Man this takes me back.....

BUT In the old Haskell Harr basic drum book I believe they show it...

There are a few ways to make you life easy doing this...

When we did them at slingerland we had the proper tools to do this...

You need the head....

a flesh hoop

a tucking tool ( it looks like a very narrow putty knife with out 90 degree corners)

And something for the head to dry on.

YOU must allow about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of skin to wrpa around the hoop.

You start by placing the wet head on a flat surface..

Then you place the flesh hoop in the center of that..

Then you tuck in one section and then go to the opposite end

so you tuck it half to half

then half to half again

then half to half again

and so on until you are at a narrow gaps..pick a short section and tuck the head in under the hoop.

Carefully remove the head off of the smooth table top and place on a drum.

Put the counter hoop on it and then tighten down but only just enough to develop the collar or crown....Lets dry for a few days...

DONT place near the heater....Calf will pull unevenly and may pull out or crack the drum.

Buy the REMO Fidbreskyn and love yourself.

Excited

After attempting this a few times, with good success I might add, I can see how mylar heads became popular to begin with.....this is a pain in the butt to do!

Agreed, buy the fiberskyn heads and close enough.... :D

I haven't tried to tuck a calf hide onto a metal flesh-hoop. It's supposed to be a little more difficult. I had very little difficulty tucking my calf hide onto wood flesh-hoops mostly because of the natural glue in the hide that wants to stick to the wood hoop.

The calf hide heads have been on my rack,floor t & snare since Dec 22 09 - just over a month - with no problems yet. I keep them in a room where the temp varies only a few degees here and there. I've tuned them up and down a lot mostly because I like the sound of them high, med and low.....I can't get enough of how nice they sound on these 50yr old Gretsch drums. It's my first encounter with calf hide heads.

I don't think I'd want them on 'gigging' drums though - moving around - lots of temperature and or & even more critical, humidity changes etc. But, in the house - in the 'drum room' they are absolutely awesome!

Has anyone here had success tucking hides onto metal hoops?

Re: Has anyone here had success tucking hides onto metal hoops?

Yes. I have many times removed the mylar from a worn modern plastic head in order to tuck skin on to the aluminum flesh hoop, and some of the vintage European drum makers lapped skin on to very thin and narrow steel hoops. Tucking skin on to metal just requires getting used to the "feel" of how moist skin reacts being lapped over and under the metal. In working with thinner metal hoops you may have to use something smaller than a clothes pin to hold each lap in place so that you can move on to the next lap without the previous one pulling out of the hoop as it draws up. Metal flesh hoops give a great advantage in terms of strength and consistency. They can also be reused. But this inflexibility can more easily result in the skin splitting if the weather suddenly becomes hot and dry, or if the skin is tucked too tightly on the hoop without allowing it enough slack.

Like metal hoops, wooden flesh hoops have both advantages and disadvantages. They're lightweight, flexible, and porous. Moistening skin releases its natural gel which acts as a natural glue. This gelatin clings to wood more readily than to metal as the head dries and sets. Once dry, a skin head performs the same function with either hoop material, metal resonance notwithstanding. However, wood tends to swell and warp when exposed to moisture. A moist skin head begins to immediately shrink, "draw up", and tighten, even as you are working with it. Unless the fully lapped head is quickly secured overnight on a shell or frame to form a "collar", the wood hoop will be warped out of shape by the shrinking skin into a twisted and tight "figure eight". While you may be able to salvage the skin from a bady warped head by wetting it and gently "unlapping" all the tucks, the wooden hoop itself will be unusable.

On occasion the joint of a wooden flesh hoop will come undone just from the amount of water in the moistened skin working on the glue used to close the joint. This is somewhat easier to remedy but no less frustrating and time consuming. Several small nails are often seen used for additional strength closing the joint on antique wooden flesh hoops.

Once a skin head is completely dry and fully set it can be removed and stored in a vertical position off the floor in a moisture and temperature controlled room. A supply of pre-mounted heads kept on especially made frames for maintaining tension and shape is the only way to prevent yourself staying up all night in a bus trying to tuck and mount a new head in time for the next show.

Choosing to perform live with calfskin heads requires non-stop attention to the climactic conditions, readiness to wipe down heads with a dampened cloth and/or having an electric space heater in or around the drums. And sometimes, even with the best preparations, climate, room atmosphere, and the drummer's own body heat and perspiration can all combine to make drumming on skin heads virtually impossible.

The "rule of thumb" for sizing unmounted skin to tuck on a flesh hoop:

The skin selected must be approximately 4 inches larger in diameter than the diameter of the head you intend to make.

Thus, if you intend to tuck a 14" diameter head, you must start with a skin 18" in diameter and a 14" flesh hoop.

Its very easy look a film http://youtu.be/1Vt7Nh3nWjo

Last sunday me and my friend tucked a calfskin onto a metal ring, it was my first try but my friend has experience folding timpani heads. We used teaspoons that we bended. It all went well past my expectation and now it sounds and looks great!

Although I got skin now, the snare is still far from being done!

I need to repair the snare mechanism (by the way, how bad is it to drill new holes and replace it?), clean it fold another skin etc. etc. But this was really funny and great!

I'll send some pictures!

Hello,

I am looking to buy new calfskin heads for a 1910 snare I bought. I found them at a company called Sterns Tannery up in Milwaukee. Any one have any other sources?

The original hoops still seem to be in good shape. I'm not sure I want to tuck these myself as Sterns also sells calf skin heads ready to go.

Stern is the best out there. There are a few but Jeff stern Has the best skins

Guys,

Just a little info re: Head Tucking.

Does anyone remember Norman "Scotty" DuCette from Jacks drum shop in Boston? He was a very good friend of mine for a number of years before he sadly passed away.

Scotty did a short video showing head tucking for Rob Cook, Rob released this in his first VHS tape years ago. It may be worth contacting Rob and asking him if he's had the old VHS converted to DVD.

Just a thought.

Dav