Tuning a 'Sloppy' Snare

My ever-faithful, rock solid Tama kit has stood the test of time, never complained, rarely let me down in any capacity, yet I can't say I have given it much TLC in return.   It's been nearly 3 years since I brought it back from the Middle East, covered with a fine dusting of sand.  It has been wafted with the odd duster from time to time, and on the odd occasion has seen  a few cogs turned in an attempt to do a bit of tuning, but nothing very serious. 

A few months back at a pub in Belper,  I was informed by a learned? member of our audience that my snare sounded a bit 'sloppy'.  How could I return to the said venue next weekend with the same 'sloppy-sounding' snare.  It was time for action.  Internet sites abound showing one 'How to tune a snare' were interspersed with an equal number of cries for help from drummers desperate to rid their snare of a newly acquired 'tin can' sound.  It appears that to get your snare tuned, the lower head needs to be knocking out a note somewhere between the keys of G & B - ideally A - with the upper head at around a C or C sharp.  Trying to hear a musical note emanating from hitting a skin is to say somewhat challenging.  Watching others do it on-line seemed rather hit-and-miss.  This did nothing to reassure me that dummers have any semblance of pitch.  Perhaps that's why we are drummers, so we don't have to deal with keys! 

Having painstakingly achieved a major third between my lower snare head and the upper one, it was time to move on to my toms.  Authority seems to suggest a major 5th between each Tom is desirable.  After an hour of unmethodical fidding, all was going horribly wrong.  Not only did I end up with discordance between Toms, but major discordance between two sides of the same Tom. It was ugly.  Back to the drawing board it was, to start again with the floor Tom.

                                                 * * * * * * * * * * * * * (2 hours later) * * * * * * * * * * * * **

And finally, having achieved a very clear musical D on the floor Tom and a crystal clear A on Tom 2, a D was soon to follow on Tom 1. This was all done with Toms stacked round a piano, I hasten to add.  I am very proud of the octave I have going on between my Floor Tom and Tom 1. 

So now when the band make murmurings about someone being out of tune, it definitely won't be me!