Drum Dial

About DrumDial

DrumDial is an American company that has made tuners for drums (or drum tuners) for many years. 

The special thing about a DrumDial is that it doesn't use electricity and that it doesn't listen to the drum head. Instead, it uses good old-fashioned mechanics that works.  

Myths about tuners for drums

Some drummers mistakenly believe that the turning hardness in the tension rods can be used to tune a drum. Some companies have even developed torque wrench drum keys. Needless to say, this doesn't work. Instead, you need to measure the tightness of the drum head and not of the tension rods.   

The DrumDial measures the tightness of the drum head. This is quite handy, cause actually then you don't need to hit the drum until in the end of the drum tuning process. 

How does the DrumDial work? 

You put the DrumDial close to one of the tension rods (or lugs), and then the pointer will give you a measurement. Now the trick is to move the DrumDial from one tension rod to another and adjust the tension rods until the measurement in the DrumDial is the same for all the tension rods. Of course you need to know how much you can tune the drum. If you don't know this, you can use the Drum Dial guide, which you find here below: 

Free DrumDial Guide for drum tuning 

Here you can download a chart  that shows recommended tunings for different drums in the drum set. 

The difference between the Analog and Digital version

An obvious question is what the difference is between an analog and a digital DrumDial. The short answer is that the analog is more precise, and the digital is faster. 

However, there are a few other differences: 

• The digital has a built-in light (and it uses batteries), and that makes it very suitable e.g. behind the stage
• The digital will be delivered in a hard transportation box with a built-in moulded foam and a calibration plate to calibrate the Drum Dial  
• The analog is more precise with its old-fashioned clock face. On the other hand, you have to be more thorough when reading the measurement 
• The measurement in the digital is faster to read 

What is a Bearing Edge Conditioner?

DrumDial makes a third product: Drum Dial Bearing Edge Conditioner. This look like a lip balm - just for your drums. 

When the drum head is off, and you have cleaned the edge of your drum, you apply the Bearing Edge Conditioner (BEC) around the edge. This will ensure that the drum head easily slides over the edge when you're tuning the drum.   

Is there anything worse than a drum that moves in a non-smooth way when you're trying to make a fine adjustment? 

With BEC, the drum head slides stepless over the drum edge, and the tuning process of the drum is thus easier and more fun.