Heat gun on Resos

Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

I was under the impression that modern heads didn't need seating. That was old technology. I haven't done that since my hair was all blonde
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

I was under the impression that modern heads didn't need seating. That was old technology. I haven't done that since my hair was all blonde

LOL..... We need pics....... Terry
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head


But we're looking for footage of him playing with a band. We've all seen videos like this.

Yes, the dude does play. Nobody's arguing that fact, but has anybody ever seen video of him playing with actual other real people?

You know, like performing a song
- live
- onstage
- with a band
- without headphones
- in front of real people
- sweating???
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Man I would never even get a blow dryer that close to my shell, let alone a heat gun. I crank my snare reso so tight anyway that this is just an extra unnecessary step. I tried ironing a dented drum head once. Yea that didn't work out too good. No heat for me. Or pee. Lol Muckster!
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

It seems to me that if you do this, the head is on that drum and that drum only. While i concede every head has a certain amount of life and thats it, i may want use old heads for cheaper drums that im buying and selling. And to top it all off, being ocd about drumming does not make you any better of a drummer. It just makes you ocd about drumming.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

The Drum Tuning Bible also mentions a little heat to speed up the seating process. He says the alternative would be to let the drum sit for 12 hours.

http://www.menet.umn.edu/~kgeisler/Tuning.pdf

I don't have a hair dryer (don't have hair either, but I digress) so used a heat gun with trepidation. I practiced a LOT on my hand and anything that resembled a thin flat surface. When I applied heat to the head I followed directly behind the hot spot with the palm of my off hand to monitor the process.

Did it make a difference? I can't say for certain, as it was the first time I used Coated Ambassadors over Clear Diplomats. From what I recall, they only needed a minor tweak in the next week or so. Will I do it again? Probably not.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

I'll mention this technique to my Roadies and see what they think.



.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Well, that's because taking a heat gun to the bridge would do nothing, and to the nut could potentially melt the glue.. Do you not pull on your strings while tuning up to stretch them?

I don't see a problem with speeding up nature a little bit. I know that I would personally rather spend less time tuning and more time playing.

Sorry to bump this old thread. I saw I posted and couldn't remember doing so. I think I was "feeling a bit silly" when I did.

Yes, I do stretch my strings when I change them. Thoroughly, using the "suitcase method". I still need to retune a fair bit for the first hour or so.

When changing heads, I press most of my weight in the center with a cloth, which I feel is a comparable effort to string stretching. I still need to retune them after a while, and this is even the case with well worn (presumably well stretched) heads due, probably, to atmospheric changes. I know moving my guitars from one place to another almost guarantees a retuning, while they can stay in tune for days if the temperatures are stable.

The idea of adding heat just seems odd to me, and I'd be afraid agitating those molecules would affect the integrity of the skin somehow. If it is something some folks believe in, maybe I'll give it a try.

Edit to add:

Also, I must confess, since my long absence from drumming, I have not been exposed to serious tuning and retuning yet. This past Saturday, I spent the entire day changing heads and tuning up two sets of drums. My perspective on 'anything that speeds up the process' could be rapidly changing!
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Sorry to bump this old thread. I saw I posted and couldn't remember doing so. I think I was "feeling a bit silly" when I did.

Yes, I do stretch my strings when I change them. Thoroughly, using the "suitcase method". I still need to retune a fair bit for the first hour or so.

When changing heads, I press most of my weight in the center with a cloth, which I feel is a comparable effort to string stretching. I still need to retune them after a while, and this is even the case with well worn (presumably well stretched) heads due, probably, to atmospheric changes. I know moving my guitars from one place to another almost guarantees a retuning, while they can stay in tune for days if the temperatures are stable.

The idea of adding heat just seems odd to me, and I'd be afraid agitating those molecules would affect the integrity of the skin somehow. If it is something some folks believe in, maybe I'll give it a try.

Edit to add:

Also, I must confess, since my long absence from drumming, I have not been exposed to serious tuning and retuning yet. This past Saturday, I spent the entire day changing heads and tuning up two sets of drums. My perspective on 'anything that speeds up the process' could be rapidly changing!

Okay, see I thought you were essentially saying that you just throw the heads on, tune them up, and play and retune until they're seated. I also put pressure on my heads, to stretch them and crack the glue. The heat is just a little extra step that seems to make a difference for the better. I would recommend everybody give it a try, because they don't really stand to lose anything unless they use too much heat. The amount of heat it takes isn't enough to damage anything, as you just get it a little warm.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Bob Gatzen also says that due to the coriolis effect, all drums tuned in the southern hemisphere should from this point forward, have left hand threads on the tuning lugs and only be tuned counterclockwise.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Bob Gatzen also says that due to the coriolis effect, all drums tuned in the southern hemisphere should from this point forward, have left hand threads on the tuning lugs and only be tuned counterclockwise.

There really REALLY should be "Like" buttons for posts on this forum.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Sorry to bump this old thread. I saw I posted and couldn't remember doing so. I think I was "feeling a bit silly" when I did.

Yes, I do stretch my strings when I change them. Thoroughly, using the "suitcase method". I still need to retune a fair bit for the first hour or so.

When changing heads, I press most of my weight in the center with a cloth, which I feel is a comparable effort to string stretching. I still need to retune them after a while, and this is even the case with well worn (presumably well stretched) heads due, probably, to atmospheric changes. I know moving my guitars from one place to another almost guarantees a retuning, while they can stay in tune for days if the temperatures are stable.

