calf skin heads

Here is the Earthtone product label that indicates calfskin.

GJS

p.s. I love the organic sound of the drums; especially the toms!
 

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Here are my impressions of earthtone heads. I posted this in my thread for my 1950 Gretsch Broadkaster kit.

Here are my impressions of the earthtone heads after 4 days of experimenting with them.

As I mentioned earlier, the earthtone heads will not work with the original Gretsch Stick Chopper hoops. I am using replica 2.3mm Stick Saver stamped hoops on the snare and toms. The earthtone heads are designed for modern drums and they are not a direct replacement for vintage heads. They did however fit the 50's Grestch drum shells very well. They are not tight at all. The counter hoops on the earthtone drumheads spin freely around the drum shells on the snare and toms of the 50's Grestch kit. The hoop on the bass drum head fits the bass drum shell but it puts pressure on the tension rods. I have to install gaskets under the bass drum lugs to raise them up slightly. Gretsch used the same lugs on both the toms, and the bass drum in those days and the bass drum lugs are not high profile enough for a thick modern bass drumhead counter hoop. The Ludwig Atlas mounts work fine and the tension rods that are located in the positions where I mounted the Atlas mounts on the bass drum clear the counter hoop just fine.

When you first install the earthtone heads you have to crank them up tight to seat them. I normally install a mylar head on a tom or a bass drum and I only tighten it about 1 to 1 1/2 turns after the tension rod has been finger tightened to seat it. I had to crank the earthtone heads about three turns to seat them on the toms and bass drum and leave them tight overnight. I then wound up final tuning them to about one full turn from finger tight which is about 1/2 to 3/4 turns tighter than I tune 10 mil mylar heads on toms and bass drums.
I got best results on the toms when I tuned the batters and resonate heads to about the same tension. I tuned the resonate bass drum head tighter than the batter.

Snare; Be Careful!
Seat the heads like the fore mentioned toms at about two turns from finger tight. The bottom snare side head will be almost at max at that point so don't push it much farther like you would a 3 mil mylar head. You cannot tighten real skin heads on a snare as tight as you can with mylar.
Do the same with the batter head and wind up at about three to four turns from finger tight to max out the tension. If you are a tight tuner on snare batters as I am you will notice that you will not be able to achieve the tension that you would with single ply mylar heads.

The sound is warm and pleasing to the ear as the video shows. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWGKJZaDuDQ&feature=share&list=UUh7T_z7aZsnUZmj_RjNYoHAThe attack is soft and there is less shock feedback through the stick felt in the hands. The real heads do not have the same tone at tight tuning that 10 mil mylar heads have. They lose sustain quicker when they are tight. They also have a deeper tone at loser tensions than 10mil mylar heads. They go dead much quicker than mylar when they are loose. The tuning range is narrower because of this. That is the nature of the beast, (Get it? Real skin heads and the term, "Beast") so far I really like the, "Beast" :)
I am very pleased with my earthtone heads.
I also like the modern aluminum counter hoops that the skins are set in.

One more note; Do not use a DrumDial on real skin heads. It will not work properly. I experimented with my DrumDial readings and I compared them to the pitch at each lug. The dial was very inaccurate to the point that it was useless. More useless than usual :)
 
It is now about 4 months after I installed the calf-skin head on my 5" deep Dynasonic Rogers snare drum. I travel a lot, and I leave my house cooler in the winter, when I am not around for a week or more. My drums are subjected to temperature and humidity changes just being set up. The snare drum is tuned and the only tuning I do now is an occasional loosened lug near the front of the drum where I do a lot of rim shots. This is typical of my mylar drum heads as well. Once in a while I tune the whole drum up or down just because I want a higher or a lower sound.

At first I was confused that the head was going out of tune as frequently as it was, and the conga drums that I have stay fairly constant for years. I think the head is now broken in and it does not change too much in the tuning. This has been my own personal experiment that has worked out well. I think I will get some more calf-skin heads for the rest of one of my kits.
 
Here is the Earthtone product label that indicates calfskin.

