HOW TO TUNE A 13 INCH TOM TO 4 GREAT TUNINGS 

I really appreciate your approach to tuning drums Kenny. So many RU-vid guys say they are just going by feel. I'm too much of an engineer to buy into that. There is a reason things sound good (or don't). Knowing the "why" and the "how" makes tuning drums quick and painless and not frustrating. You know what you are doing and you explain your steps and pitches. I love a perfect 4th on my toms. Thank you!

Kenny! Can’t believe I’ve never seen you play! Been watching you since I was a kid! Blessings brother 💪🏼💪🏼

Lookin forward to trying these, thank again Kenny 👍

You're an awesome at teaching this stuff! I love a 13 much more than a 12. I have both, but they're 12x9 and 13x10. Nothing beats a 13x9, though. It fits perfectly above the bass drum and has the fullness that a 12 can't give at any tuning. Same goes for a 24x14 compared to a 22x16. Man, I'm jonesing to experiment a bit more with every video you make. Being a full time school teacher and also owning a blues venue sucks up a lot of my time, but I gotta stop making excuses and go tune them drums! Thanks for the motivation, Kenny! Your videos are my medicine! And those Rogers drums are sweeeeet! Ear candy!

Just "killin' it" Kenny.... As always. Deep in the weeds 'ya all' on tuning tech, made fun and entertaining!!

Just got a 13" tom... And have been messing around, but this really helped me solidify where I wanna be at.. Thanks!!

Great work as always Kenny! And your kit sounds as good as ever 🙌

You always make us sound better Kenny. 🙏

Wow! The tuning in intervals are fantastic!! But man, you are a killer drummer! Damn! I enjoyed it!

Today Kenny saved my life, ty man

This makes me want to flip my tuning to a higher batter head. I always tune the reso lower, but that rebound...... Great vid.

Loved the video and gonna try some of these tunings on my Ludwig classic maple pro beat 13”&16” toms. I also appreciate your enthusiasm. Infectious to say the least! 😃

This is video is what I needed! I’m looking forward to try these tunings on my 1975 Tama Imperialstar I got some months ago. I always thought the 13" tom was so hard to tune and it always sounded horrible. But it seems really easy with this tuning techniques. Thank you Kenny!!

This came at a good time! I remember commenting something on a previous video asking how would you tune a 13" in context to a 12", 13", 16", & 18" toms

Wow...it's very Nice see one Rogers kit again

think youll ever tackle 14 inch rack toms? personally i like them more than 13s and they go perfect matched up with a 10 and 12. Plus theyre easier to tune

Would love to see your take on tuning an 18" floor tom in context with this 13 & 16!

Quality man

Hi, sorry for my english, have you tried a configuration like 24x14, 10, 13, 16? I am very curious because everybody use 22, 10, 12, 16 plus sometimes with 14 or 8. I play heavy rock metal etc and I don't like 14 floor tom but if you have 10, 12, 16 the jump between 12 and 16... meh... On the other hand on deep bass drums (22x18, 22x20) I don't feel the punch like a 22x14 or 24x14. It's very curious see a lot people use deep bass drums and then put things to gain punch: Wood beaters, plugs in, triggers etc.

Hey Kenny, Where does one go to find that small mini keyboard you used to reference tone intervals for the drum tuning? Thanks man.

Rotating 2 up 2 down set up.. with 1 up 2 down with my 13 tom on upper tom nice tunes

Amazing stuff!!! Any chance of a video where you tune a 18” floor Tom?

What tuning would work best for classic rock in an unmiked situation in large rooms? I am open to any suggestions, as I am struggling to get something that feels and sounds good from the throne. 13/16/22 beech shells

nice! I just so happen to have a 13 inch rack tom that needs tuning. I know it's opinion but if you had the choice between an evans hydraulic or a uv2, what one would you go with?

Hey y'all

What drum company is older.... NOBLE & COOLEY or ROGERS ?

