I recently bought two vintage Tama snares, a 5x14 Kingbeat and a 6.5x14 Mastercraft with short lugs. Even with diecast hoops, I wasn't able to tune the Kingbeat as high as I wanted. The Mastercraft arrived today in a disassembled condition. I decided to try putting the Mastercraft lugs on the Kingbeat to see if it would make a difference. When I removed the Kingbeat's lugs, the lugs were all stuffed with gray foam. Apparently a previous owner installed the foam. It appears that some of the plastic bits that hold the lug nut inside the casing are missing, so the foam probably is meant to hold the lug nuts in place when you remove the tension rods. The plastic bits (called "nylon lug nut stoppers" by Tama) are smaller in the Kingbeat lugs than in the Mastercraft lugs. The end result is that the Kingbeat sounds slightly better with the Mastercraft lugs installed, but still not up to the pitch I'd like. Not sure what's up with this drum. I have another 5x14 Mastercraft and it sounds great. Just wondering if I'll be able to find the smaller lug nut stoppers for the Kingbeat lugs. Any ideas?
Old Tama Snare Lugs
I recently bought two vintage Tama snares, a 5x14 Kingbeat and a 6.5x14 Mastercraft with short lugs. Even with diecast hoops, I wasn't able to tune the Kingbeat as high as I wanted. The Mastercraft arrived today in a disassembled condition. I decided to try putting the Mastercraft lugs on the Kingbeat to see if it would make a difference. When I removed the Kingbeat's lugs, the lugs were all stuffed with gray foam. Apparently a previous owner installed the foam. It appears that some of the plastic bits that hold the lug nut inside the casing are missing, so the foam probably is meant to hold the lug nuts in place when you remove the tension rods. The plastic bits (called "nylon lug nut stoppers" by Tama) are smaller in the Kingbeat lugs than in the Mastercraft lugs. The end result is that the Kingbeat sounds slightly better with the Mastercraft lugs installed, but still not up to the pitch I'd like. Not sure what's up with this drum. I have another 5x14 Mastercraft and it sounds great. Just wondering if I'll be able to find the smaller lug nut stoppers for the Kingbeat lugs. Any ideas?
If you can email me or post a photo of the rubber inserts that you need ,i have 1000's of them in all sizes...Thanks Mikey
Thanks, man. I'll try to get some shots and maybe some measurements also.
I also noticed that with the lugs that don't have the plastic stoppers, the lug nuts don't drop out; they seem to sit solidly in place without the stoppers, but I'm not sure if that's a temporary thing. They might decide to drop out the first time I change a head and then I'll have to remove the lug to get the nut back into place.
thanks for your help.
Here's a link to the photobucket images. thanks.
http://s850.photobucket.com/albums/ab61/drummike77/Tama%20Kingbeat%20lugs/
Glad someone has got those stoppers you need. Be thankful your lug casings aren't breaking. These can be brittle on these drums so be careful as not to overtighten them when replacing them to the shell
Glad someone has got those stoppers you need. Be thankful your lug casings aren't breaking. These can be brittle on these drums so be careful as not to overtighten them when replacing them to the shell
Thanks for the advice; I try to just give enough torque to make the parts snug.
Regarding the age of the drums and their delicate nature, I recently bought a used Tama Starclassic snare that a previous owner had not been careful with. The diecast hoops were both warped and one of the lug casings was broken, so even newer drums need to be cared for and not abused.
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