Custom Designed Bass Reso Head

Hey guys...

My parents gave me my 23rd birthday presents today. They spoiled me rotten and offered to fully pay for a custom designed reso head! I think I know what I want, but I'm not sure where I should get it done.

Is there a definitively "best" place to go? Where could I search for various companies? does anyone have any experiance in the field to share? Finally... does anyone have any cool ideas for the design itself?

Thanks a lot for any input guys!

i like the classic look of the badge type heads... but i have allways wanted one, but a bit gothier... what color/ piece is your set?

Here's my kit.

I'm thinking something original, not a band name or a badge

nice kit... stumped...

http://www.drumart.com/index.cfm

this is the best price wise that i found.

Also see www.vintagelogos.com - they have lots of selection, and I got a good reso there a couple years ago.

If you know of a local sign shop, they can cut you out some vinyl decals (or even do full-color ones if they have a printer/plotter) for dirt cheap. I've done all the ones for my bass drum head that way and have never noticed a difference in sound/etc...

Even the initial/shield wouldn't be difficult to do and I can't see it costing more than five bucks, and it's easy to apply to your current kick head... essentially just a sticker.

If you can't find anyone to do it, I can do it myself and send it out to you for the cost of shipping plus a buck or two to cover materials (depending on how big of an image you're looking for). The only issue is that if it's big, it might get folded/creased in the mail.

This thread came at a perfect time! Not to sound like a shill, but I went through www.drumart.com and I couldn't be happier with what I got. Below is an image of the head, and it looks EXACTLY like this:

I got it on Friday and nearly shed a tear - I've ALWAYS dreamed of that kind of thing on my kit, and this just looks flippin' awesome. I paid $120 overall for it (including shipping, the port hole cutting, and the 4" chrome port hole ring), and it was totally worth it.

The only con is that Jim (the guy who runs it) is REALLY busy, and isn't as communicating as I would've liked. I made a payment and submitted it and didn't hear anything for almost a week -- but then... yeah. I'm in love.

Worth every penny. That thing looks amazing.

I went with drumart.com too. You can check out some pics on our page, plenty of them have a good view of the head they made for me.

http://www.greymarketband.com

Ooops, wrong link.

http://www.myspace.com/greymarket.

Sorry about that.

This thread came at a perfect time! Not to sound like a shill, but I went through www.drumart.com and I couldn't be happier with what I got. Below is an image of the head, and it looks EXACTLY like this:

Epic is an understatement.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I think that I'm going to go with drumart.com unless I can hook up what zeromus described. I'd be able to get a bunch of them made that way... and well, the more the merrier!

Now I've gotta decide what I want on it. I would like something unique but slightly understated. I was thinking of some designs that would take advantage of the way the head moves when the drum is played. It'd be pretty cool to get something that changed as the head fluctuated. I dunno for sure though... I've always liked the badges and the retro-feel of having a fiberskyn head with a slick looking badge design.

But I guess the most important issue is getting whatever I decide upon designed for me... that could be hairy!

p.s. Fitch... that looks AMAZING! How did you have that designed?

Thanks for the kind words, Cale! I can't wait to slap that sucker on my drum kit and take some photos. I just love it... I'll post pics when it's on for "the big picture."

Your bass drum head, to me, should be an extension of your band's identity/image/logo. Yeah, a funny bass drum head is good, but with Pilgrim's epic sound (I LOVE "The Icarian Flight"), I'd go with something big and kinda artistic. You guys are obviously deep with your music, and I think the first step is coming up with what you want.

For Griffon, we came up with the concept we had and had an image design company finalize the art for our logo; the cool thing is after I sent it to DrumArt.com, a few days later I dropped him a line and asked him if they'd invert the colors (it was originally a black logo on a white background). He happily flipped it, and gave me that end result -- I love that guy! You have your choice of Aquarian drum heads... but don't tell anybody I have an Aquarium head on my kit. I'm a Remo man, dammit!

But yeah, don't rush it, and personally, don't put your website on it - just the name with a cool image. If you're willing to spend the dough, check out TorchHouse.com -- they were the company we worked with, and they're REALLY friendly and easy-going.