Tuner fish Lug locks
Reviews.
Reviews
Music Radar – Tuner Fish Lug Locks and Secure Bands review
Built for drummers by drummers, this discreet solution to down-tuning issues whilst playing simply works. Especially suited to hard hitters but will benefit essentially any drummer.
Originally designed with the help of renowned big hitter Mark Richardson (Skunk Anansie, Feeder), British-made Tuner Fish Lug Locks have been in development for the last 10 years.
Tuner Fish says it is now “as close to perfect as possible and ready to shout about”. Championed by many high-profile artists such as Thomas Lang, Abe Laboriel Jr and Ash Soan, some of you may have caught a glimpse of them before. Let’s take a closer look at the Locks, and the new Secure Bands.
Build
Simple and sleek in design, the small teardrop shaped pieces of hard plastic have an eight-point star cutout on the flat bottom side of the large rounded end, which allows them to fit snugly onto regular square-head tension rods.
The thinner ‘tail’ then sits against the drum hoop, preventing the rod from turning anti-clockwise and therefore loosening off. So in principle, once you have your drums sounding just right, there should be no reason to be reaching for a drum key no matter how hard you’re hitting.
Each Tuner Fish features four small grooves which allow them to be used with the separately available Secure Bands. These small elastic bands wrap around behind the tension rod and under the hoop which pulls the lock down, keeping it snugly in position.
For the players who might prefer to use only a few on the areas that take the most abuse, a pack of four Locks will set you back £4.99, or £8.99 for eight. For the real animals out there, packs of 24 and 50 are also available. A pack of Secure Bands will cost you a mere £2.50.
Hands On
The plastic fish themselves are a doddle to fit and feel fairly secure sitting on the tension bolts. Once attached, the tails need to be pushed against the hoop which can result in the rod being down-tuned slightly, ironically.
Of course this would only ever be a maximum of an eighth-turn but we found it useful in these cases to slightly over-tighten and then push back into place to preserve the tuning.
After a fiddle fitting the elastic bands, the locks are noticeably more stable. There are no issues using them without the bands although they do add a certain peace of mind. Of course, the bands also make it possible to use the Locks on bottom heads too.
Full review here.
Soundattak
Drummers Corner
Brendrum Jones – Tuner Fish Lug Locks Product Review
Romesh Dodangoda (Producer) – Bring Me The Horizon, Motorhead, Twin Atlantic, Bullet For My Valentine, and many more…….
Tuner Fish Lug Locks have become an essential part of recording drums in the studio for me! There is nothing worse that that perfect tuning you spend so long dealing in, to start slipping as soon as the drummer starts playing. Tuner Fish Lug Locks give me the peace of mind I need to keep consistent tuning for the entire recording session. Whether your a producer or drummer, I highly recommend them in both studio and live settings.
Steve ‘Munky’ Muncaster – Enter Shikari/Dermot Kennedy
‘Tuner Fish Lug Locks’ What can I say about Tuner Fish?! This product has to be up there on any Drummer or Drum Tech’s list of essentials… I have used these for years and am so happy that they are back on the market! They are 100% by far and away the best tension rod locking system I have come across. There are other products where you can still turn the tension rod whilst they are in place, which immediately screams ‘This. Doesn’t. Work!!’. I find specifically with a lot of vintage drums, especially snare drums. They love to lose tension when they are being played with any kind of power, which makes recording a nightmare. During a live shows it’s even more of an issue because you can’t (well you can , but you don’t want to) be tuning a snare back up for the crack into the last chorus! Since I started using Tuner Fish Lug Locks on my personal snares, and for the artists I look after, this is no longer an issue! They are literally little life changers. The new pouch for them is a lovely touch too!! It’s easy to lose small pieces of gear in your toolbox and to have somewhere safe and secure you can keep them, along with things like keys/washers/wing nuts is magic!
Big up to Tuner Fish!!!
Steve ‘Munky’ Muncaster
Mike Dolbear
Mark Richardson from Skunk Anansie and Feeder is a hard hitter. A VERY hard hitter. I was involved in an experiment a few years back where he was put in a room and the volume of his playing was measured to see what sort of level he was hitting. Now, unfortunately, I cant remember the peak measurements, but what I can remember was that he was so loud that he was the same volume through two closed doors and two layers of glass as a ‘normal’ drummer was in the same room with the doors open … read the rest of this review on Mike’s website
John Watt
Now I know drum tuning can be a pain, and that’s not just when you’re learning! Tuning is a big thing for all of us as drummers and it’s something I work on with all of my students as it’s a very valuable and often overlooked skill. It’s something that some of us spend a long time developing and whilst some of us can tune up a kit in record time there are plenty of us (drummers, technicians and engineers alike) who put in a serious amount of time to make a drum sound it’s very best …read the rest of this review on John’s website
Joe Crabtree
Before TunerFish I’d be tuning up my snare 4 or 5 times per show. With five Tuner Fish on the tension rods nearest me, I’ve just done 25 shows on a US tour and I haven’t used my drum key for anything other than putting the bass drum beater in the pedal. That essentially means an infinite percentage decrease in re-tuning. Not bad for some little plastic fish!
Drum Gear Review
Detuning is a real problem for thousands of drummers – even among those who aren’t typical hard hitters. It’s the unfortunate result of an imperfectly designed mechanism (the drum lug) that is subject to backup under vibration. There are dozens of products on the market designed to combat detuning, but few are as simple, elegant and effective as the British-born Tuner Fish Lug Locks we’re checking out in today’s review.
Before we get to the details, I really want to say that I love products like this – small, inexpensive gadgets or accessories that correct a problem with little to no fuss. I really appreciate the commitment to developing practical solutions for actual problems drummers face daily that don’t cost a fortune. Hats off, TF. Read More
Tyrus Watson
This is a video we literally found while having a bit of a look around YouTube and didn’t even know it existed! It’s by a guy called Tyrus Watson. Thanks Tyrus!!
Drummers Guide to Gear
This video came from a very well respected company in the US called Drummers Guide To Gear who are now Tuner Fish Lug Locks convertees!!
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