Sound Good? The Secret’s in the Connectors
Developers at drum maker Head Drums in Lakewood, Colo., devised a new attachment method after analyzing how drum heads are typically attached to shells.
The thinking among drum designers
had been that the relatively
small mass of metal attachments
would not affect the instrument’s
overall sound. However, experiments
revealed otherwise.
Typical tie-down hardware
stiffens wooden drum shells
and raises the drum’s pitch. This
hardware is usually tube-lug anchors
that also tension the drum
head. Threaded inserts on either
end of the anchor let a tension
rod (screw) pull on a steel hoop
pressing on the head. Tension
around the head is distributed
through a channel-shaped collar
into which the head is epoxied.
The tube lug acts as a mechanical
bridge and stiffener where
it attaches to the shell. At Head
Drums, developers say the lugs can
also contribute high frequencies to
the overall sound because their natural
frequency is higher than that
of the wood they are attached to.
A new lug design, dubbed Top
Hat, eliminates such interactions.
It has a single point of contact with the shell and thus is largely uncoupled
from the hardware needed
to tension the drum head. Head
Drums designers say the result is a
finished shell with a lower natural
frequency and a purer tone.