Dialtune Origins, Part 1: The $30 Prototype That Lit the Fuse

Dialtune Origins: Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3

In Part 1, our co-founder and CEO Alexander Marshman sits down with Bryan Bedson (inventor of the Dialtune system) while Bryan Saftler—our co-founder and head of marketing—runs the cameras. This is where our story starts: a passionate young drummer trying to get great sound fast, every time, without the guesswork.

The Player Problem We Set Out to Solve

Bryan didn’t plan to start a drum company. He just wanted a reliable way to get to a musical place quickly. Moving between churches, stages, and beat up house kits with 30–60 minutes to dial in a sound, he needed something predictable and repeatable—so he could focus on playing.

It was challenging to get the sound he was looking for, or to tune to the environment in the time he had—and to repeat that process predictably. What if you could tune drums like a guitar—know when it’s in tune, and get back there quickly?

The Spark: Single-Point Tuning Meets Modern Hardware

We love that this idea came from a drummer’s notebook. Bryan is a tinkerer—motorcycles, mechanisms, puzzles. One day he sketched a system inspired by BOA-style ratcheted laces on snowboard boots: a cable and pulley approach that would distribute tension evenly from one control. Rope-tuned drums are ancient; pairing that heritage with modern technology like pulleys and cable was the modern twist.

Version 1: Built for $30 and Built to Learn

With a spare shell, hoops, and heads, Bryan hit the hardware aisle: sliding-door rollers for pulleys, steel cable, and a chopped socket-wrench end for a clicking, lockable knob. It was rough. It was simple. And it worked.

For about thirty dollars in hardware-store parts, the first prototype pulled tension evenly enough around the head from a single point to achieve a great sound—clear proof we were onto something.

Cover, Then Build: The First Patent

Early on, we were just testing the idea—no roadmap, no brand plan. A weekly coffee with a friend, Jeremy (a patent attorney who also drums), helped us file our first non-provisional patent utility patent when we couldn’t afford the fees. When the broad claims presented in that initial patent filing were granted, this protection gave us the confidence to keep pushing the concept forward.

The Relic: Dusty, Cracked, and Important

In the video, we pull V1 off a shelf. The knob is cracked, the pulleys are off-the-shelf, the cable is steel. It’s not pretty—and that’s the point. Character over clout. Proof over polish. This is where Dialtune begins: with working players and honest experiments.

What This Means for Drummers

• Speed to sound: Get musical, fast—no guesswork.
• Repeatability: Return to the exact feel and tone you loved.
• More playing: Less time wrestling hardware, more time making music.

Keep going with Parts 2 and 3 to see how this rough prototype became a system we now build with—and for—working players.

Dialtune Origins: Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3

Credits: Conversation with Alexander Marshman. Camera by Bryan Saftler. Invention and early prototypes by Bryan Bedson.

We build drums. YOU make them matter.