Ah, they obviously made the transition (from goat) at some point, or added calf to their line-up. I stand corrected.

Bermuda
 
A video with a Rock flavor to demonstrate earthtone heads on my 50's Gretsch kit.
http://youtu.be/gEBsRS-BnYc
I would like to point out that so far the drums stay consistent in tuning from day to day despite drastic changes in the New England climate as of late.
 
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I took my dynasonic snare with the calf skin head to a jam again. I thought the snare head was broken in, I also thought the head was more sensitive to the temperature so instead of taking the drum in my trunk, I put it in the passenger seat and kept it warm during the trip.

This day I took the snare to the jam it was raining. I thought the drum with the calf-skin head would be a thermometer, but instead it is a barometer. I had to re-tune the snare several times during the jam, and it did not get a stable tuning until I brought it back home with me.

Ok, I still like the sound of the CT pro snare head, but I can not take this snare into an environment where it will not have time to acclimatized to the humidity and where I can tune the head appropriately for that room.

The experiment continues. Maybe I will try some of the Earth tone heads. They may have been treated to withstand more of the humidity changes.
 
I haven't taken the Earthtone's out of my studio yet so I can't give you any insight into how well they handle the humidity. It is winter here in Ct so my heat has been on keeping the room dry since I got the heads.
 
Ok, I ordered an Earthtone for a snare drum. I am not sure how I will conduct the experiment. So far the CT Pro calfskin head is on my 5" dyansonic. I am not sure if I should put the Earthtone on the same drum and show up to the same jam and hope it is raining that day, or maybe I can put it on my 6.5" dynasonic and show up to the jam with both dynasonics to see how the head reacts to the humidity changes.
 
I decided that if I gig with the calfskins this summer I will use mylar resonant heads, leaving the real skins on top. That way I have less real skin heads to deal with in humid weather. I will bring a backup snare with mylar just in case it doesn't work out.
 
I just got home after traveling again, and found the Earthtone head here. Now I can continue my experiment.

I put the Earthtone calfskin on a Gretsch hammered brass 5" snare. Since I have the CT Pro calfskin on my 5" dynasonic, I felt that it would be a better comparison to do two 5" deep brass snare drums. Of course the dynasonic has a better sound, but mostly because of its unique snare bridge. So I decided to not do my 6.5" dynasonic. I also wanted to use the 6.5 for playing and traveling more.

So far the Earthtone head I have to let sit for a day or so before I tune it up. The coating looks like the type of paint or coating that Remo used to use on their heads. The Earthtones look very different from the CT Pro heads. I did not like the suggestion from Earthtone. that the heads may need to be sanded down with a 150 grit sandpaper in some thicker spots prior to use, it shows that they did not want to take the time to inspect and make the heads even before they sent them out. But, this may not be an issue.
 
Not trying to hijack this thread, but here's another option: kangaroo heads from Kentville Drums in Australia. A friend in Great Britain uses these heads and he claims they are amazing. Save your pennies though, they don't come cheap.
 
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I have removed the Earthtone heads from the 50's Broadkaster kit.
I have installed Evans Etched J1 Jazz heads on the toms and snare. I installed an EQ4 as bass batter.
I kept the original Gretsch bass head in front.
I had never played the kit with mylar heads and I wanted to hear it with modern heads.
Very pleased so far.

Kangaroo Huh... Sounds interesting.
 
I had an accident with the CT Pro head I had on my dynasonic rogers 5" snare drum. It happened when I was playing. The head got ripped but, without the stick hitting that area.

I have the earthtone head on my Gretsch 5" brass snare drum. The head sounds good, but not as good as the CT Pro head. I can play the CT Pro head with my hands and it sounds good. The Earthtone head does not have the same sound. I think the Earthtone heads will last longer.

http://kentvilledrums.bandcamp.com/album/kangaroo-hide-drum-heads

Found a link on the Kangaroo heads. Your right, the price is high.

I repaired the CT Pro head, of course it will not be the same but I will see how it functions as a repair.

I will have to see how long the Earthtone heads last with me before I commit to anymore skin heads.
 
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