F
fourstringdrums
Guest
Re: The "flat surface test": Help me solve a tuning mystery
This problem with people using a drum dial and it giving odd readings seems to be happening a lot lately. My solution, ditch the drum dial. It seems like it's causing more problems than helping people tune better. It's fine for helping you fine tune things once you've tuned the drum by ear, but as far as helping you tune completely, it doesn't quite function that well.
If you're able to tune the drum fine and it sounds great, don't worry about it. I've never put a perfectly tuned drum onto a flat surface to see if it wobbled...there really is no point to do that. The drum is under tension and sometimes the hoop is not going to be pulled as evenly around the drum. Some people like triple flanged hoops for this because they flex more and you have more ease of tuning. As long as the tension of the head and pitch at each lug is even, there is no reason to worry. The problem about some lugs being looser happens a lot. My solution is to bring those looser lugs up to a point where they FEEL about the same tension as the other lugs. Then drop all the lugs back down to the pitch you want and that will even everything out. A looser lug doesn't really cause any problem other than when you want to go lower and now the lug has no tension on it at all. I think every drum set I've had, ranging from $600 to $2000 sets has this occurrence.
So, just don't worry about it that much. The shell is round, the bearing edges are fine, and the rims are fine with no tension on them, so there is no reason to worry. As long as you are able to tune well and the drum sounds great, and you do what I suggested above about dealing with the looser lugs, don't worry about what the drum dial says or whether the hoops are no longer completely flat while there is tension on the drum.
This problem with people using a drum dial and it giving odd readings seems to be happening a lot lately. My solution, ditch the drum dial. It seems like it's causing more problems than helping people tune better. It's fine for helping you fine tune things once you've tuned the drum by ear, but as far as helping you tune completely, it doesn't quite function that well.
If you're able to tune the drum fine and it sounds great, don't worry about it. I've never put a perfectly tuned drum onto a flat surface to see if it wobbled...there really is no point to do that. The drum is under tension and sometimes the hoop is not going to be pulled as evenly around the drum. Some people like triple flanged hoops for this because they flex more and you have more ease of tuning. As long as the tension of the head and pitch at each lug is even, there is no reason to worry. The problem about some lugs being looser happens a lot. My solution is to bring those looser lugs up to a point where they FEEL about the same tension as the other lugs. Then drop all the lugs back down to the pitch you want and that will even everything out. A looser lug doesn't really cause any problem other than when you want to go lower and now the lug has no tension on it at all. I think every drum set I've had, ranging from $600 to $2000 sets has this occurrence.
So, just don't worry about it that much. The shell is round, the bearing edges are fine, and the rims are fine with no tension on them, so there is no reason to worry. As long as you are able to tune well and the drum sounds great, and you do what I suggested above about dealing with the looser lugs, don't worry about what the drum dial says or whether the hoops are no longer completely flat while there is tension on the drum.