Some of my favorite snares are 8 lug: '65 Jazz Festival, '65 Acrolite,

Ludwig Monroe 6.5 x 14 Birch, '70s Slingerland Bronze 6.5 x 14, '66 COB

Slingerland Sound King 5x14 as well as the 6 lug '67 Ludwig Pioneer 5 x 14.

MW

Less lugs = More space between tention points on the hoop = more chance of t-rod rollback = more chance of head wrinkles when tuned low = less desireable tunning !!

i'd go with 8 all day long.

mike

You may get a lot of opinions on this. Focus on those that give reasons, and those that own both. There's no value reading "My n-lugger sounds great!" because that's not what you asked.

If you've already cut your staves, the number of lugs will be determined by the number of staves. 16 or 24 staves = 8 lugs. 20 staves = 10 lugs.

If you haven't already cut your staves, then you still have the choice. The facts are that the more lugs you have, the higher you can tune the drum, the less flex there is between lug points on the rim, and the more you spend on lugs. Nobody can reasonably dispute those facts. The opinion comes in regarding whether extra lugs decrease the resonance of the shell to any appreciable degree. I don't know anyone who has done two identical builds to compare sounds, unfortunately. But I'll bet - and here's my opinion - that nobody on this or any forum could hear the difference.

That said, there's a "vibe" facet to the question too. If the drum is being built to provide a fat backbeat or ballad sound, 8 lugs matches that vibe because it's all that's needed. If you're going for a do-all drum or bright rock snare, 10 lugs is a match.

Done right an 8 lug snare is a happy medium of body, air and crispness.

I have a Dyna and a Supra that are both ten luggers and sound superb in their manners.

I only have one 10 lug wooden snare and it is a loud old Tama Artwood. Between the die cast hoops, the birch shell and the ten lugs, the drum is pretty dry (albeit loud).

So, most of my wooden snares run to eight lugs. My current go to snare is an 8 lugger. Compared to a 10 lugger the variation in tension between lugs seems consistently greater on the 8's. But I don't play a lot around the perimeter of the drum, so this effect is negligible to me. Go to a 6 lugger and (for me) most of the batter head geography sounds less consistent, more "doinky".

As far as detuning faster, I don't find a significant diff between a 10 and 8 lug snare. Both slacken off where and if rimshots are hitting the rim, but I don't notice a significant (read bothersome) difference.

For wooden snare drums, 8 luggers seem more compatible to the shells I own. I can see the utility of 10 lugs on a metal shell for a bit more dampening and a more negative effect on a less vibrant wood shell.

Dudes, thanks for all your replys. Tubelugs - I haven't cut the staves yet, but I know i'm going to be using 30 staves. (37.5mm face with a 6 degree bevel) so, will that affect my number of staves?

Assuming you mean "affect my number of lugs", the answer is yes, you will want the number of lugs to be an even multiple of the number of staves. That's so each lug sits in the same place on a stave, instead of having one lug in the middle of a stave, the next lug on a seam, etc. So with 30 staves you're probably looking at 10 lugs.

+1D' Drummer

Very good points. I'm learning alot here. I happen to be changing strainers ( from a sonor to a geo way) on a frankenstien snare. It appears to be a leedy chromed brass shell and has hayman(?) lugs. 8 lugs for top,6 for bottom, a mix of double and single lugs. I think the guy who did this (muzzy at las vegas shop) was going for looks. Anyone ever see a snare done this way?

larry