Has anyone used Tightscrew Tension Lugs?

Hello, first post here. I have Tightscrew tension lugs ordered for my snare drum. Has anyone used them? Your feedback is appreciated.

I just ordered some too. They came in the mail today. They seem to work fine. (1 hour practice on the kit) I just put one my snare where the rod was coming loose due to rim shots.
I will tell you that when you are screwing them in, it feels a little tighter than they actually are because of the nylon strip.
I'm leaving for a 2 week training course on Monday so I won't be able to give you any feedback for a while. Based on my brief experience with them, you should be fine.

Thanks! I ordered 20 and plan to replace all lugs top and bottom. I use a drum dial to tune as they recommend so that will not be an issue. I thought about Lug Locks but most people make the comment of the hassle of taking them off to re-tune.

Yeah...I asked a question here about a week ago about the Lug Locks. There a couple things on the market that are similar to those but I happened upon the Tightscrew thing and decided they wouldn't have any of the drawbacks that the other 'attach-to-the-lug' deals have.

brady said:

Yeah...I asked a question here about a week ago about the Lug Locks. There a couple things on the market that are similar to those but I happened upon the Tightscrew thing and decided they wouldn't have any of the drawbacks that the other 'attach-to-the-lug' deals have.

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So, did you buy some? If so, do you like them?

I have 'em- they come stock on Ahead snare drums. They seem to do what they claim, but they make head changes a little annoying. I don't play a lot of rimshots [well, probably more than most other drummers who don't rimshot every backbeat] and have not had a de-tuning problem with my other current & past snares so I can't really gauge how effective they are.

I appreciate the feedback. I have a DW copper snare and I don't think it is any more prone to detuning that any other snare. I use a drum dial and finish up with a drum key and "feel" if needed. I never play a rimshot and only have the usual problem of a few lugs loosening. I like the idea of not having to re-tune after the head is broken in (another grey area). I don't change heads often so it might be some time before I have a solid opinion. Anyone else please comment. I think this product has a great deal of promise.

Another factor that a lot of people don't realize is that a drum that is tuned very loosely, yet played fairly hard, will have the tension rods loosen more quickly than with the heads tensioned tighter. It's not noticed as much on toms since they're not played as much as the snare, also with very few rimshots. But y'know how the tension rods get harder to turn the more you tighten them? Obviously it's because the head is getting stretched more so there's more tension on the head, and more resistance [from friction] in the tension rod threads in the receivers and also at their flange/washer/hoop contact points. But it also works in reverse- a more tightly tensioned head's hoop will pull upwards on the rim & rods harder, keeping said resistance, helping prevent the subsequent loosening of the rods. So, a loosely tuned drumhead will lose tension faster than a tighter one.

Rimshots speed detuning along at any tension because, instead of the rim briefly having increased upward force from the head's hoop due to the head's playing surface being pushed downward with every stroke, a rimshot literally moves the rim downward briefly, so for a few milliseconds, there's no [or at least reduced] upward tension against the top of the tension rods, so they vibrate loose little by little. The head also gets stretched a little more at rimshot locations because the rim gets pushed downward a little more with every rimshot, which leads, slowly, to the stuff in the 1st paragraph.

Um, I can't provide any sort of an actual physics explanation, but these are the layman's terms as it was explained to me a few years ago via email exchange by [no, I'm not kidding here], a physics professor who was also an avid drummer.

I use them on some drums. They work as advertised.

However, they are a pain when it comes time to change heads. There's no spinning the tension rod down to finger-tight. And there's no finger-tight-every move has to come from a drum key. So mounting heads evenly is more of a challenge.

Also: they remove all "feel" from the tuning process. As in: you're tuning around a head and discover one feels very tight or loose, so you stop, investigate, and solve the problem.

So I basically don't like them much, but they solve a problem.

I realize they will take some getting used to. I know that there will be no finger tightening and will lose the feel. I plan on trying a drum bit with my cordless screwdriver to get the lugs to the point of tuning, being careful to screw them in evenly. I don't change heads often to that will lengthen the lurning curve as well.

Does the Evans Torque Key work with tightscrews?

bollam92 said:

Does the Evans Torque Key work with tightscrews?

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I would imagine so, since tension still increases as you tighten the head, but the setting would be different due to the additional tension caused by the Tightscrews' nylon inserts. I have no first-hand info though.

What you gain with Tightscrews not loosening during playing, you give up the ease of changing heads with freespinning a drum key.

I've been using a hybrid mix of them on my snare for over a year now. I have six on top and six on bottom on the hemisphere that gets the rimshot from my left hand. The Tightscrews don't budge.

Only thing is to make doubly-sure you order the right length. Too long and they'll bottom out inside the lug casing and can break the internal structure of the casing if you're not careful.