OK guys,I started to play drums in ' 61 four years after plastic heads took over in ' 57 or so.It was jazz drumming that got me going.We've all heard great pre ' 57 drumming.Now that I have new calf heads on a 1940 WFL snare I can tell you all the horror stories the old guys told me are true about keeping these heads tuned {I'm going to make a humidor out of a floor tom case with a heating pad and thermometer}.Them old boys were on the road in drafty tour buss'es grinding thru the mid west winters.I know about the light bulb stuff but I was raised in L.A. ,real dry climate but the old guys still griped about bagged out heads.Even still they came up with crisp snare sounds across the board for decades.I got to wonder how !!x-mas2
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How did they do it?!
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Posted on 14 years ago
#1
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Light bulbs was one of the tricks, a heating pad was another. You can also use a hairdryer.
During those damp days you're prone to crank them down to get the sound back, don't. Leave them alone, hit them with the heating pad or hairdryer, testing the sound every once in a while. Keep the pad or dryer handy when on a gig.
If you're going to store the drum/kit for a while here's a tip, heads 14" and under, loosen them up (not sloppy). Heads 15" and larger tighten up. Doing this helps you when getting them back in tune, smaller heads will get cranked up, bigger will go down.
Posted on 14 years ago
#2
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I dunno maybe they...:confused:
Posted on 14 years ago
#3
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I too, live in WA state, and think it is one of the worst environments for calf skin heads. (or goat for that matter.) I can't imagine trying to gig with them around here. My last skin head adventure was a djembe I was gigging with and getting more and more frustrated with. I finally got a Remo and now all is well. Doesn't sound as good as the skin did on a hot dry day, but we see so few days like that up here.
Posted on 14 years ago
#4
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