Update on Wac'd Drums

The hoop stays perfectly level because of the springs on the bottom rim. You can still turn each lug if you wish but it,s just as easy to turn one to retune it in a hurry. Gary should be able to explain it better than I can since it's his design. The important thing is that evn if you use the tradition tuning method you won't have to spend time with drum-ometers or your ear to get each lug like the ones next to it. Gary is on a little business trip and when he gets back I'm sure he will comment on my video.
 
Gary, I'm glad to hear you've found an investor. I hope this one lasts long enough to get Wac'd Drums up and running as a viable business.

I'm one of the lucky forum members who has a set of lugs on the way. I am a big fan of free floating drums and own a free floating drum kit and a couple of free floating snares - the one in my avatar and a brass one. I like the simplicity of the Wac'd design and look forward to testing it. All going well I will post a full review by May.

Gruntersdad, thanks for the youtube clip.
 
Thanks for that excellent video John. A very good demo of one of the significant benefits of Gary's system. I've appreciated Gary's design from the start. It scores in a number of key areas, not only as a superb piece of drum design innovation, but as a business platform too.

Just as with any drum design, it's not going to appeal to every player, but that doesn't mean it won't have a solid place in the market. Let's just take the snare application in isolation. Even if you don't subscribe to the sonic benefits of the free floating principal, just the ability to rapidly change sound from number to number is pretty unique in itself.

I think Gary's design will have a very strong presence in the retrofit & self build market. Beyond that, it depends how much of a complete product solution Gary wants to offer. Just imagine, you want to build your own snare. You buy Gary's lug system, your shell of choice, two hoops, a strainer & butt, & away you go. That's a very personal to you custom snare built in an afternoon.

Then there's the "easytune" angle (get that registered Gary!). How many threads do you see with questions about tuning, especially from those starting on their drumming journey. I'm pleased to see that Gary has the intellectual property side sorted, as I believe the "easytune" feature could be of significant mass market interest. Be prepared to think outside the box on the intellectual property management Gary. A limited application deal with a major player could yeild a useful investement return, offer huge advertising by default, yet protect & realize your idea of an "all American" original product offering from Wac'd drums.
 
If I were building a custom set, I'd be very interested in a set of those lugs. I like the idea and I LOVE the simplicity of the design. They actually look great as well as serving a purpose.
 
I like the idea and I LOVE the simplicity of the design. They actually look great as well as serving a purpose.
& that's it right there MFB. Handled correctly, I'm predicting some good stuff coming Gary's way, & I have quite a bit of experience of bringing concepts to market.

My current project is polar opposite to Gary's model. A complicated build with multiple innovations/risks & bespoke everything, but it's designed to appeal to a very specialist sector, & ultimately designed around my requirements. Absolutely the wrong way to go about developing a business, but that's not my primary intention.
 
I hope all success to both of you. It's a very hard sector to make any kind of capital from, but if you're ultimately designing for yourself then at least some of the satisfaction will hopefully come from pride in your work. I do hope that new design concepts break through to the mainstream though, I think there's a lot of improvements to be made to drum hardware in general - it's such a conservative market.
 
I hope all success to both of you. It's a very hard sector to make any kind of capital from, but if you're ultimately designing for yourself then at least some of the satisfaction will hopefully come from pride in your work. I do hope that new design concepts break through to the mainstream though, I think there's a lot of improvements to be made to drum hardware in general - it's such a conservative market.
Thanks MFB, & you're so right, concervative with a big "C".

I'm just building a very out there design for my own purposes. It may work, but it may fail miserably. That said, we've uncovered a lot of pretty unique approaches along the way. Even if the kit design fails, there's a lot of value in some of the elements.

Gary's deal is totally different. A simple, yet wonderfully conceived idea that's absolutely ripe for a business platform with multiple mass market appeal angles. He's on to a winner IMO. but, as always, business choices & a bucket of luck with dictate the outcome. I'm crossing my fingers for him!
 
Me too, I really hope it works out because I would love to see this design in the mainstream.

With terms of inherent conservatism, I think it's probably true in the majority of instruments. Electric guitars have barely changed since the invention of the Telecaster and you could say the same about the 'fundamentals' of the kit since about 1960. I'm not adverse to change either, I really like useful innovations like this lug design.

With that said, I'm actually not a big fan of suspension mounting. I just don't really see the benefit on ply shells. I've owned a few kits - none of which have had suspension mounting - and I've played kits with suspension mounting and I really don't think that it makes that much difference. All the hype that surrounds them should be replaced with innovation in drum head design and shell manufacturing methods, they are much bigger factors with regard to overall sound. Combine that with better tuning methods and you have what I perceive as real benefit. That's why I'm absolutely in favour of these lugs, because they aid tuning - which I see as the most important factor in sound.

If drum manufacturers regularly offered solid shells and stave designs, I would be willing to reconsider my position on suspension mounting, but I think that innovation in ply shells should be focussed elsewhere.
 
Me too, I really hope it works out because I would love to see this design in the mainstream.

With terms of inherent conservatism, I think it's probably true in the majority of instruments. Electric guitars have barely changed since the invention of the Telecaster and you could say the same about the 'fundamentals' of the kit since about 1960. I'm not adverse to change either, I really like useful innovations like this lug design.

With that said, I'm actually not a big fan of suspension mounting. I just don't really see the benefit on ply shells. I've owned a few kits - none of which have had suspension mounting - and I've played kits with suspension mounting and I really don't think that it makes that much difference. All the hype that surrounds them should be replaced with innovation in drum head design and shell manufacturing methods, they are much bigger factors with regard to overall sound. Combine that with better tuning methods and you have what I perceive as real benefit. That's why I'm absolutely in favour of these lugs, because they aid tuning - which I see as the most important factor in sound.

