He mentions it from 1:59 to 2:35 – Find the Natural resonance of the shell, and tune the top and bottom heads to that pitch – for a straight cannon tom sound. NOTE: Tune the bottom head a minor third lower, for the classic ‘drop tone’ tom sound. (LPT: to find the natural resonance, take the skins and hoops off the drum, tape down the spring loaded nuts with painter’s tape so they don’t rattle. then hold the drum sideways from the inside with your thumb, and strike the drum with the heel of your hand – a tuning app helps here) The pitch the shell makes (natural resonance pitch) is the pitch you shoot for when tuning your drum. I marked the pitch inside each of the shells with a sharpie… have used that technique for decades, never fails.
Greg, you didn’t drop your tuning key and have it land right under your bass pedal. Thats what separates the pros from the rest.
6-ply maple shell is also the key to Ludwig’s final production runs at Chicago (before the move and changeover to that plastic-composite material used for a short while) — “ROCKERS” and “ROCKERS II” series. Inexpensive, simple, plain, MAGICAL tone. To my ear, that was the epitome of shell tone, the top of their game. What since has surpassed it?
