As I noted in a thank you email to Rob privately, I want to publicly thank Rob at rebeats.com for his answer to my inquiry. Here is my inquiry sent to Rob about my shrunken heads issue and his answer back to me. Very helpful, Rob, appreciate your time very much.
My Question To Rob: A member at Vintage Drum forum suggested I ask you about my shrunken drum head problem. I have a 1963 set of Slingerlands that were never out of the humidity of the Midwest (Indiana) until eight years ago when we moved to Arizona. In moving here to Arizona, I took the heads off the drums to save space and left the heads off. You probably know what's next. Now, eight years later, the calf heads have shrunk an incredible amount. Normally, I would just buy new plastic heads but these calf heads were the original heads with the set and have the Slingerland name stamped on the head. Not only have the heads shrunk, so have the wooden hoops or rings on which the heads were mounted! Here are my questions. I know I can take the calfskin off, but is there a way to expand the wooden mounting hoops without breaking the hoops?
Rob's Answer: To avoid confusion it is best to refer to these as the "flesh hoops". (The hoops that hold the heads onto the drum are the counterhoops.) Maybe. When I glue up new flesh hoops I deliberately glue them lightly in case they need to be separated later. Another problem you're likely to run into is twisting. That is a problem you're less likely to be able to rectify.
My Question To Rob: Is is possible to just buy the wooden mounting hoops without the calfskin on the hoop?
Rob's Answer: Yes, from Cooperman. Although you will specify the size of each drum, the hoops will be open. You'll have to shim up the shell (the shim represents the calf) with something like a couple layers of thin cardboard about the thickness of a paperback book cover, then glue and clamp the flesh hoop over the shim and shell. After the glue has set, you'll want to sand the area of the joint to remove glue and wood irregularities before you tuck the head.
Edited for correction.
