madgolfer
Senior Member
If its so easy then explain it to him. Clearly he hasn't figured it out yet.
I felt that since another poster already provided that info in a video link, doing so again would be redundant. Don't you agree?
If its so easy then explain it to him. Clearly he hasn't figured it out yet.
If you go back to my post #3 you will see that I suggested pretty much what you have just stated.Ok Tank.....as to the specifics of this question, it certainly appears as if no-one has an answer. Perhaps it may be worth following the link in post 4, try tuning them up by ear and once you get close, lay the DD on the head and take note of the readings. Your answer won't have come through from the source you were hoping for, but you'll get your readings nonetheless.
If you come across a drum that has a tension rod that always seems loose even though the dial says that the head is at tension it usually means that the bearing edge is untrue or the hoop is untrue.
Take the head off of the drum and change the clock position of the hoop and the head on the drum.
Tension the head again. If the same thing happens at the same lug then the bearing edge is probably the reason.
If the problem moves to a different lug than the head or the hoop is the problem.
I was speaking of a drum that you have already loosened and re tuned several times.Actually, I have found that it is often excessive tension on the tension rod opposite the loose one that's the culprit when this happens. First thing to check. When tuning by ear I use Gatzen's method of tapping at opposing tension rods rather than going around the drum. I find it's usually opposing pairs of tension rods that need adjustment, not just the one.
But great trouble shooting advice if that turns out not to be the case, thanks.
Actually, I have found that it is often excessive tension on the tension rod opposite the loose one that's the culprit when this happens. First thing to check. When tuning by ear I use Gatzen's method of tapping at opposing tension rods rather than going around the drum. I find it's usually opposing pairs of tension rods that need adjustment, not just the one.
This is exactly the way I tuned drums from the very start. I always bounce to the opposite side of the drumhead to make sure that the opposite tension rods aren't causing a problem with the tuning sequence.
This just happened to me yesterday. I saw a new four piece set of Pearl MCX in Vintage Wine at one of the drum centers in Central PA. I told the salesperson that I was interested in them and I would like to check them out and tune them to the approximate pitches where I usually play my kits. He gave me some sticks, I asked for some 7A's or 5 A's and asked if I needed a drum key. I said no that I carried my own, lol. I started on the 10" taking the heads down to finger tightness and then tuning up, keeping the batter and resonant heads about the same pitch and also keeping the heads in tune with themselves. From there I went with the 12", 16" and lastly the 22" bass drum. The drums tuned very easily and sounded incredible with great resonace and delivered a very nice round tone without any annoying pitch bending. While I was tuning these drums one of the salespeople from the department was standing close by and mentioned that he was watching because he really hadn't had any formal instruction on tuning drums. A few minutes latter another person was also watching what was going on. After I had all the drums tuned and on their mounts, about 20 minutes latter, the first person said that he was unable to do that, even using his DrumDial and thought it was odd to be able to tune drums without any reference numbers telling him what numbers the rods where at. This is a true account, my girlfriend had to chuckle. I just smiled and continued trying out the kit.
This is definitely not the only time this has happened to us.
Dennis
This is exactly the way I tuned drums from the very start. I always bounce to the opposite side of the drumhead to make sure that the opposite tension rods aren't causing a problem with the tuning sequence.