What happened here?

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
Hey all -

So, recently I put a clear Remo Emperor on my 10" bubinga tom, and the other day I noticed it just went completely muted. In the beginning you barely saw some 'oil' close to the edge, but now, the 'oil' looks like it spread throughout the whole head. Now I'm getting this Evans Hydraulic sound. Of course, I replaced it.

But does anyone know what happened and why? The other heads are all fine.

X-file?
 
Hey all -

So, recently I put a clear Remo Emperor on my 10" bubinga tom, and the other day I noticed it just went completely muted. In the beginning you barely saw some 'oil' close to the edge, but now, the 'oil' looks like it spread throughout the whole head. Now I'm getting this Evans Hydraulic sound. Of course, I replaced it.

But does anyone know what happened and why? The other heads are all fine.

X-file?

Supposedly there's no oil in them. The rainbow you see is supposedly just the surface film from the two plies of mylar. I don' really know about that, but from what you're describing, I'd say you broke a ply. I play on this kit at a 24/7 prayer and praise center that gets used well over 40 hrs/wk. When one of the plies on the G2's goes, the same thing happens.
 
You had a bad or loose ply. The Emperor heads have nothing between the plies but they're not meant to touch much, if at all. For there to be obvious 'rainbowing' the plies need to be touching. If one ply is loose in comparison to the other then that will happen and the drum will sound dead. If you play it, it'll stretch the top ply even more and make the problem worse.

There's a reason I play single-ply heads!
 
Ah. Thanks! Not sure I'll go back to regular ambassadors yet, but thanks for the warnings. I love the emperor sound, just never had this happen before, very strange.
 
Yep, no oil mate. The "rainbow" is light reflection through the two plies....known as Newton rings. It's not uncommon at all. It's apparent on any clear Emperor.

I've had problems with a 2 ply head on 10" toms and smaller before too. I honestly just think they're a little thick to allow enough resonantion in smaller shells. It may be damaged, but more often than not I just think they're a little thick. Try a single ply and see how you go.
 
Bo, you were fooled by the old Newton Ring trick.
I first noticed them way back when many years ago.
I never knew what they were until a few years ago when I read about the phenomenon here in a thread on DW.
The toms on my old Gretsch have Newton Rings on the Emp's right now.
There was nothing wrong with your head.
 
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But in this case, why would it affect only one head out of the 7 heads I'm using? I'll hold on to the head and see what happens, but the broken ply sounded feasible to me.
 
I have had it happen to one head on my kit before.
It is just light being bent like a prism.
That head may have been in the right place at the right time and the rings appeared.
I have been seeing them on two ply heads since I was a kid.

Ask the Evansprez, he will tell you the same.
 
Bo...how long was the head on the drum before it went mute on you and did did it sound good up until it went mute? Just curious.
 
But in this case, why would it affect only one head out of the 7 heads I'm using? I'll hold on to the head and see what happens, but the broken ply sounded feasible to me.

It's a clear head no? If there's a broken ply, it'll be as obvious as the nose on your face. How hard can it be to spot? As I said, try a single ply head on it. i honestly think the thicker head is choking.

EDIT: Hang on...are you disputing the light spectrum?. Check the cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon for a more famous example. It's a very real and very common phenomenon. The Newton rings are reflected light, pure and simple...nothing at all to do with a broken head. Check your science books.
 
Bo...how long was the head on the drum before it went mute on you and did did it sound good up until it went mute? Just curious.

The head is only 14 days old, and it sounded great. It only went mute the other day. And no, I can't see anywhere the ply could have broken, that's why I'm suspecting maybe it broke around the collar or something....

But I'll hold on to the head and see what happens.
 
Mylar is made from oil and polymers. There will always be a hint an oil film on mylar.
The last video addresses this near the end.
 
The head is only 14 days old, and it sounded great. It only went mute the other day. And no, I can't see anywhere the ply could have broken, that's why I'm suspecting maybe it broke around the collar or something....

But I'll hold on to the head and see what happens.

yeah...sounds like a collar thing! I'm like the idea of single ply heads on small toms more and more!
 
It's just never happened before. Very strange. All these years and nothing like this. I'm interested to see if Bob's right on this.

I think bob's right that it's not a newton ring thing and if the collar has let loose somewhere that would explain why your rainbow colors look different than the other day.
 
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