on your preference, most toms sound good at a low mid to midrange tuning. It's a little different for every drum, but I would put the heads on the drum, tighten the lugs with your fingers if you can until there as tight as you can get them with your fingers. if you can't finger tighten them, just turn with a key until the lug starts to grab the head. Then crank it up 1/2 turn (if your looking at the drumkey on the lug from the top, 1/2 turn would be the when one end of the key goes from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position). Keep doing that, checking each lug point on the head and tap with your finger as it gets tighter to even up the pitches. Get it real tight and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. Then, start going around the drum and loosen the lugs the same 1/2 turn until the sound opens up and you like the tone and feel, making sure the lugs points on the head are even. If I had to guess, I would say that once you got the lugs to start to grab the head, and sometimes you have to go around the head a time or two to adjust lugs that loosen as some get tighter, the approximate number of "full turns" you would end up with would be anywhere from 1 1/2 (that's 3 half turns) to 2 1/2, depending on the quality of drum, the size of the drum (floor toms are tuned a bit lower normally), and the kind of sound you're looking for. Try it and let me know how it works.
Thanks bro, just doing unto others as I would have them do unto me....As far as the "full turn" thing goes. It doesn't take too many full turns to come to the desired pitch. Depending on your preference, most toms sound good at a low mid to midrange tuning. It's a little different for every drum, but I would put the heads on the drum, tighten the lugs with your fingers if you can until there as tight as you can get them with your fingers. if you can't finger tighten them, just turn with a key until the lug starts to grab the head. Then crank it up 1/2 turn (if your looking at the drumkey on the lug from the top, 1/2 turn would be the when one end of the key goes from the 12 o'clock position to the 6 o'clock position). Keep doing that, checking each lug point on the head and tap with your finger as it gets tighter to even up the pitches. Get it real tight and let it sit for a few hours or overnight. Then, start going around the drum and loosen the lugs the same 1/2 turn until the sound opens up and you like the tone and feel, making sure the lugs points on the head are even. If I had to guess, I would say that once you got the lugs to start to grab the head, and sometimes you have to go around the head a time or two to adjust lugs that loosen as some get tighter, the approximate number of "full turns" you would end up with would be anywhere from 1 1/2 (that's 3 half turns) to 2 1/2, depending on the quality of drum, the size of the drum (floor toms are tuned a bit lower normally), and the kind of sound you're looking for. Try it and let me know how it works.