A man after my own heart! I always like the head logo to line up with the badge and I'll always put the snare on the stand with the badge in the 12 o'clock position. Following these two steps can mean that the snare throw off can end up in the 11 o'clock position and not the more common 9 o'clock position depending on the snare. On a Jazz Fest snare the throw off is in the 11 o'clock position as it's an 8 lug snare and the throw off is one panel to the left of the badge. On a Supra-phonic the throw off ends up in the 9 o'clock position as it's a 10 lug snare and the throw off is a few panels over from the badge. I say panels, but I mean that space between two lugs. As anal retentive as you like.

I have to make sure the strainer is at 11 o clock as on some vintage drums the strainer protrudes above the rim and you wouldn't want to whack that.:) I always have the logo at 12 o clock dead centre, also I've heard that if your changing both heads you should start with the reso.

To the first question I stay clear of drugs nowExcited -couldn't resist a bit of mirth.

I imagine this is pretty common considering that any drummer that has a specific way he set up his kit is gonna develop certain routines. I always remove both heads to get a fresh start on tuning. As far as the logo goes... I used to line them up to the badges on toms and put them at the top of snares with the strainer being at 11:00. However, as of a few months ago, I started rotating the heads on the shells to feel out the best fit. Sometimes with these vintage drums, the bearing edges are less than perfect and wrinkles can occur. To combat that, i used to just tune past it. Now I rotate the head on the tom and push it down to try and feel out the best fit.. I've had mixed results.

jason

You're not wrong about the vintage shells and how some bearing edges can be a bit uneven. I have a WFL 5 x 14 with 8 zephyr lugs and I'm not kidding - It sits perfectly flat on my kitchen counter top. I've found that most of those old shells with the glue rings that I've owned in the past were be a bit funny, but this one particular snare is from around the early 40's and the bearing edges are original. It sits perfectly flat on both edges and Ambassador heads spin freely on the shell. The only problem is the straight counter hoops are not perfectly in round as a lot of them are, but close enough. I bought it cheap thinking I could sell it on, but it's going nowhere now. It's a keeper.

Toms - head logo lined up with badge

Snare - head logo lined up with throw (shows where it is when stage lights are dimmed)

Cheers