Dr K …. Hello sir… I have been enjoying your videos.. and I have been tuning my early 1970s Rogers Holiday Dayton Swivos… since 1973… and approx ten (?) years ago… I started down the path of… WHY………WHYYYYY…. CANT I get these drums to sweeten up? ( the 12x8 and the 13x9… we’re born… no INVENTED by the devil …just to torture me!!!)… ooops… my bad…. All jokes aside this was the discovery process for me… to get sweeter toms… The Tom Mounts… do search on various isolation mounts… compare the tone of your toms on the old school mounts vs just “ barely holding on to one by” pinching / holding on to a rim while playing”…( there’s your clue that the old school tom mounts DO “ change” ( aka KILL.. ) resonance…..“ RIMMS “ is the easiest bang for buck mod.. then a full Tama Rim Mount system..( more expensive) BEARING EDGES FROM HELL…. a) Test the bearings edges for “true flat” and then true round…. My DAYTON TOMS WERE CRIMINAL…. I re-cut the bearing edges my self…and I took pics along the way … ( for me…. Router cut FIRST..… I CUT …THE inside bevel FIRST… To a sharp point… and I removed absolutely THE…. MINIMUM material … just enough to get rid of the up/down/up/down of the re-ring humps and dips…. Ten passes (?)…THE TINIEST SKIM CUT EACH TIME… it was easy to see the “ lows” in the original ( horrible) bearing edge… because each FINE pass/cut… would take away just a little of the grey speckled paint in the “ high areas” while leaving paint untouched… in the low areas… then another FINE FINE FINE cut… a little more area with paint shaved away….and the LOWS became more and more apparent. Ten passes later… only 1/16” - 3/32” (?) total wood removed….. but now no move lows… ( no more grey paint)…MINUMUM wood removed… and yes… the ORIGINALITY FACTOR…destroyed… I hated that part… but the drums…sounded…horrible…..I had to do it).. b) THEN… because the bearing bevel ( angle) sloped all the way out to the outer edge… at a fairly sharp point…. THEN… I used a carpenters pencil and shaded the whole bearing edge top POINT .. ( I colored the bearing edge POINT all black.. so that , I could see a similar progress of sanding away the high point ( areas/ regions) while leaving the low points..( plus more shading on the next inside layer/ lamination of wood ( on the inside slope) same idea.. I wanted to see the lows ).. then I placed the drum on the super flat table with the 60 grit sand paper…. Twist twist twist…sand… sand…sand…. Inspect… inspect … insp….. WHAT THE HELL !!!… THESE BEARING EDGES …H…O…R…R…I…B…L…E….!!!…. High ..low…high…low.. Please note…. Use your imagination… the high and low… is bad enough as the drum head wasn’t seating evenly every where… ( that was ok in the old days with calf skin heads because they conformed more readily to “ less than perfect drums).. by the way , my drums originally sounded GREAT when the heads were TIGHT.. duh… but they would NOT tune sweet in the lower registers.. ..but also…think about “ high and low” on “ the bearing edge slope”…. This means that even if the drum SHELL was round… the bearing POINT traveled.. “ in and out”… WITH…. The slope… “IN AND OUT” means that the distance across the drum ( bearing edge to bearing edge) was constantly changing… ( changing LEGTH) …so between inconsistent ( constantly changing) bearing HEIGHT… and constantly changing LENGHT…THESE DRUMS WERE NOT TUNABLE…. Rogers Drums…. horrible… OK NOT ..ROGERS…. Rogers from a certain era… under a certain management.. owned by a certain corporation… that might have been more interested in profit than in quality control… Ok sermon over… Better bearings with NEW RIMS ….( just to make sure) …with NEW HEADS…. IMMEDIATELY resulted in drums that started to sing SOONER..less tension on the head… with fewer dead spots around the outer edge… Now these drums sound A LOT better… BUT… NEXT STEP ..is to remove the original Swivo Tom Mount Plates.. one less thing to choke the shell.. I’m traveling ..as soon as I get back… that’s next… Finally… if we listen CAREFULLY to Dr Ks ride tom… we can hear a TON of “Wild high overtones”… this is NOT and insult… it is what it is…. A) as the drummer… we are only 30” from that tom…. But NO ONE… in the audience is that close… ANNNNND…. HIGHER FREQUENCIES… fade in volume RAPIDLY per distance… and there is a SWEET…SWEET..SWEET SPOT…a certain distance from the drum where “ you can’t “ HEAR”…those highs but they’re absolutely sweetening the sound… b) Dave Wekle talks about his square drums… some of the wild over tones that are in PART of the sound of the 12x8 and the 13x9…. Is because of the “ a-symmetry” of the drum… ps a 12x8 is really a “4 to 3” ratio because the drum isn’t REALLY 12” OR 8”… and the 13x9” … nope… 4:3 would be better…. These ain’t 4:3…..( it is what it is)… but with Wekle’s “ square drums” the drums actually ARE 1:1…more tune focused… with fewer “ wild high partials” ( overtones”… that’s WHY… he TOLD ( asked ?) Yamaha for “ square drums… Don’t freak… NEITHER DRUM IS RIGHT OR WRONG…. any more than a Strat is better than a Les Paul… is better than an SG.. or a Tele…. different sounds… all great ( if PLAYED with soul) Take care of your drums…. RECORD YOUR DRUMS with mics near and far…. GET ANOTHER DRUMMER that YOU RESPECT , TRUST, LIKE HIS STYLE…. HAVE …HIM…. play your drums… so that you can hear your drums?.. from close up… and from five feet, 15 feet, thirty feet away….THEN… you’ll know what your drums sound like. Finally.. drum head selection… does change the sound… A… LOT…. Great… THERES ANOTHER $100… ok make friends with other drummers that have good sounding drums… ask if you can listen to their drums up close….. Why yes…. I WAS the piano tuner on a gig that Wekle was doing… it was just me… a Steinway … and Wekle’s… drums… no cymbals… no one else in the auditorium…. What would YOU do….. HMMMmmmmm A hundred years ago… long before Kenny was born… I was doing a jazz festival… in Dayton…January 1975 or 1976)…wandering around in the building… a set of NORTH drums…. Hmmmm….. who does this drum set own… hmmmm. … HELL YES I played them…nope didn’t get arrested… but they were ..the LOUDEST drum set in the universe…( fiberglass (?)… I got Billy Cobham’s autograph at breakfast the following morning. Don’t hate you drum set… love the unique sound that ONLY YOU AND YOUR DRUMS MAKE. Peace Y’all

What's the depth?

Drummer face 😎😎😎😎