Where to find good felt strips

wsabol

Gold Member
I've done some searching and there isn't much on here. Where do you guys buy your felt strips or material for your felt strips. I don't supposed everyone here uses the Gibraltar felt strips... I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a yard of white felt, cut it into strips and tried to use it, but its coiling up around itself, stretching, shrinking, and I'm not getting the right sound.. Any thoughts?
 
fabric store. Get 100% wool strips. I got mine at a place called Joanne fabrics, i dont know if they have those in Texas.
 
Someone uploaded a big chunk of the Ocheltree video where he tunes up the batter head on an Amber Vista. Looks like he uses a pretty thick strip of felt, about 1.5"-2" thick.
 
What TFITTING said. A fabric store is considerably cheaper also. you can get 2-3 times the amount of fabric for the price of the Gibralter felt, and in different thicknesses.

Regarding your other problem, I'm thinking to a certain degree it's a combo of the fabric stretching and the ol' weather contracting etc. I've noticed from time to time I need to pull the bass drum out and tighten up the strips a little to keep the same sound that I like.
 
I have both the Gibraltar packs and the felt that you buy at the fabric stores. The felt from the fabric stores works out fine for me. I can vary the width to suit the size of the bass drum's head. I usually use a 3 1/2" for my 22" and a 2 1/2" or 3" for the 20". I've had one on the DW Classic bass drum for about a year and a half and I just installed a felt strip on the resonant head of my Ludwig 20" Classic Maple kit. Felt strips are more or less a lost form of mild bass drum muffling that can achieve superior results to many other methods. Some even use the strips on both the resonant and batter heads.

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Dennis
 
I use felt from the felt from the fabric store as well.. never had an issue with it, think the key is making sure you stretch it tight when you put the head and rim on. Never had to tweak or re-stretch the felt after installing it.
 
I use surplus fabric left over from my Mother's sewing projects. I don't even know what fabric it is. But it does the job.

I've been using it only on the batter head. Out of curiosity, I just put one on the reso a couple of days ago. I don't like it that much, but I'll experiment with it for a couple of weeks. Who knows, I may need that kind of setup in the future.
 
Additional questions about felt/wool strips

I want to try felt, but never have. I'll try the 100% wool strips, as suggested earlier.

Where do you find it best to put the strip? About a 1/3 off-center? Does placing it directly under a lug help hold it in place? What difference in sound do you get with putting a strip on both heads, versus just one head? If just one head, which head - batter or reso?

We do have Jo-Ann's, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and other fabric/craft stores around Austin, so I sure I can find whatever works best. Any other experienced suggestions are welcome.

Steve
 
Felt from a craft store, bought in sheets that you cut strips from. I use a 3 inch wide 1/3 off center on reso head.
I agree fully with Audiotech that they are very useful, and a 'lost art' on bass drum muffling for getting the right sound. If one does it right, you don't need these fancy more expensive heads like PS3, EMAD, SKII....etc. you can use Emps or Ambs with felt.....old school still works.
 
Re: Additional questions about felt/wool strips

I want to try felt, but never have. I'll try the 100% wool strips, as suggested earlier.

Where do you find it best to put the strip? About a 1/3 off-center? Does placing it directly under a lug help hold it in place? What difference in sound do you get with putting a strip on both heads, versus just one head? If just one head, which head - batter or reso?

We do have Jo-Ann's, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and other fabric/craft stores around Austin, so I sure I can find whatever works best. Any other experienced suggestions are welcome.

Steve
I used a circle of felt about 5inches in diameter and glued it to the inside of the reso head with latex paint. Works remarkably well in controlling overtones.
 
What's really cool about felt strips is that you have the exact control over the amount of bass drum muffling by varying the width of the strip. I started at a 3" width for my 20" Ludwig Classic Maple bass drum, which is photographed. From there I went down to a 2 1/2" and then a 2 1/4. I finally ended up using a 2 1/8" width strip. This gives my resonant head just the right amount of muffling to get rid of the plastic sound that Ludwig's bass drum resonant heads emit when used at lower tuning tensions. This gives me a lower fundamental frequency for the drum, since I don't have to tension it as much, without critically affecting its resonance. The felt also gives a touch more focus to the bass drum's sound. My girlfriend cut various widths of felt from 3 1/2" down to 2" for my experiments. She thought that she would take over this chore so that I would still be left with five digits per hand to be able to manipulate the sticks, lol.

Those old timers knew what they were doing when they introduced felt strips to their bass drums.

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Dennis
 
You can do the same thing by moving the felt strip more or less toward the middle or side of the drum.
 
You can do the same thing by moving the felt strip more or less toward the middle or side of the drum.

This is true to an extent, but using a strip at the center of the head for more correction gives the bass drum's appearance as looking for a skunk to mate with, lol.

I find it much easier to "tension" the felt strip when it's placed between 1/4 to a 1/3 in from the side of the drum. The felt strips that I'm using have a tendency to stretch out of shape when having to pull it tight across the entire 20 or 22" of head space. The more length on the felt strip, the more tension it must have to come in complete contact with the resonant head. On my DW bass drum, the total length from bearing edge to bearing edge is 18", on the Ludwig it's only 16" the way I have them installed.

Dennis
 
Got some felt strips distributed by Sound Percussion at my local Guitar Center. The pack came with two and they're a little over 2" wide. Upon installation they work out great. I had debated on getting a Remo Muff'l instead (which would have ultimately been easier, and I may still try it in the future) but went with the felt. It's just enough to take that upper ringy-ness out of the front reso head. So far so good!
 
Re: Additional questions about felt/wool strips

For those of you who have glued a felt strip to the inside of the head, what type of glue is most effective? In the past I have used Mylar packing tape, but feel the glue would look neater and less restrictive.
 
Re: Additional questions about felt/wool strips

For those of you who have glued a felt strip to the inside of the head, what type of glue is most effective? In the past I have used Mylar packing tape, but feel the glue would look neater and less restrictive.

no need to glue anything to the head. just seat it between the head and the shell when you put the head on. the felt won't go anywhere;-)
 
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