Never even bothered with one of those.....I use a drum key and get a rough feel for how equal the tension is, then I fine tune using my ears.....never needed one of those new fangled gizmos...LOL!

I have one. Its in the pretty white box it came in and I am not so sure exactly where it is.

I played a small venue this past sunday, ..... retirement home thing...... so I mean small, took the 20-12-14 Rogers Dayton set, I had them tuned up, which... in that place would not work. So, down tuned by ear, evened it out in less than five, and was ready to play. Some songs with brushes, but mostly sticks, and they loved it. A drum dial is useless in the field on a kit, in my opinion.

I use one just to tension to the ballpark with new heads then go by ear.

So, do you have any idea of tensioning for super classic sizes on a vintage ludwig? I snapped a bottom head on a supraphonic going by the drum dial suggested tensioning.

I always go by feel on the snare side head. It should be firm, not spongey, but not so tight that you can't move the head with your thumb pushing on it about an inch from the rim.

Go by what your ears tell you what the drum wants to be tuned at for its natural pitch. When it "sings" you are where it wants to be. To quote Jeff Ocheltree: "trust your ears"

I think I'll go by this from now on. I just haven't tuned that many drums so I don't know if my ears are the best tool.

This is not a rule, just an observation.

Seems that a 6 lug snare should tension around 72 lbs with a Vintage A

8 Lug around 80 - 82 lbs. 10 Lug 88 - 90 lbs.

All of these are batter side.

IMPORTANT

Make sure after an ajustment, no matter how small that you lift and then set the dial back down. Don't just leave it sitting on and tighten...you will for sure end up with way too high of a tension.

Had one, didn't use it enough, so I sold it on ebay (got my money back for the most part).

It was alright, but I tune by ear well enough to not warrant a tuning aid.

I've never used one of those dial thingys. I've always just used the key for ballpark and my ear for the rest. Earlier this year, in a new to me studio, the studio guy told me they would have their drum guy come and tune the studio's kit. (nice DW kit). It seems most of the guys going in don't know how to tune! They hire this guy who goes in with his dial and does it, and gets paid. They were amazed when I tuned the rig in about ten min., by ear. Really surprised me that they were amazed! First thing I did once I got my rudiments down was learn to tune them round things.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some elitist jackass about tuning. Those dial things are tools. A tool I really don't know how to use. So that is my problem, but, I also think you should learn to tune your kit by feel and ear. Let the guitar players have their little boxes!

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