Solving the broken inserts problem.

A little intro here. Insert is actually one of the parts that create a component of a drum called lug. Lug consist of the body (the whole lug), insert and insert stopper (i create this name because i dont know the exact name of this thing).

one of the broken inserts

I broke 5 inserts last 2 years because at that moment i dont really know that the long of tension rods made any impact on an insert. I use shorter tension rods than the supposed one and it somehow takes more tension to the insert and broke them when i want to tighten drumhead. At that time, i dont plan to use 13" tom so i practically have some spare lugs to play with. But since i decided to use 5 piece setup after this, the 13" tom will be use and must be in a good shape like 12" and 16". The problem is, where to replace the 5 inserts that is damaged?
In Malaysia, its almost impossible to find drums spare parts and i've already planned to change the whole lugs of my 13" tom to solve this problem.


I went to Woh Fatt last month to find cheap lugs to replace my unusable lugs and only to find that they actually do sell inserts!!! I then bought 6 of them and brought the inserts back home. When i tried the inserts to the lugs, they dont fit! The inserts that i bought is bigger than the insert-hole in the lug. So the next day, I went to Woh Fatt back and bring the lug and tension rod to find the correct insert. I am dissapointed because none of the lugs there fit the insert-hole of the lug. Some of the inserts do fit the tension rods but dont fit nicely to the lug. Suddenly i have this idea to use spring to hold the inserts in lugs and it does work!!!

original insert on left and new insert on right

the "custom" lug

notice that the original insert is longer than the new insert because the insert wont fit perfectly in the hole