I think that johnnyringo is on the right track. I bristle when people on drum forums bash the designers of drums that were made before the bashers were born. Those vintage drums were designed to be mounted on the bass drum. They were also designed to be outfitted with calf heads--original types of plastic heads on later 60's and 70's drums. What some of you complain about as a dead or choked sound was the desired sound back then. Trying to make a fifty year old Slingerland set sound like a 2018 Ludwig set is as foolish as trying to make a factory stock Les Paul sound like a factory stock Stratocaster or expecting a factory stock 1955 Dodge Coronet to run like 2018 Honda Accord.

Thank you Leedybdp, I think I'm right too.Walking

I honestly don't get it, the main reason I play vintage drums is because they DON'T sound like modern drums. I've had my share of modern drums and they all sounded good and they all sounded the same. There is also such a thing as "too" much resonance, which in my humble opinion, is what most modern kits produce. You see all the time guys putting some sort of dampening or using heads on modern kits that are designed to cut down on resonance. My ears don't like bright drums that the modern kits produce. Why in the world do we want to try to make these great vintage American made drums sound like modern drums?

I honestly don't get it.

Pretty simple really , I’ve always been lucky , I guess when it comes to tuning .

Just like my pies they all just sound great ..

It’s a knack once you find that grove it will” come together right now “

Actually I agree with leedybdp and johnnyringo as to not forcing my 50 year old Slingerland to sound like a 2018 Ludwig. It's a vintage set, and its character should show through. And as it's not a modern set, I'm still re-learning how to tune it! :)

Once you guys helped me figure out my issue was a bent counterhoop, replacing it fixed the problem. I have good tone and good intervals! In fact my only issue is that my son is still trying to figure out why his Mapex snare suddenly sounds weird (can you say "anonymous hoop donor"? ;) )

I truly appreciate everybody's advice to me!