Weird Tuning Issue

OldReliable

Senior Member
Hey guys,

I had my drums tuned pretty tight for Jazz stuff, but I decided to retune them from scratch to get them tuned a good bit lower. The floor tom tuned pretty straightforward, but the rack tom was a bit harder. After giving the drum a 1/4 turn past finger tight, it seems that there’s 2 lugs across from each other that are tighter and higher pitched than the rest of them. Is this normal? Also, I took the head off to check the rim and it seems to be not perfectly flat as measured on a glass kitchen table. Could this also be the culprit? The heads are G1’s.

OldReliable
 
I guess it can be a few different things, but if a head is old and worn it won't take to lower tunings that well. If they've been tuned very high for some time you might need new heads to get the best out of a really low tuning.

I remember a drum with old heads that also wasn't quite round and the hoop was a bit bent, too. I got that one to sound really nice when hit in the middle, but to achieve that the lugs not tuned even. That is, the pitch at the lugs was not even, but the tension probably was. Kinda weird, just did it by feel, but it sort of makes sense now.
 
A glass table might seem flat, but often isn't.

1/4 turn past finger tight is super low. As-in almost too low to get a tone.
If you can differentiate the lug note at that low of a tuning and one lug seems different, it's likely that one lug needs to go in the direction of the other lugs, even though they're assumed geometrically to be in pitch with the others.

Very low tuning doesn't agree well with lug turns or head pressure. You have to tune by ear with low tuning and low tuning is the hardest to make all the lugs jive, if that's even what's needed.
 
Thanks guys! I’ll try to mess around with the tuning later to see if I’ve been tightening those lugs more without realizing. Also, the head might be a bit stretched aswell. This forum’s definitely one of the best for good advice!
 
What is flatter than a glass table? A wood table? Countertop?

What should someone use?
 
Glass, beacuse of how it's made, is rarely completely flat.

Best bet would be your kitchen bench or similar.
 
Yeah. Pretty much any workshop surface that is required to be leveled to perform it's function.
 
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