Advice on changing a marching snare's head

[azwethinkweizm]

So I have a Kevlar head on a marching drum and I need some advice for changing the head without breaking a rim.

I have one of those chromed drums from Yamaha and I want to change the head but I don't want to break a rim. Do you have any advice on tuning and tension?

[Tristan]

I've never heard of a rim breaking while the head was being changed, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was because tension wasn't removed or applied evenly.

When you take the head off, don't just loosen each lug all the way. Go by half- or full-cranks all the way around, in a circle, until you can undo each lug with your fingers.

You say it's a "chromed drum." Is that a sFz snare or one of the older non-free-floaters?

[GGarrett]

If the head you are replacing is busted then just get it off of there by loosening the NOT busted side slowly and evenly around until you can get the tension rods

off/out of the lugs with your fingers. Check the rim at that time, but I'm also not so familiar with rims breaking under those circumstances.

I have heard through the grapevine that the chroming process weakens the metal. I have no scientific proof of this, but I've heard that of chromed hoops, tension

casings (lugs) and tension rods. A chrome drum shell covering should have no effect on the rims. Yamaha uses a die-cast aluminum alloy, unless it's one of those

"Power-Lite" drums they make, in which case you should not use a kevlar head... only a plastic head.

If the head is NOT busted and you are just changing it to a new head, loosen each tension rod a little at a time around the drum until they are all loose and can be

taken out with your fingers. NOW is the time to check the rim, each tension rod, the suspension ring, all your lugs and the shell of the drum, with a little focus on the

beveled edge of the shell where the head will seat on the shell. Some people will put an ultra thin layer of bee's wax on that edge to give the head a little extra seating/

stretching ability, but I for one don't do that.

Replace any bad rods or parts if needed, and seat your new head on the clean shell rim. Place your rim over the head and seat it, then tighten all tension rods finger

tight all the way around as evenly as possible. Give each tension rod a good crank or two with a drum key to get some tension on the head evenly across, and again

seat the head firmly with your open palm... push down firmly in the center of the head a few times. Then crank it up some more...evenly around and paying attention

to sounds you may hear. Some pulling sounds are normal...some are not. Can't explain that in typing to ya... you'll just have to listen and look.

You could start a "cross tightening" at this point: put your finger on a tension rod you will start with...crank... go directly across from it... crank... then back to the next

one you started from... crank... etc. Go easy... don't just start cranking each one like 10 cranks each... just a couple cranks. That is where I have heard of rims breaking

when the cranking is so uneven across that it busts a rim. Rare, but I've heard of it. The suspension ring gives you a lot of strength to pull down on, so take it easy.

I generally keep pushing down with the palm of my hand until I get a good gentle stretch going, but once you get enough tension you really aren't doing much at that

point. I saw one guy gently push his knee into the head one time. I guess it worked, but that seems risky if you use too much weight/pressure. You need to just let it seat

and stretch on it's own by playing on it and giving it time. Too much too soon and you'll pop the head. Let it go too long without a crank and you'll hear it go kinda flat or

dumpy sounding since your bottom (if you didn't change it, too) will be tighter than the top head can effectively react with.

Crank it a little here and there if you're at an all day... crank it maybe once a day or even once every couple days if you aren't playing on it much. Don't crank on a hot

day out in the sun, and don't crank a cold drum just taken off the EQ truck... let it get to room temp at least. That much tension on a super cold drum will break your

rim.

So there ya go... easy as 1, 2, 3... huh? :P

Edited November 8, 2006 by GGarrett

[Tristan]

One of the biggest mistakes people make (I did it too at first) when tuning a marching snare is they decide to take the kevlar for all its worth and reef the crap out of the top head. The pitch/tone of your drum comes about 35% from the top head, 35-40% from the bottom head, 15% from the snare gut tuning, and 10-15% from the sticks you use.

The top head should be tuned to a point that feels comfortable to play. Too high, and you'll get zero snare response and your hands will hurt because it will be like playing on concrete. Too low, and the drum will absorb too much of the momentum of your stick. Don't worry about pitch with that--make it up with the bottom head.

The bottom head tension really depends on what you're trying to go for. If you want a drier response, go with a kevlar bottom and a higher tension. If you want a wetter response, I recommend a Remo Hazy Ambassador, tuned to roughly the A above middle C. A word of warning: don't try to get up to that pitch right away. Put some tension on the head, let the head relax a day or so, then work up to the final tension.

The last thing to worry about is your snare response. I like to tune the guts individually by propping the guts up on pencils much like the bridge of a violin or guitar and plucking them individually. I prefer to keep them all the same pitch, but some people like to do a graduated tuning and others like to do half at a lower pitch, half at a higher pitch. Don't worry about getting to the right tension with the screws, just match the pitch, then turn the knob to get up to the final tension you want.

Once you're done with that, take the pencils out and position the snare assembly properly. Your goal is to have the maximum possible contact between the guts and the bottom head, so that means that the assemblies on either side should be positioned just so that the guts go completely straight across, without bending up.

Here's an example of the right way and the wrong way to do it:

Right way:

 ||				  ||
=||__________________||=
------------------------  <--guts

Wrong way:

 ||				  ||
=||__________________||=
\----------------------/  <--guts

Hope this helps. :)

[azwethinkweizm]

but what about adding tension to a head that is already there?

Can anybody give me advice on that without popping a rim?

[Tristan]

take a stick and tap around and make sure the tension is even.

Don't add a whole lot of tension, and don't turn any tension rod more than half a turn at a time.

To be honest, if you've got a drum that's designed for high tension, you won't break a rim. I've never heard of it happening.

What kind of drum exactly do you have? It's a yamaha, but is it a sFz or MTS drum or is it one of the older marching snares?

[azwethinkweizm]

It's a MTS Yamaha. A 04-05 Cavaliers drum.

[Tristan]

You shouldn't have to worry about breaking the rim by overtensioning then...I recommend using a white-max head (with the mylar undercoat, or the mts unit will chew up the technora fibers and your head will die a premature death) and just tune the top head to a tension that is comfortable to play. The head should blow long before the rim does.

[azwethinkweizm]

Now, I've heard of people breaking a rim because they tightened it too much. How will I know when the head is too tight?

[MikeN]

On a MTS, seriously - if you're having to strain to tighten it, that's probably too tight. Otherwise, I don't think you're going to hurt the rims. :)

In the pipe band world, we have such a thing as a tuning block - basically a piece of rubber you set between the rims to make sure you have a consistent height on each lug, which in theory gets you pretty close to exact pitches / tensions as well, and makes sure you don't crank them too far.

Mike