First drums, questions

**Church Punk** · 01-06-2008, 03:43 PM

Hello,

I am new in the forums, so first of all hi.

My situtation was a bit funny, here some background.

[No need of reading this if you just want to answer my questions]
I got my first drums 6 months before moving to Germany, so i had no time to play with them at all (was kinda suddend the move). Big step from Guatemala to Germany. One of the firsts tasks was to find a church and we found a spanish speaking one which told me that they needed a drumer. I was kinda new to drums (just played once live at school) but agreed. Things went well but I never bought a drumset, just got a Yamaha DD-55 electric one. I learned a LOT from those drums and i got better time by time. Right now im the only drummer there...

I got my first drums for christmas, finally after 5 years of being an active drummer...

yes, i know.

I went for a Sonor Global beat (junior set) and am really impressed with the sound it has!!! Specially the kick, it really kicks *ss, cymbals were bad so i got some low budget Zildjians (crash/ride 18' ZBT, ok, splash 8' ZXT, not that good) and also Paiste pst5 cymbals (hats 13' and crash 16' on the way). Planning to get a china in a near future.

I bought extra evans heads for toms and snare, without knowing that the drums came with good remo heads! Anyway i changed them cuz they were a bit better

So i have a fair mix of brands here...
[/No need of reading this if you just want to answer my questions]

It is my first drum set so im not used to the sound it has inside the house (a very reduced space, thats why i ordered a junior set).

My question is, is it normal to tune up the drums every week? I know how to tune drums, but i have done this just "for the moment", say before playing at church every 2 weeks (now every week) or concerts. I always played with drums that were not mine so i tuned only if they really needed it.

But mine are getting lower pitch slowly and i have to tune them back to the sound i want every 2~3 days. Is this normal for new heads? Im getting tired of tunning every time, cuz its not easy to find the note by ear ( i tune my drums according to their size with a normal chromatic scale, ive been taught so).

**holycow77** · 01-07-2008, 02:40 AM

Hey Church Punk...

I'm sure someone here will no better than me, but I think it's normal for some new skins to stretch a little. Just like guitar strings.
One of my friend's drum teachers even told him to stand on the drums when you put new skins on to stretch them (i don't encourage this!)

You shouldn't have to keep doing forever though.

Also keep in mind that the space you play in and the temperature will contribute to your drums sounding quite different.

Steve

**Church Punk** · 01-07-2008, 05:10 AM

Thanks for the reply!

I totally agree with what you said, i was just not sure since this are my very first drums, and was wondering if it was going to last longer.

About the thread, could any admin somehow merge both threads to keep order of what i did? Im sorry for causing so much conffusion :D

Thanks in advance!

**livewire80** · 01-07-2008, 06:05 AM

holycow is right. The skins do stretch a little. When I had my new heads put on by the local store, the guy applied some pressure on the tom heads once they were on with the palm of his hand. You should hear the head make some stretching sound, then tighten them up again. For the bass drum, he advised that after I put it on, to tip the bass drum over and stand on it but dont jump on it lol. I did that when I put the skin on and heard the same stretching sound, then I tuned again from there. This didnt damage any of the drums but I dont weigh that much either so this may also depend on how big you are and how much you weigh.

**backtodrum** · 01-07-2008, 10:21 AM

I would think that your heads are loosing tention by the rods loosening. once your heads stretch from tuning they usually will not stretch any further. Sometimes with less expensive drums you don't have as many tunning lugs as more expensive kits and they sometimes are not as well manufactured so they have a tendency to loosen up. You might consider some tunning rod locks that are available to hold the tunning rods were you tune them and keep them from loosening up. they are available on line or in music stores.

**Church Punk** · 01-07-2008, 10:51 AM

i dont think its the quality of the rods. Sonor did a great job on this little kit, and although is a cheap one, i cant see any low quality hardware on it. It is a little set so the Tom is 10' and the snare is 12' so they dont need much rods as normal kits do. I think it is more about the problem with temperature changes in my room and the fact that they are new.

**backtodrum** · 01-07-2008, 11:19 AM

My kit sits in bags in my garage most of the time. (I practise on my sons kit)
however when I gig with my kit I rarely have to retune it after it has sat in the cool (45 degree) garage. My point is that mylar drum heads are pretty resistant to tempeture fluctuations. Unless you have real calf skin heads you will not have a problem with heads detuning from tempureture variation and or humidity. Even though you kit is sold as Sonor, who makes very high end drums. It is made over seas by the same company that makes shells for mapex and a thousand other stencil kit manufactures. The hardware on that set is no different than any other less expensive asian kit on the market. Again I am not trying to come off argumentative. I am just saying that you might consider a tuning rod problem. I have wittnessed my 8" tom go out of tune while playing it, if I am aggressive and play fast single strokes on it. so I am sure this can happen and my kit is at the top of the mid priced kits in quality. tunning rods do and will slip especially in smaller diameter drums that have less head space to flex and pull the rods out of tune.

**Church Punk** · 01-07-2008, 02:22 PM

hmmm i dont see it as a problem right now because im just getting to know the drums. They arrived 3 weeks ago, that was why i was just wondering if this drum tunning will go forever. Maybe because im not used to tune up the heads when they are new, so i needed some experts advice.

Nevertheless i will take into account that fact you mentioned, it was a cheap set and with drums you really get what you pay for. Although it has a great sound and havent seen any flaws on it yet, it might have this problem with the rods (i hope not!).

In any case, im pretty sure im going to have lots of fun with this set. It just has an incredible sound for the size it is!

**backtodrum** · 01-07-2008, 02:32 PM

One other thing to think about also is the use of nylon washers on each of the rods. they will compress enough to hold them to the tention that you put them in. Your kit may or may not have come with them. But you usally can pick them up at home improvement stores or well stocked music stores.