A weeks ago I tuned my sling kit that I'll be gigging with soon. last night when I was playing it, it sounded kind of flat, so I picked up my drum key and when I started checking the tensions rods all of them were really loose? any idea how or why that happened>?
I do remember when I cleaned the set last year, I put a little oil on them which I thought was good to help prevent rust and libricate, I wonder if they became too slick and by playing the set they get loose.
advice ?
I made that mistake years ago. I have not lub'd a tension rod in years with the exeption of giving really rusty ones a rag wipe with GT85 to clean them up. Even then thats at the point when turning them to tune has become seriously difficult, and usually on receiving and servicing my new vintage drum purchases. Once up and running I don't touch them.
Don't do it again!
In the meantime try using TunerFish Lug Locks. http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=tunerfish+lug+locks&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=3dMVU5SSH9GrhQesyIDIBQ
Had the same thing happen to me after I cleaned the lugs, but I didn't lube anything. Kept having two rods loosen up after a short period of time. I just kept an eye on them and finally got them to stop backing out.
maybe nylon washers might help>?
gary they have theses little rubber inserts that stop that, a new trick for a old problem gary
will this work?
[ame]http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logan-Percussion-Nylon-Drum-Lug-Tension-Rod-Washers-100-pcs-Black-/380707049524?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58a3e89034#ht_545wt_916[/ame]
They do sell various type tuning locks. I guess a regular nut would work.
Gary,
Was that all of your drums or your snare drum? It sounded like all of them from the OP, but not sure.
I am going to go off on a tangent here for a minute, but bear with me. As I have mentioned in several various posts, I do tune my heads to "pitches" and those pitches are specific for each drum. The reason i do this is to keep the drums consistent at all times and any of my technicians can walk up to any of my kits, tune them and make them sound the same whether putting on new heads or touching up existing tuning. It really takes out the guess work.
The reason I mention this is you mentioned your drums sounded flat. You also mentioned that "all of them were really loose". Both of those comments are pretty subjective and perhaps not quantifiable though I do imagine you would know if the tension rods were "looser" than normal for you. In my scenario, I would simply check the drums against their known tuning and there would then be no question that the drum head had loosened or not.
Snare drums are notorious for loosening; specifically at the lugs near where you play most of your backbeats. For most of us that would be the two to four lugs near where our left stick strikes. The rim is depressed for a fraction of a second each time we play a rim shot and when that happens, the lugs can spin just a touch. After a few hundred strikes on the snare, those lugs can loosen quite a bit. A four minute song at 120bpm could easily result in 240 strikes to a snare drum so this can add up quickly. If that is the case, the standard nylon lug locks will save the day. If it is your entire kit, that just seems odd.
another type....
"in picture 2...I believe the lock should be under the head of the tension rod."
I think the locks are in the correct location in picture 2. Snug against the lug they act as a lock-nut. Under the head of the t-rod they could turn along with the it. Gary