The idea of adding heat just seems odd to me, and I'd be afraid agitating those molecules would affect the integrity of the skin somehow. If it is something some folks believe in, maybe I'll give it a try.

Edit to add:

Also, I must confess, since my long absence from drumming, I have not been exposed to serious tuning and retuning yet. This past Saturday, I spent the entire day changing heads and tuning up two sets of drums. My perspective on 'anything that speeds up the process' could be rapidly changing!

Heads are made out of a petroleum product, and so heat makes the heads act a little bit like shrinkwrap. As Bob Gatzen says, petroleum products shrink when heated. So, getting them warm (not hot) around the edge when they are evenly tensioned down very hard will seat the head instantly. It will not harm the head nor the shell because you're not using anywhere near enough heat to do any damage, especially if you're using the low setting on a hair dryer, or if you're using the high setting and going around the circumference of the head rather fast, like 2-3 lugs per second on a 10-lug drum. Going that fast 2-4 times around the head will be perfect and will only get the head warm, not hot and therefore it's harmless.

Besides, humidity is far more harmful to wood than heat. The air coming out of a hair dryer is only as humid as the air that it's pulling in through the intake side.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

What is the "suitcase method"?

I read that term somewhere. Grab a string around the middle like a suitcase handle and pull it up from the body. To be honest, I actually stopped using that after I broke one. I usually just bend each string up a couple full steps repeatedly until they are all staying in tune.

The details of guitar are already fading as drums take over all waking thoughts.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Heads are made out of a petroleum product, and so heat makes the heads act a little bit like shrinkwrap. As Bob Gatzen says, petroleum products shrink when heated. So, getting them warm (not hot) around the edge when they are evenly tensioned down very hard will seat the head instantly. It will not harm the head nor the shell because you're not using anywhere near enough heat to do any damage, especially if you're using the low setting on a hair dryer, or if you're using the high setting and going around the circumference of the head rather fast, like 2-3 lugs per second on a 10-lug drum. Going that fast 2-4 times around the head will be perfect and will only get the head warm, not hot and therefore it's harmless.

Besides, humidity is far more harmful to wood than heat. The air coming out of a hair dryer is only as humid as the air that it's pulling in through the intake side.

Gatzen ought to know what he's taking about. Still seems a bit unnatural, since the normal process for a drum head would be to stretch, not shrink. Could be innovation to take advantage of, though. I will try this on my next head change and see how it goes.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

Gatzen ought to know what he's taking about. Still seems a bit unnatural, since the normal process for a drum head would be to stretch, not shrink. Could be innovation to take advantage of, though. I will try this on my next head change and see how it goes.

Yeah, but what you're trying to do is custom-fit the collar to your drum. In other words, you're altering the shape of the collar in order to fit your drum perfectly. Or to put it in another way, if you were able to have the heads manufactured to fit your drums perfectly where the collar is already fitting your drums like a custom-made glove, then you wouldn't need to do this.

So, a huge innovation would be having a wide range of heads that are specifically designed to fit a particular drum like a glove. For example: heads that are designed to fit the exact size and bearing edge of my Stage Customs. Of course, this would be very difficult to keep up with due to the changes that drum manufacturers like to make to their drums. So, we have a very generic collar shape to start with instead.

Fortunately, Aquarian and now Evans have a collar that's designed to sit much better on the bearing edge, to sit perfectly level as opposed to being able to wobble or teeter-totter it.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

All I want is for my drum head to sit tight and evenly against the bearing edges, batter or reso. This will happen with no problem if the edge is clean and the head is tightened evenly. Maybe we need to put the heads on loose and give the whole thing a spin in the clothes dryer. Over tighten if you wish and then detune down to the proper place, but my hair dryer will remain with the Goodwill where I last saw it when I said good bye. and why is this in the General Discussion to begin with. It belongs in the heads area. Moved.
 
I read that term somewhere. Grab a string around the middle like a suitcase handle and pull it up from the body. To be honest, I actually stopped using that after I broke one. I usually just bend each string up a couple full steps repeatedly until they are all staying in tune.

The details of guitar are already fading as drums take over all waking thoughts.

Oh, kind of like each string is treated as a handle. I've seen that done before.
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

I was under the impression that modern heads didn't need seating. That was old technology. I haven't done that since my hair was all blonde

Only if my "modern" you mean Level 360 ;-)

I wouldn't recommend the hair dryer/heat gun technique if you've got Evans heads with the Level 360 collar (I really wouldn't recommend it otherwise either, unless you can insure that your application of heat will be completely uniform). We go to great lengths in order to minimize the amount of heat used when forming our collars. Because of the Level 360 collar design, the head is already sitting flat on the shell and doesn't require over-tensioning, CPR, hair driers, mystic voodoo, or monkey chants. :)
 
Re: Heat Gun on Snare Reso Head

I wouldn't recommend the hair dryer/heat gun technique if you've got Evans heads with the Level 360 collar (I really wouldn't recommend it otherwise either, unless you can insure that your application of heat will be completely uniform). We go to great lengths in order to minimize the amount of heat used when forming our collars. Because of the Level 360 collar design, the head is already sitting flat on the shell and doesn't require over-tensioning, CPR, hair driers, mystic voodoo, or monkey chants. :)

yeah but Bob Gatzen said to do it. I mean if he said it..
 
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