Tuning a snare-side head with a deep snare bed.

RawDepth

New member
I have a wooden shell snare drum made by Pearl. The snare beds on the bearing edge are fairly deep and wide.

My technical question is...when tuning the snare head, should I try to force the head to have the same pitch at all of the lugs? (Making the head in tune with itself.) Or should I allow the tensioners at the snare beds to be a lower pitch than adjacent tensioners?

Maybe I am being annal here, but I am thinking that it may stretch the head oddly if I make them all the same tuning.
 
You'll want to have all the rods tuned the same like any other drum.
If however you get excessive snare buzz due to sympathetic frequencies (usually from the nearest rack tom) you can try dropping the tension at one of the snare bud lugs.
 
If you get too much buzz from sympathetic ringing you can detune all 4 key rods adjacent to the snare. Also, most people don't hit the snare bed area with a heat gun to shrink the wrinkles but it works pretty good. Tune the head to about where you want it and carefully heat the snare bed area then heat around the circumference to seat the whole head.
 
If you get too much buzz from sympathetic ringing you can detune all 4 key rods adjacent to the snare. Also, most people don't hit the snare bed area with a heat gun to shrink the wrinkles but it works pretty good. Tune the head to about where you want it and carefully heat the snare bed area then heat around the circumference to seat the whole head.

Huh? Heat Gun?......Might wanna have a spare head on order if you use a heat gun !
 
Well, if it sounds like a bad idea then feel free to not do it. It works and actually I learned it while working for one of the major players in American made drums. As with any tool, if you use it like a twat you will get negative results. I have done it dozens of times over the last 2 decades and never had even a hint of an issue.
 
Are you saying you can't prop the snares up with a stock across the hoop? I don't know what snare you are referring to but that's how I tune mine and keep the snares out of the way.
 
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