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Breaking heads.....


Rimshot500

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So I have always been a 2-ply man. Recently I have been trying to get a more open sound so I have switched to single plys on the toms.

 

Today I put an Ambassador on my snare and a Pinstripe single ply on my kick.

 

Thinking about going to a dipolomat if I want an even more open sound on the snare.

 

My Question: Do I need to worry about breaking heads on the bass and snare? Has anyone ever done this. I don't play very hard at all, but I always worry about breaking a head during a gig?

 

Any horror stories out there??

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Originally posted by T Hofmann

if you're a hard hitter, you may break single ply heads more often than the doubles...


a pinstripe is a 2-ply head, and durable.


I wouldn't recommend a diplomat for a snare drum batter unless you're a very reserved player.

 

 

What he said.

 

I'd try Coated Ambassadors, Coated G1's or my favorite, Aquarian Satin Finish TC's on your snare. If you go through one of those, try a reverse dot. That will give you some re-enforcement while still giving you some single ply properties. I've never broken a single ply snare head, and I can't imagine why anyone would want to use anything other than one of the aforementioned heads on their snare. Anything else is blasphemy and will get you a trip to drum hell.

 

A single ply batter on your bass drum should be fine and will last as long as a two ply if you use a patch. Your bass drum will really open up.

 

I'm a fan of coated heads on my toms. I use both two ply and single ply. Depends on the kit, and the sound I'm going for. Single ply if I want an open sound, and two ply if I want to cut the sustain just a tad.

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I agree with all the aforementioned. I have never busted through a snare or tom head ever. I did once have a snare drum I hated to death so I tried to puncture it and it still didnt even break (I was really going at it, ambassador coated). I play a reverse dot on my snare now and LOVE it. Control for rim shots but single ply so you get sensitivity around the dot.

 

I busted a BD head once. It was a pinstripe. I used to play double bass like a mad man (burning flesh guys, straight up). The head was like 2 years old, no patch and when i was learning I would use my whole leg to get the pedal into the head. So no surprise there. I havent broken a head since and I normally will use single ply heads with a patch (EMAD right now).

 

Hope all this helps, let us know what you choose.

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That's a funny snare drum story. Reminds me of 7th grade band.

Some goons really wanted to break a head and just went off on this snare drum. I think they eventually used something sharp.

 

Of course it's the day before a concert and I had to play the "Hogan's Heroes" snare part on a busted head. We had no spares. :evil:

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seriously though I went at that sucker. I was stabbing it with my stick. Granted I didnt break it but it was definately wounded. It had some pretty deep dimples.

 

;)

 

It was still usable. It ended up something like an ex-girlfriend would. Damaged goods but you can still play it. All the while if you hadnt poked her so hard in the first place everything would have beeen OK.

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I guess I didn't realize that a Pinstripe bass head was 2-ply. Thats what I went with.

 

It should open up just fine however. I am used to using a SuperKick-II. I am kind of sick of the over muffled sound. I would rather have it wide open and then muffle with an insert accordingly.

 

I went with an Ambassador on the snare.

 

I have never broken a head before so I should be fine.

 

Thanks for the help. I have the bass head settling in at the practice space and I will tune it up on Tues.

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Originally posted by Rimshot500

I guess I didn't realize that a Pinstripe bass head was 2-ply. Thats what I went with.


It should open up just fine however. I am used to using a SuperKick-II. I am kind of sick of the over muffled sound. I would rather have it wide open and then muffle with an insert accordingly.


I went with an Ambassador on the snare.


I have never broken a head before so I should be fine.


Thanks for the help. I have the bass head settling in at the practice space and I will tune it up on Tues.

 

 

A Pinstripe could hardly be considered wide open. Wide open would be a coated Emp or a coated Ambassador, no muffling what-so-ever. Purists would say that using a coated head or a two ply head imparts muffling, so that only a one ply clear head on your bass drum is truly wide open, reso and batter side.

 

Next time you are looking for more control over the muffling aspect of your batter and reso heads on your bass drum, try using just an Ambassador or equivalent clear or coated, with a felt strip. You can buy the felt pre-cut in packs of two from Gibraltar, or buy it from a fabric store and cut it yourself with scissors at about a 1/10 of the price. You can place the felt at about three or four different places on the head, which will give you muffling considerably less than that of a Superkick, or about the same or slightly more perhaps. Costs less too. Works well on a two ply too. Bonham used an Emp coated w/felt for a batter and an Ambassador coated w/felt for a reso. Look where it got him?

