What kind of sound are you going for? I have 2 Acro's - one tuned low (low by snare standards) and the other tuned medium. Low gives a good blues sound and medium is better for rock.

Best advice I can give, start low and tune up till you hear what you want. Don't forget that the reso side makes a big difference too.

I have a remo ambassador reso and a whether king coated on batter. I'm looking for a rock sound.

Start with the reso head and tune it to a medium high pitch. By that I mean, don't crank it to the point where it's uber tight. When you lightly press the center of the head w/your fingers, it should have some give.

Flip the drum over and tune the batter to a medium tension. Again, don't go too crazy with the tension, just get it to the point where it has a nice feel when playing with sticks. You want a good bounce, but you shold also feel the head give when you strike it.

Throw the snares on and see what it sounds like. If you want more crack, bring the batter head tension up a bit and test the sound.

Best way to tune any drum is start low and slowly work up (bottom and top) until you find *that sound*. Generally with snares, the reso head is tuned higher than the batter, but experiment and see what you get.

Man... I want to know how Drumbum dodged the first standard reply to that question .. "With a drum key!"Bump

My next project is to finally get to work on my '64 Acro that has been sitting patiently on the shelf waiting it's turn..

So I will follow this thread with more than a casual interest... drum key in hand. ;)