Rack Tom Heads Break Quicker

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Nuk5741

Junior Member
Hi,

This is my first post here, so I'm sorry in advance if its in the wrong place.

Anyways, I have a Tama Birch Silverstar kit, and over the past while, Ive noticed that the heads on the two rack toms get beat up MUCH faster than anything else. I play kindof hard, but so much on those. I play very hard on the floor toms and the heads have lasted for a very long time. I was just wondering if there was any paticular reasons that might happen.

Thanks and again sorry if its in the wrong place.
 
Nuk5741 said:
Hi,

This is my first post here, so I'm sorry in advance if its in the wrong place.

Anyways, I have a Tama Birch Silverstar kit, and over the past while, Ive noticed that the heads on the two rack toms get beat up MUCH faster than anything else. I play kindof hard, but so much on those. I play very hard on the floor toms and the heads have lasted for a very long time. I was just wondering if there was any paticular reasons that might happen.

Thanks and again sorry if its in the wrong place.
Click to expand...

Can you post a picture of your kit? Many times when rack toms are denting, it's an angle thing; a picture could help us make some suggestions.
 
Like Al said, tom angle vs stick angle of attack is the most likely culprit.

In nearly 40 years of drumming, I've never broken a tom head, and I often play quite hard.
 
I agree- angles are probably the culprit! Though they could also be dented if they are at extremely low tensions, the angles are usually a bigger culprit. Generally, I recommend as flat an angle as possible (to where you still feel comfortable). Nothing more than, say, 30 degrees to the horizontal.
 
Another thing to consider would be if the tom mounts have any "give" at all, especially if it's a tree mount on the bass drum.

I was having a similar problem with my two mounted right side toms, and the Spauns use a similar ball and tooth system as Tama. I flipped the mounts so the L arms faced downward. The rack toms move a bit more when struck, but the heads seemed to take a lot more abuse until denting. Toms got a bit more resonance as a bonus.
 
Yeah, probably tom angles like others have said. What kind of heads are you using? Thin, single ply heads like Remo Ambassadors (can't remember the Evans equivalent) won't hold up as well to hard hitting or sharp angles as something thick, like 2-ply. Same goes for stock heads, which I dented the crap out of on my first kit.
 
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