loose and hard lugs when tuning

judochop87

Junior Member
Hey guys, just about finished "tuning" my drum set. I say tuning in quotations because I am new to this and used a drum dial to get a ballpark. I tuned my bass drum with the drum dial at 70 (as recommended online). On the pedal side, all the lugs marked 70 except one which was at 74. The funny thing about it is the lug is essentially loose, yet it is the tightest side? i turned it just enough so it wouldn't be loose on the ring. I did hand tighten all the lugs first and tuned in star formation, so I am pretty sure I did it evenly. This is a new drumset, granted its an entry level pearl, but could something be warped?

Any advice welcome.

edit: I also said hard in the title because the exact opposite happened with my snare. One lug was much tighter than the rest but still under tuned, I cranked it (drum key) enough to get it in tune with the rest of the drum, but the difference is much more noticeable with the bass drum.
 
Your drum head is too low on one side. You get the loose lug thing when your head is on crooked. Detune all the way, start over, and try using 2 keys 180 degrees apart from each other. You can feel be if a side is too tight or too loose much easier that way. When installing new heads, I tune lugs in pairs, using 2 keys, 180 degrees apart. It's easier to feel so you can get the head seated evenly, all the way around. I tap near the lugs and match the pitch on each side of the drum, then move on to the next pair, etc. until all the lugs sing the same pitch. Then you have to determine if it's tuned too high or too low, and adjust evenly from there. Then there's the reso that has to be tuned to a note that doesn't cancel out the batter note. Nothing to it lol.
 
What I would do in case the head is a little off, when you have the lugs all loose again, turn the drumhead to another spot, and if the batter hoop isn't beat up too bad you can turn it also and start over
 
There's also the possibility that the head is warped/uneven out of the box. I'm not sure of a fix for that, other than a customer service replacement, or just tuning the other lugs higher to compensate.
 
This happens with the Drum Dial.
When I install a head I finger tighten and then I place my fist in the center of the drum and I push down firmly but not real hard. I torque the tension rods until the wrinkles disappear. I then even out the pitch at each lug by ear while holding my finger in the center of the head. I place the dial in the center of the drum and I check the reading to see if the drum is close to where I want it to be.
Here is a vid of the method that I use. http://youtu.be/ISdMNKb-hjc
 
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