One of the things I really like about calf heads is that they form a marriage with the shell in a way that plastic does. I try to take off calf heads and put them back on in the same place, ie not rotating them.

But I've had some heads that were like yours, adapted to one shell and when I put them on another drum the head did conform.

If the head is real tight like yours it likely means that the wood flesh hoop is not the right size for your rim and shell. That's no surprise, without custom making it for a shell it's likely it won't - there's too many variables involved.

You could soak the skin and take out the flesh hoop and sand it down and retuck the head. I've done some and it went well. Some wood flesh hoops are really big and boxy and can be sanded down alot. The problem areas (why I'd live with if you can) are that the hoop might actually need to be bigger, and you can't easily add wood, the head might have lost it's natural glue and be difficult to retuck, and the unforseen. :(

I think the hoop was a bit warped and twisted, it looked kind of like the head must have shrunk and pulled the hoop with it. I can live with it, I'll just keep it on the snare its on. How much bigger should the hoop be than the shell? I think I am going to make some hoops and tuck my own heads. That seems to be the most affordable way to have calf all around. I have a solid shell that is bigger than a conventional shell and a custom hoop would do the trick.

The inside of the hoop needs to be big enough to fit on the shell with the head on, and also small enough to fit in the rim.

A common way is to take some cardboard and tape it on the shell to simulate the thickness of the skin. I've attached a pic of a floor tom I did.

Just make sure it will also fit in the rim of the drum. It isn't too difficult. Making hoops from scratch would be harder than buying them from Jeff Stern I would think, depending on what equipment you have access to. So far I've been able to salvage most of my hoops from old calf heads.

I know there have been threads on this, I am just being lazy, how do you get in contact with him? I have a full woodworking shop and I have done lots of steaming, bending wood. I guess if they are inexpensive I would probably just get them from him.

Here's Stern Tanning's site:

http://www.sterntanning.com/percussion.htm

duh, what a doof I am, I talked to that guy!!! Thanks