If drum manufacturers regularly offered solid shells and stave designs, I would be willing to reconsider my position on suspension mounting, but I think that innovation in ply shells should be focussed elsewhere.
I agree with almost everything you said, but I do appreciate the difference a well designed suspension mounting makes to a thin ply shell when coupled with low mass lugs, appropriate bearing edges, unmuffled heads & tuning that's sympathetic to the sonic benefits. On thicker shells with heavy lugs & muffled heads, it's a waste of time.
 
I agree with almost everything you said, but I do appreciate the difference a well designed suspension mounting makes to a thin ply shell when coupled with low mass lugs, appropriate bearing edges, unmuffled heads & tuning that's sympathetic to the sonic benefits. On thicker shells with heavy lugs & muffled heads, it's a waste of time.

More or less exactly my point. There are so many other factors to take into account that the importance of suspension is massively overstated. Gary's lug design, however, could wield easily defined, real-World benefits.

Incidentally, one set of Grandparents live around your neck of the woods. Orcop, to be precise.
 
I used the lugs to convert the 8 lug wood snare from my Sonor Safari kit to a 10 lug snare.
Gary's lugs work great!
They improved that drum immensely!
His product installed with ease and it improved my drum.
 
Another advantage to using the lugs aside from making an 8 lug into a 10 lug.
If I ever decide to sell the snare, I can put the drum back the way that it was when new and I can use the lugs on another shell.
I saved the original hardware.
 
I used the lugs to convert the 8 lug wood snare from my Sonor Safari kit to a 10 lug snare.
Gary's lugs work great!
They improved that drum immensely!
His product installed with ease and it improved my drum.
Says it all Bob, & there's a ton of players out there who'd get the same benefit for relatively little outlay.

BTW MFB, Orcop's about 15 miles from where I live. I'm out towards Hay on Wye. In fact, you can probably see my hill from Orcop, as Orcop's quite elevated itself. I'm on the top of the foothills just before Hay bluff. That's the big table top mountain ridge that dominates the view from Orcop hill.
 
Says it all Bob, & there's a ton of players out there who'd get the same benefit for relatively little outlay.

BTW MFB, Orcop's about 15 miles from where I live. I'm out towards Hay on Wye. In fact, you can probably see my hill from Orcop, as Orcop's quite elevated itself. I'm on the top of the foothills just before Hay bluff. That's the big table top mountain ridge that dominates the view from Orcop hill.

That's the one. If I'm right, the view of that ridge is one of my earliest memories.
 
One of the more difficult things to do without proper tools and skills is drilling all of the necessary holes in a brand new shell to mount 10 to 20 lugs, a strainer, and butt for the strainer, and with these lugs or the entire concept where the strainer attaches to the Wac'd lugs, that drilling will not be needed. You will need a shell with bearing edges and and snare beds and that is all. When I built my snare I had all of this done for me, but imagine how clean the shell will remain without all of the holes. If there is only one reason for these lugs to work in my mind it is for Gary's enthusiasm. When he was showing me the prototype for the bass cradle and the tom mounts it was great. This is a very viable concept and I only wish him the best as I'm sure we all do.
 
Says it all Bob, & there's a ton of players out there who'd get the same benefit for relatively little outlay.
I don't know the retail price of Gary's lugs.
I had to spend about $30 on 10 hole Hoops and I also bought a different type of throw off that I can keep mounted to the supplied bracket that came with the lugs.
 
I don't know the retail price of Gary's lugs.
I had to spend about $30 on 10 hole Hoops and I also bought a different type of throw off that I can keep mounted to the supplied bracket that came with the lugs.

I don't think this should be touted as a 'cheaper' solution. It's a fairly premium solution as a retrofit and I wouldn't expect pricing to be particularly low - however, as an OEM solution, it really could prove to be cheaper for manufacturers. No drilling, fewer hardware parts and the benefits in labour that go along with that. Add in that manufacturers could then charge a little more for a 'new' design and you have a potentially increased profit margin if it is adopted.
 
Wow! I am speechless! I've just gone through some of the post that have been posted in the last couple of days and I am floored at the support from everyone!

THANK YOU !


John thank you for doing what I should be doing and putting up the video!

Bob, Thank you for your input and being satisfied with the product. I know that once you get the time we will chat more about them. Also if you get around to a pic to post that would great too!

Andy, What can I say ! Thanks for being here and keeping me grounded and going in the right direction.

Harry, Can't wait to get your results!

MFB , Thanks for taking the time to look and listen about the product. Your questions help me immensely as I prepare to get this thing rockin !

Red, We found that even though it seems like you are putting a bunch of torque on the lugs and hoop , you would be surprised as to how easily you can still move the stop. The drummer that is road testing the lugs has tried triple flange , wood , and diecast hoops and has not had any sort of deflection in any of the hoops. Also keep in mind that Grunter was just showing how easy it is to change the sound with one lug. You could also acheive the same results by splitting the three turns he did in the video to 1 1/2 turns on two opposing tension rods.

I most like will be away for the next week or so as I try and get things nailed down with the new partner/ machineshop but I will check back when I can or feel free to hit me up on facebook as I have been spending lots of time on there.

I will certainly come up with some sort of special deal for those on this board that want to give them a go , I just gotta get some things obviously squared away first.

Oh , just incase you don't get to my facebook page , here are a couple of prototype pics of the Bass Station (and another $3100 patent started, wonder why I have no money ,sheesh! ) and the tom holder.

Again thanks for all your support !

Gary
 

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