calf skin heads

alright. Thanks for all the help and reading. My new discussion is calf skin snare heads. I really enjoy the prospect of doing another piece using an old old what is to be believed a swingerland snare. I was looking at Earth tones heads online and I don't find very many options other than making your own. Also in this discussion I would like to include a note on gut snares and best way to get them. Just for some rolling and brushing and non drum set stuff in song. What do you beautiful people thinks? Thanks for all the love.
 
Not sure where you would get genuine calfskin that was even remotely affordable. I have been using Evans Strata 1000 heads, which has a decent near calf sound, and has s skin coloring. A lot of orchestral guys use then for the skin sound. They are standard heads on Black Swamp Percussion snares.
 
I just purchased a 14" calf-skin batter head (CT Pro Percussion) that I just installed on my Rogers Dynasonic 5" deep. I purchased the head from an ebay store

Below is another site I found that sells calfskin heads, and the prices look pretty good too.

http://www.earthtoneheads.com/store/

Other than calf-skins on my conga drums, this is a first for me. The brushes sound great, and the drum has a full warm tone.

What can I expect from this head as far as tuning problems, and wear?
 
Calfskin heads will last a long time. (many years) They have to be tuned every time that you play the drum. Changes in weather, humidity, and temp affect them a lot.
Back in the day some drums had sockets for electric light bulbs inside of them. The bulb was kept lit to keep the heads dry and tight when the drum was not in use.
The bulb and socket could be removed through a small door in the side of the drum for playing.
 
Calfskin heads will last a long time. (many years) They have to be tuned every time that you play the drum. Changes in weather, humidity, and temp affect them a lot.
Back in the day some drums had sockets for electric light bulbs inside of them. The bulb was kept lit to keep the heads dry and tight when the drum was not in use.
The bulb and socket could be removed through a small door in the side of the drum for playing.

I've heard about the lights in the drums but never saw any up close. I saw some old movies that had lights inside the drums, but thought it was just decoration. When I was a kid, I hooked up a switch on the bass pedal that activated a light I installed inside the bass drum when I pressed down on the pedal. I did it just for the fun of doing it.

I am glad they will last a while, I was not sure if they had a longer or shorter life then the mylar heads. I knew of how the changes in weather would effect the heads. I thought I would take a chance because I do not have to tune the conga drums too often.

The tuning issue was the reason given by the mylar head manufacturers to display their products. I suspect the cheaper price was also a consideration.
 
I was a child in the 60's the last time that I played a drum with CS heads and gut snares.
I was in a drum corp and it was a Ludwig marching snare.
The gut snare strands had to be cut and fitted to the snare holder when they wore out and broke.
The drums sounded great though.
 
Was in highschool band orchestra and one snare for time was calf. Had to retune every day it was humid
 
So far, I have had the calf-skin head on my rogers dyansonic for a little over 14 hours.

I did not want to bring it up to full tension all at once. Only a few hours ago I brought it to the tension where I want it to be. So I have no experience yet, as to how much work I will have to put into it in keeping it tuned on a daily or hourly basis.

I have noticed though, that unlike the mylar heads it has slightly more unevenness at each tension rod when tuning it. That is too be expected, the calf where the skin came from had no idea it would end up being used this way. So I can not blame the cow. Maybe we can get farmers to raise their cows in circular boxes so they would make heads that are more even. Come on, they raise chickens in square boxes to produce square eggs now.

But I really do like the sound of this head.

I too started drumming in the late 60's, but only on the set, and only using mylar/ plastic heads.
 
We used to mount the CS heads wet so that when they dried they would conform to the drum.
 
We used to mount the CS heads wet so that when they dried they would conform to the drum.

I may try that next time I get one.

This is great, I am having a great time with the brushes, this head is so responsive to using the brushes.

There are so many plastic heads out there that try to duplicate this head.
 
The Earth Tone heads I've heard were very inconsistent, which means that your snare may sound good, or not. Also, I believe the Earth Tone heads are goat skin, not calf. I'm not sure if that makes a real difference in the sound, but it's worth noting.

Bermuda
 
Thanks Jon, So does anyone know of some makers of CS heads who are noteworthy?
 
Stern Tanning is the place for calf heads, they're in Chicagoland somewhere. Always see them at the Chicago Show.

