Question to drum builders about lug placement.

So looking at some kits such as the Club Date, I'm curious if there's a truly discernible difference in where lugs are mounted on a shell in relation to the edges and/or middle of the shell?

I realize that adding mass (lugs & mounts) to a shell affects how it will sound, but I'm wondering if the placement of that mass has been experimented with.

Just curious.

Yes.
As a drumsmith, I've build many different sized drums from scratch and lug placement can vary all you want (within reason).
I just recently built a snare that had a zig-zag single lug pattern & as long as the tension rods are long enough, there's no issue with tuning.

I have a pancake bass that's 22x8 and the lugs on that had to be carefully placed to avoid gaps in the head seat. Once it was all even, it looks and plays great.

I have only heard one person complain about center mounted lugs (think Ludwig Clubdate) and how it killed the tone of the drums.

If you look up some of the studies that show vibrational modes in drum shells you will see that they divide and subdivide all over the shells. So a center mounted lug would tend to be right at the node of the longest vertical mode (meaning it would have little effect on that particular partial). Im thinking that tuning would also be a big factor with higher pitch/ higher tension tunings being effected more than lower/looser tunings. Because as the tuning changes the effect of that partial is either adding or subtracting from your tone. So one size doesnt fit all.

And as Andy said above shell composition and thickness would also play a major role in determining how much effect lug position plays. But in the same way the composition of the shell might be adding to the tone at one tuning but taking away at another.

Other mounting positions would affect other partials. But is that a good thing or a bad thing depends on the result you are looking for. The interactions between all the variables is extremely complex. So trying to acertain how one thing or another effects drum tone without considering all of them is probably chasing your tail.