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As always, some solid advice here.

 

I'd never go lighter than a medium ply head on a snare drum, as that drum gets played more than anything besides a bass drum on the average drum set. Old Steve is right, though - some good tension will keep the head alive longer.

 

Sounds to me like you're not exactly playing hardcore, so I think you should be good on some lighter weight heads. I think Remo Ambassadors are great all-around heads. And the coateds can be nice and warm.

 

+1 on the Reverse Dot head - I have a CS Coated Reverse Dot, and I've been using them for ages. I love that head! :)

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The physics say otherwise.

 

The tip of a drumstick is smaller than the butt end. Apply the same stroke, and the tip exerts the same pressure on a smaller, more focused point. Thus it's more likely to poke through the head than is the butt end.

 

Think of a continuum from baseball to razor blade. Where does the butt end of a stick fit on that continuum? Where does the tip fit?

 

Originally posted by iDrum4ever

I don't really understand how people break heads unless they play with the butt end

 

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Originally posted by iDrum4ever

...I don't really understand how people break heads unless they play with the butt end or something...

 

I can see how one could break their head if they started sitting on the drum and bouncing up and down. Probably wouldn't do much for the shells either.

 

:D

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Originally posted by coyote-1

The physics say otherwise.


The tip of a drumstick is smaller than the butt end. Apply the same stroke, and the tip exerts the same pressure on a smaller, more focused point. Thus it's more likely to poke through the head than is the butt end.


Think of a continuum from baseball to razor blade. Where does the butt end of a stick fit on that continuum? Where does the tip fit?

 

 

Ahh, the phsycis of this situation get quite complicated actually.

 

You have the torque from the stick on the hand. Now, if you play with the tip then the majority of the mass of the stick is in your hand, but if you play with the butt then the majority of the mass is hitting the head. So playing with the butt end increases torque (which will inhibit acceleration, its important for force).

 

Then you have the Force exerted by the stick on the head. If you play with the butt then you can easily see that F=MA (force=Mass x acceleration) so because the sticks functional mass is greater (because you're holding the tapered tip in your hand and the full blunt butt is hitting the head) you could concievably inflict a greater force on the head.

 

You're also right in saying that Pressure=Force x area. So there would be an increase in pressure because of a smaller tip but less mass (subsequently less force) so they might offset.

 

Now does the torque influence the acceleration of the stick, and the mass influence the force of the stick to offset the decrease in mass (and force) but increase in pressure? I dont know. Im not anywhere NEAR bored enough to do the calculations.

 

 

Well, if someone played with my butt end, I'd break his head.

 

 

ha

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Originally posted by FunkyJunc

Ahh, the phsycis of this situation get quite complicated actually.


You have the torque from the stick on the hand. Now, if you play with the tip then the majority of the mass of the stick is in your hand, but if you play with the butt then the majority of the mass is hitting the head. So playing with the butt end increases torque (which will inhibit acceleration, its important for force).


Then you have the Force exerted by the stick on the head. If you play with the butt then you can easily see that F=MA (force=Mass x acceleration) so because the sticks functional mass is greater (because you're holding the tapered tip in your hand and the full blunt butt is hitting the head) you could concievably inflict a greater force on the head.


You're also right in saying that Pressure=Force x area. So there would be an increase in pressure because of a smaller tip but less mass (subsequently less force) so they might offset.


Now does the torque influence the acceleration of the stick, and the mass influence the force of the stick to offset the decrease in mass (and force) but increase in pressure? I dont know. Im not anywhere NEAR bored enough to do the calculations.




ha

 

 

You beat me to it. If you were shooting drumsticks at a head, tip-first would do more damage than butt-first. But you're right on the money in terms of where the mass is centered, torque, etc.

 

I suppose it would be easy to take a stick and hit some kind of measurement device and see which one puts more pressure/sq inch on the impact area.

 

Like you, it's not worth the effort to think it through. If you're blowing through heads, you're either using really thin heads or hitting too hard. Either buy thicker heads or don't hit 'em so hard.

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Put another way:

 

Due to the constant, repetitive application and release of a relatively large amount of pressure in a small area, the molecular cohesion of the mylar substrate is fatigued. The covalent bonds that hold the mylar molecules together is gradually broken in a cascading type of material failure which progresses logarithmicly, until the molecular fatigue manifests itself as a physical separation of the mylar substrate.

 

 

 

 

...or, it's cause the head's had enough and gives up!

 

:D

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