I looked up Earth Tone, they boast "genuine skin" which means not calf. I'm pretty sure one of the guys with the company said goat. Also, they mount them in a standard metal hoop. Traditional calf heads are wrapped/tucked onto a wood hoop (also known as a flesh hoop.) Again, not sure if that makes a difference in the sound or mounting.

Bermuda
 
I've been looking at getting into the calfskin for a while and have Stern Tannings price and spread sheet. I saw something on Ebay from CT Pro Percussion and decided to take a chance. So my little experiment begins.

The sound to me is so good that so far, I will put up with the constant tuning issue. It is only the snare right now, so it is not that hard to deal with. I am hopping that even if I expand to my overhead and floor tom and even the bass drum, it will not be that bad.

At this point in my experiment, I do not see why more drummer are not using calf-skin.
 
At this point in my experiment, I do not see why more drummer are not using calf-skin.

The key problem with calf is what spawned the plastic head industry in the first place: calf's reaction to temperature and humidity. Drums often wouldn't hold their tuning, and imagine the problems a tympani player encountered! Grappling with heaters & water trays inside drums got old, fast.

But calf and plastic lived comfortably side-by-side for more than a dozen years. As rock drummers became more aggressive, calf's durability problems gave an edge to Mylar, and eventually, calf became an expensive commodity.

So that's the triple-threat against calf for the vast majority of drummers - higher price, lack of durability, and tuning inconsistency. While no Mylar head sounds exactly like calf, companies have come suitably close for most drummers who want that sound.

Growing up and learning to play in the '60s, I transitioned from calf to plastic, and never looked back.

Bermuda
 
I use calfskin heads and absolutely love them! I have used skyntone, fibreskyn, modern vintage, strata 1000 and NONE came even close to the real sound and texture of one. I currently have one on my pearl masters and sometimes on either my 1930s Boosey & Hawkes or albermore super thin snare. No matter what ANYBODY tells you, NOTHING comes even remotely close to the real deal.
 
Yesterday it was raining here in Northern New Jersey all day. The humidity was very high, and because of it, my snare experimental head got very loose. I tightened it up a little and tuned it evenly, but did not want to tighten it too much because I am about to take a business trip and did not want to leave the head tight for the time that I would be away. I am a little uncertain if the humidity changes and dries out, it may get the head too tight and damage it. But, at this stage I am not familiar enough with the head.

Many studios have good temperature controls that would keep the temperature and humidity even for long periods of time; it is surprising that many more recordings are not taking advantage of these heads. You often hear that many drummers would put on new heads prior to doing their recordings.

I have been using Aquarian Modern Vintage heads for a few years now; they are reported to be a Mylar replacement for the calfskin. My dynasonic snare has the calfskin, and my Pearl MCX kit has the Aquarians, the sound is compatible. I can see that if I had a complete set with the calfskin heads, it would take a while to tune up everyday, but with just the snare, it is not too bad.

I may expand and get a few more of these heads in the future once I get used to the care and feeding them. I have a 14 floor tom on my Gretsch kit that would benefit from the calfskin heads. I also have a 10” overhead tom for my Pearl kit that would also come alive with a calfskin head.
 
I brought my dynasonic snare with the calfskin head to a jam. The bass player had a drum set there already. I just brought the snare, a snare stand, a throne, and sticks.
This was the first time I traveled with the calf-skin head snare. It was also a louder jam and the snare was heard very well. The head has a great bounce, and sounds good too. Throughout the 3 1/2 hour jam, I had to tune the snare three times. Even though I can tune the snare fast, the other musicians are not used to having to wait for a drummer to tune his snare.

The first time tuning, I tightened the heads on the snare when I first took it out of the car after travel. I had to tighten it again once more and then loosen it the last time. I am not sure if I over tightened it the second to the last time or it got tighter.

Yes it does take a lot more care using the calfskin head. I think I should allow the head to adjust to the room. But, the head sounds great, and has a good bounce. I am able to fly off of the snare and onto the tom with a lot more ease than my mylar heads.
 
The Earth Tone heads I've heard were very inconsistent, which means that your snare may sound good, or not. Also, I believe the Earth Tone heads are goat skin, not calf. I'm not sure if that makes a real difference in the sound, but it's worth noting.

Bermuda

You are right, at one time Earthtone used goat; however, they now use calf. Unfortunately, they do not clarify this on their website, but the product labels indicate calfskin. Below are my Earthtones on my USA Customs.

GJS
 

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