Head thickness

drumr_102

Senior Member
I've never experimented with different thicknesses before and had a few questions (I did some searching and haven't found my answer yet)

My biggest question: Will a thicker head tune lower than a thin head?
Right now I have pinstripes on there and the 12" tom sounds good, but in order to keep the 16" at the right interval I put it just above wrinkle but then it no longer has a nice tone and sometimes loses tension. I've seen 80s rock bands get lower sounding toms from smaller drums.

I'm thinking about trying Emperors on them, but I don't know if that's actually what I'm looking for... Also if you get thicker batter heads do you also get thicker resonant heads or vice versa?
 
I've never experimented with different thicknesses before and had a few questions (I did some searching and haven't found my answer yet)

My biggest question: Will a thicker head tune lower than a thin head?
Right now I have pinstripes on there and the 12" tom sounds good, but in order to keep the 16" at the right interval I put it just above wrinkle but then it no longer has a nice tone and sometimes loses tension. I've seen 80s rock bands get lower sounding toms from smaller drums.

I'm thinking about trying Emperors on them, but I don't know if that's actually what I'm looking for... Also if you get thicker batter heads do you also get thicker resonant heads or vice versa?

Not sure about being able to tune lower but a thicker head has less overtones and sounds warmer with more control. This sound is often interpreted as "deeper" but I'm not sure about that. I base my interpretation on this considering my experiences with bass drum heads. I can get a "deeper" punchier sounding kick from a single ply head vs. a 2ply head.

I have always ran single ply resos on all my toms until recently. I decided to put 2ply EC2 clears (like new condition) on reso side of my 14" & 16" floor toms. They sound very deep, controlled and still have plenty of sustain. I have G2 coated on all batters currently and really enjoy the focused sound I'm getting. Sounds like you will have do some experimenting and let your ears be the judge.
 
Sounds like it and thank you for your help!
I was under the impression that 2 ply heads were better for higher tunings though.
Are you tuning JAW?
 
Yes, I have always tuned JAW. The reso slightly higher than the batter. I think this is a good reason why I get such great life out of my drumheads; they never get stressed much.

No problemo, hope this helps.
 
Yes, I have always tuned JAW. The reso slightly higher than the batter.

Weird. This is what I've been trying and my smaller tom sounds awesome, but something's just off about the 16"... I'm considering buying a drum dial. I don't know what else to try
 
All other things being equal, thicker heads tune up at a lower pitch than thinner heads. Pinstripes are the same thickness as Emperors, so should be similar though not identical.

I'd reevaluate the interval you think you're tuning the drums to. There is plenty of space between a 12" Tom and a 16"; there is no reason the 16 should be dead when the 12" sings.

If you have a drum that's out-of-round, a poor bearing edge, or a warped hoop, it can be hard or impossible to do a pure JAW tuning with he drum. In that case you need some tension on the head to even things up.
 
All other things being equal, thicker heads tune up at a lower pitch than thinner heads. Pinstripes are the same thickness as Emperors, so should be similar though not identical.

I'd reevaluate the interval you think you're tuning the drums to. There is plenty of space between a 12" Tom and a 16"; there is no reason the 16 should be dead when the 12" sings.

If you have a drum that's out-of-round, a poor bearing edge, or a warped hoop, it can be hard or impossible to do a pure JAW tuning with he drum. In that case you need some tension on the head to even things up.

Thank you! I guess I'll try a different interval.
Aren't pinstripes 2 ply and emperors 1 ply though?
I should be able to get a good tuning w/ pinstripes though... I'll try tuning up
 
Thank you! I guess I'll try a different interval.
Aren't pinstripes 2 ply and emperors 1 ply though?
I should be able to get a good tuning w/ pinstripes though... I'll try tuning up

No. Emps are 2 ply. The only difference between the two is the muffle ring on the pinstripe head.

The muffle ring should be lower the tuning range on the head compared to the emperors, so you should be better off on pinstripes. You may want to try Ebony Pinstripes. They are alittle more dampened than the clear.
 
My experince is that you can get a great low sound from any drumhead, so as long as it's tuned properly. For me, the differences between drum heads have to do more with sustain, attack, and response. Two ply heads generally have a shorter sustain, a thicker attack, and a... More sluggish response, I guess you could call it. It's not that it's bad, just not as precise as one ply heads.
There are diffrences in tone, however with proper tuning you should be able to get a nice low or high with any drumhead, save for a few like the evans hydraulic or the remo ebony pinstripe.
 
I've been born and bread on pinstripes so I think I can say I know them very well.

Often, due to the dampened, deep natured of the head, when tuned particularly low, i.e. JAW tuning, they sound dead quite dead. I have the same size drums as you and find that if I crank the pinstripe on the 16 up a little bit more than JAW tuning, maybe a sixteenth to an eighth of a turn on each lug, more tone starts to appear out of the drum. Also if you bump that 12 inch up a little higher, you will be able to tune the 16 higher and still have it sound low in comparison.
Hope that helps
Jackson :)
 
Back
Top