twelvepoint wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 9:15 am

dontfeartheringo wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 9:11 am

twelvepoint wrote: Fri May 05, 2023 8:36 am minor grumble, but it would be nice if more drum manufacturers had 8 lug drums that weren't marketed to the budget demographic. 10 lug snares are always a drag to tune up, have extra pieces and if you have good rims and aren't tuning up to marching drum notes, don't offer more consistent tension around the circumference.

I should mention that the DW "True-Pitch" tension rods are fine threaded, which means you have do literally 2x as many turns to get them tightened down. A truly useless innovation.

"Like seating heads on a drum? No? You think it's kinda boring? Well, WHAT IF WE MADE IT TAKE TWICE AS LONG??"

haha

The other thing that stinks about the 10 lug drums, AND MAYBE THIS IS MY OWN OCD, is the 8 lugs are way easier to figure out the "tension the new head from opposite points" rule than with 10.

I do it like this:
12 o'clock to 6 o'clock
9 to 3
11 to 5
8 to 2

and then my ADD kicks in and I just randomly start tightening tension rods until it sounds right. Hope this helps!

This is gonna blow your mind.

Yeah, but that assumes that the tension is even to begin with, i.e. the "strings" are centered. Putting even tension on opposite sides isn't going to correct that. If the tension isn't centered, then you, by definition, need to apply uneven tension to correct it.

Maybe use 2 drum dials?

(I will probably not take it that far)

penningtron wrote: Maybe use 2 drum dials?

(I will probably not take it that far)

For some reason, I have two Drum Dials.

I will not do this.

I may do this.

Nope, absolutely not doing this.

I look at installing a new head in 3 basic steps: first is where it’s mounted and I get all the tension rods finger tight. Next is getting rough tension and I do half turns with a drum key at opposite lugs like the Ringo pattern. Maybe 2-3 rounds of that? Til the pitch is ballpark. Then I tap on lugs and fine tune.

I assume that INDe video is what my step 2 is? Which really doesn’t take too long. It’s the listening part that’s the longest. If the point of the video is that you really shouldn’t whale on a single lug, I agree, but that’s just drum tuning 101

Been on Snare Journey this year, which basically involved
- moving the '60s 4.5x14 beech snare (came with my Trixon kit) to the project pile because it's going to be annoying to recondition and will still be a wood snare at the end of the day
- replacing the busted strainer on my I think '90s Acrolite—simple job for most adults, not for my weak visual-spatial skills ass though so it had sat for a while).
- picking up the actual new main snare: 6.5x14 Gretsch USA bell brass (may as well take advantage of music retail discount). Cost a bit more than a Supraphonic but is meaningfully distinct from my Acrolite, which a Supraphonic wouldn't be other than the shell depth.

I'm getting nothing but good sounds from the Gretsch at different pitches. Right now I have the top head tuned to B and the resonant head at E a fourth above, so when I strike the drum it produces an E, an octave below the resonant head. (so the batt:res:entire drum pitches have a "by MEN-nen"/"Co-STAN-za" relationship). I would love to get it a bit lower but it gets a bit mushy when I try—still learning my way around a 10-lug drum.

Any tips on getting a FACS/Noah Leger or Aloha/Cale Parks kinda tuning out of my 6.5x14 metal drum would be insanely appreciated. Specific pitches if you got 'em, I try to lead with my ear since it's not as dumb as my brain.

One thing worth noting for bottom heads is you don't necessarily want an even tuning all the way around due to the snare beds. You can usually get away with loosening the rods not near the wires which will help give the drum more low end overall.

edit: I went and checked my drum in the next room's bottom head and it's more like Db right now (and I'm not even tuned for max bottom end). E seems a bit high..

Mason wrote: Mon May 08, 2023 11:38 am 6.5x14 Gretsch USA bell brass

M8!!

My friend left a supraphonic and accrolite with me on indefinite loan to compare with my supralite.

The supraphonic had a garbage head and an old school dampener that wouldn't move. I put a new coated ambassador on top and pulled the dampener out. Got it tuned up and it's just kind of okay, but a little weird. It's kind of quiet for a metal snare and there is very little snare wire sizzle at any tension. I thought for a second the wires weren't seated right but further examination revealed that they're the same as on my other snares. Checked the bottom head and it was cranked pretty tight. This shouldn't cause a weirdly low key snare sound (?). Maybe it's still the wrong setup, maybe it's an acquired taste, maybe I prefer the inferior metal Ludwig.

In any case my Tama Star Classic (birch I believe) beat them all out for recording. The cork sniffing continues.