I've done the same thing for 30-something years, never actually thinking about it; for me, started from watchinglistening to mom teach guitar to newbies and going over tuning. Too funny, when you stop and think about your practices and how they came to be.

Good thread.

B

O-lugs, first off let me ask you did you like or not like the Arbiter kit? Just if you didn't know there is this Fellow Named Graeme Edge plays for a group called The Moody Blues and used his Arbiters to pretty good effect and had a hit or two using them! Drummers to a large degree are stuck in the stone ages if it's not what they are familiar with or not what they had growing up then It just has to be a gimmick, the tensioning devices that is being discussed here came from the printing and acetate Industry, used by both to measure tension, the acetate is plastic, which is what a drum head is, just to explain their origin OK! I am a guitar and bass player also, and by that am more open to new Ideas than most Just drummers, In fact JR Robinson Introduced me to the tension watch over 12 years ago, and I've used one ever since, your Rub seems to be you can't get your hands around the fact that after using the tension watch or drum dial, that upon playing the drum is no longer the same tension, let me state I'm a hard Hitter, ask kevin he has seen and heard me play, the drum's stay in tension for at least a day if not longer and that is due to the heads losing tension as the t-rods back down not the head stretching,and it is always one to a couple of t-rod that had back down some and after using the tension watch long enough it will bear this out you would have to beat the heads with a hammer to achieve stretching of the heads ! the tension watch is a Fantastic tool, I've stated this every post on this thread, It is a tool nothing more, it is very accurate as long as you have it calibrated correctly, and once you get the values recorded on paper or in your head, you set the tension on each drum how you like it and your ready to play all night long, with a ampeg SVT and a Marshall 100 watt super lead which is what my band mates use! which means I ain't lightly tapping on the drums! or in other words you don't have to take my word for it, But I can probably state with a high degree I've used this device longer than any of the members here that have posted to this thread, if you want to continue tuning the way you have already fine, but this device is not a gimmick and does work, torque wrenches and the like are not accurate as the tension watch, the torque drum keys etc, measure the t-rod torque which can be dirty, no lube, and bad threads which are giving false readings, the tension watch measure the true drum head tension! Oh back to the arbiter Graeme Edge states in the Classic Drummer Edition vol 9 Issue1 that arbiter is the only drum he's ever endorsed and absolutely loves His! I hope this doesn't come off as A smart Azz post?

That's what I wanted to know. I have a curiosity about mechanical devices and I often question things to determine if I think something is a real useful tool or not.

Unlike the way you play, I play extremely lightly. I doubt if I ever deform any mylar even after months and maybe even after years of playing the same heads! (not kidding). This of course casts no judgement on the hard vs soft playing subject. It's just that my gigs require me to play that way. I hit the drums harder when I practice at home....partly because I often practice to styles of music that I don't get to play on my gigs. I grew up with posters of Led Zeppelin on my walls if that tells you anything!

But I don't ever play hard enough to get drumheads to dent. I have seen heads like that though.

My Arbiters? I love them! They always tune up/down easily for me. The design actually required the drums to be in perfect alignment perpendicularly -perfect 90 degrees and perfect edges and all the components were well made much heavier-duty than anything made to be cost-effective. There aren't any generic-made component parts as far as the tuning mechanism is concerned because there wasn't anything "traditional" about the design.

VERY few people got behind the Arbiter design , though Graham Edge? Yes, he was one who did...and apparently he is a happy camper, like me! Drawbacks? WEIGHT! Also, the lacquer shells are gorgeous, but they are lacquer and they can scratch. I'm too lazy to gig with them so I keep mine under studio conditions at home. They are now 12 years old and they are every bit as gorgeous and functional as they were the day I bought them. Nothing has ever gone wrong with the design. It works flawlessly whether ir not there is a *blip* on the head near the hinge, or not. It's never seemed to make any difference in the sound -which is very modern and full -not a vintage drum sound at all!

I was using hard playing as a benchmark to Illustrate the head is not affected hardly if at all by repeated strikes from the sticks, When I was doing studio work for the State Of North Carolina, of course I wasn't playing as hard as I do live, But the tension watch was right there by my side! the kit at the studio was a Yamaha Maple RC kit, I would quickly go threw the heads to properly tune them and the tension watch quickly took any guess work out of an unfamiliar kit's nuisance's for me! I was pointing out the facts to you about the arbiters, because you stated that other drummers were giving you the biz about them, I'm glad you kept them, they work very well but you have to know how to tune and use them, Graeme stated he tunes the entire kit to a "C"once again your kit is a good benchmark for my argument that drummers as a whole are not very progressive in their thinking,If it's not what they are familiar with then it's got to be a gimmick. but yet look how long Arbiter has been around with this tuning system which works very well!