Tension rod locks...suggestions?

[Matthew Warwick]

I was lucky enough last fall to find a Pearl 14"x6.5" Maple Free Floater, so I brought it along with me to each of the three weeks I've played at Christian camps so far this summer. I love how it looks and sounds, and I have literally gotten nothing but positive feedback on both of those aspects of it. Something I've noticed that is apparently an issue for MANY others is that when doing rimshots, the nearest lug to where the stick hits likes to detune a bit every few songs.

There seem to be A LOT of products out there designed to prevent this. I even ran across a post by Bill Bachmann on the drummer world forum about his own method. I'm just not sure what would work best. Who here has used these products and which are the best in your opinion?

To be honest, Bill's idea sounds awesome, but I need a slightly better explanation of how it works than I found on that other forum. It almost seems like it would just be adding another set of threads for the rod to screw into. How exactly would this particular method keep threads from unscrewing?

[Bart Elliott]

I've sent a message to Bill Bachman, who is a member of this forum, to see if he might chime in and further explain his suggestion, which you mentioned.

As far as other products ... there are a lot of different products on the market, many of which work very well ... so pick one and try it; find out what works best for you. I have successfully used LugLocks for decades, but they can be a pain to mess with if you put them on every lug, so I just use them on the problem tension rods.

[Bill Bachman]

Hi Matthew! It's actually very simple--no extra threads or work involved.

Buy 12-24 thread nuts (in stainless steel so they'll stay looking nice), they'll cost about $.11 each. Unscrew a tension rod and then screw the nut on and reassemble such that the nut is on the rod in between the rim and the "nut" in the lug casing. (The "nut" in the lug casing is the metal piece the rod threads into--or the top of your free floating drum's post with the threads.) Once the drum is tuned exactly where you want it tighten the 12-24 nut tight using a 7/16" wrench against the nut in the lug casing (you may want to hold the rod up top with a key while doing this). At this point one nut is tightened up against the other on the tension rod which prevents it from turning/loosening. And that's it! With a broken in head the sound will stay exactly where you left it.

I keep a little wrench in my stick bag just in case, though loosening up the lug with a key will usually unlock the nut.

I've punched in a week after recording something having played all week and the drum sounded exactly the same. I've tried other methods & "lug lock" types of products and none have really done the job. The nut job (hey, I like that!) is the perfect simple solution.

Nut job!

[Matthew Warwick]

I guess I'll have to try it out when I replace the heads next. The snare came with a Remo Ambassador SS, which is good, but I replaced the Evans Genera Dry with an Ambassador X-14. It works fine, but it's a bit thick and has a tad more ring than I need for my Free Floater Snare. I have to use 2 moongels near the edge to control it and I can't tune it down past a certain point or else it starts to resonate like a tom. I think I'll go back to the trusty 'ol Remo CS Reverse Dot Coated, maybe the X model of that (with an Aquarian CC SS on bottom). I have to wait a bit though since I've got some other stuff I need to focus on paying for (like student loan paybacks, lol!).

I'll PM you with my experience of it once I'm able to replace the heads.