Drumheads should fit all drums... right?

The shell might be out of round by 1/32 of an inch, but no more. Is this enough to cause a head to not fit properly? I think the oversizing of the shell is the main problem; I consistently get measurements at slightly more than 11 15/16", I guess 11 31/32". And shells should be an 1/8th less than the designated size, right?

I also measured the inside diameter of the Aquarian head with a result of slightly less than 12", looked like approximately 11 31/32". Is this normal?

I'm probably going to take all the heads off my drums and measure now...as far as I can ever remember, shell diameter is the diameter (if it's a 12" drum, it's 12" diameter). The hoops on the heads will be slightly larger because the actual head size matches, not the flesh hoop size.
 
I discovered something else today. I've got this old TKO kit sitting around, and it had a 12" Aquarian coated single ply head on the batter side. Why I never tried this head on my ddrum shell before, I can't say; I guess I just didn't think about it. So I tried it and it FIT! It looks like an older version, because it has this "Satin Finish" label, which I've never seen elsewhere (picture below). Then I tried putting my newer Aquarian heads (Super-2 and Classic Clear) on the TKO 12" tom and they fit excellently. Not even a tad snug, I could shuffle them from side to side. I also figured something else out. One end of the ddrum 12" shell is slightly larger than the other end, because the Aquarian Satin Finish head fit decently on the batter side of the ddrum tom, but was snug on the resonant side.

I think I can conclude two things from this. First, the ddrum shell is definitely oversized, at least on one side. Normally you hear of drums being out of round and formed into an ellipsis sort of shape, but this shell is tapering in diameter (not much at all, I would think). I'm not sure why I didn't notice this when I measured the shell, considering I measured both sides, but I guess the difference is just that minimal. Second, either Aquarian has changed their manufacturing process to make smaller heads, or at least one of the three 12" Aquarian heads I have are defective in terms of size. It looks like I might be giving both companies a call.

I should be getting some Remo's very soon.
 

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Great news: I got clear Remo Emperors and Ambassadors. Better news: they fit. Even better news: they sound fantastic! I tuned the 10" to C#, 12" to Ab, and the 16" to C#. Awesome!
 
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