Question on changing heads from EvansPrez

EvansPrez

Senior Member
Hi all,

I would like to hear from you on two topics.

1. How often do you change your drumheads? What are the reasons you change them?

2. When you do make the decision that you need make a drumhead purchase, how many do you buy at a single visit to the store or when you order online and why is that the number?

Thanks for participating in this thread.

Rick Drumm
 
On my toms I go back and forth between liking a dark and dry sound and a clean and open sound. I'll usually change my tom heads whenever I'm wanting/needing a different sound. As far as time goes, it depends on mood much more than wear.

Right now I'm playing my "clean and open" sound; a clear EC2 over a Strata 1000. The Strata on bottom adds a little more midrange the EC2 normally lacks, and gives a bit more fullness to the tone.

When buying new heads, it depends on why I'm buying as to how many I buy. If it's a wear issue I'll just replace the worn head; if I'm trying something new I'll buy one for all my toms.

Snare-side heads get replaced whenever I hear it start to go dead, usually about every six months.
 
I change my snare batter head every three months or so, and my tom batters about half as often as that. My kick head and resonant heads usually stay on for a year or more.

My reason for changing is that the heads have either lost their tone, or that they're worn out (this is usually the case with my snare head, which receives a lot of punishment).

As for buying heads, I buy as many as I feel need changing. If I only need a snare head, I'll only buy a snare head; if I feel the whole kit needs reskinning I'll buy a full set.
 
I change my snare batter maybe once a year. I like the broken in sound as opposed to a new head sound on the snare. The tom batters I'll change probably twice to 3x a year, depending on how dented they get. I'll change tom resos once a year. Snare reso I change app once every 2 years. I usually order online because I can get a 10, 12, and 16 head pack that my local GC doesn't stock. Since I like single ply clears top and bottom, I'll typically order 3 or 4 sets of the 10,12, and 16 combo packs. Snare and bass drum heads I usually buy locally but tom heads I go online for the discounted combo pack. The kick drum batter goes until failure. The kick reso I barely think about, it's a logo head.

Evans G1's and regular Emad all the way.
 
I normally change my tom heads every 4-6 months, usually same with resonants. With snare heads it usually depends on the thickness of the head. Normally though, since I usually prefer snare heads with dots, thats not for almost a year. However if the head gets damaged or just starts to sound bad I'll replace it asap.

Normally if I'm buying heads, it depends on what kind I need to replace. If it's a snare, normally only one. But that also depends on if I need a snare resonant too. If I need toms heads i usually just get batters and then get the resonants later on. It also depends on how much money I have. But I also would use it to buy sticks. I try to buy sticks whenever I'm at a music store. I also might just buy one head, no matter what kind, just to try it.
 
1. I'll change my tom batters is when the coating starts to come off. I play covers mostly so I don't see the need for more frequent changes. A big gig will make me want to change heads. I will definitely change for recording.

I change snare batter monthly. It takes the most abuse. I like the sound of a new snare head also.

Bass drum batter stays for a long while. Usually a year or more.

2. I usually make the decision to buy a head(s) when there's a special or pre-pack combo. I buy all tom batters at the same time, and usually change them all at the same time. Snare is monthly for me anyway. I always have a backup snare head just in case, although I have never broken a snare head.

If I was a famous touring artist I would change heads every other night for me ha ha
 
Answer1
I don't really have a set amount of time for changing heads. I just decide one day that the time has come and I do it. I replace heads because of wear and also to change the sound for the music that I am playing.
I keep heads for months or even years depending.

Answer 2.
The amount of heads that I buy varies depending on my needs.
I will buy one head, or up to five at a time, and everything in between.
I rarely buy more than five at once though.
 
Last edited:
1. I replace as many as possible before recording, or when they're REALLY worn and near impossible to get a good sound from. Too expensive to be a regular purchase for me.

Snare batter - about every 6 months.

Toms - Batters - About once every 1.5 years on average. Resos - When I want to use a single ply on top, I buy a new reso and move the old reso onto the batter side.

Kick - I have only ever bought one new kick batter head in over 10 years of drumming! I hated the sound and it spent about a week on the drum before I put the old one back on. Reso - will be replacing shortly as I want one in white and unported.

2. I'll usually just buy one snare batter on it's own, and if my budget allows some new snare wires too. For the toms I just buy two for my 4 piece set up - 13" and 16". Also own a 10" and 18" but these see a lot less use so don't get changed as often.
 
Just a quick question, what do you all do with you old heads? I mean if some of you are changing every month you must have a lot of old heads lying around. I am also guessing that some of these heads are still in a playable, if not half decent, condition. I personally donate all my old heads that are still in good shape to local highschools as some of the government highschools in Australia lack significant funding and hence heads don't get changed often if at all (I'm talking 5-10 year periods). Youth centres and churches would probably also benefit from a donation service like this as well. It also helps to diminish the amount rubbish going into landfill.
Just something to think about
Jackson

PS: I change toms maybe once a year, snare 2-3 times a year and kick maybe once every two years. I am still in high school though so I maybe only gig once a month so I don't have a real need to keep heads in top condition all the time. Though they do get changed when ever I go into the studio
 
Would it not be polite to offer some free stuff in return for such juicy data? ;)
Everyone on the forum got a free set of Evans heads of their choice last week.
We all got a PM with a gift certificate enclosed.
Didn't you get yours?
 
My old Zickos kit had the original heads (from 1973). The only head I ever changed on it was the BD resso and I only did so when the hoop separated from the head. The rest were fine until the drums were stolen in 2010. My "new" Zickos kit has some original Zickos heads and some new Evans blue hydraulics. I'll probably never change them unless they break or puncture.

I change snare heads about every two to three years depending. I have a Remo on my vintage Ludwig SD that I have had for probably ten years and I would change but it sounds so damn good I don't want to mess it up.

I replaced the batter on my Zickos SD at the last Big Beat in Tulsa when they were offering a special. Either new head tuned by a "pro" or new head with a caricature of you by a local artist, either for $10. The money was to be used to finance Big Beat, and the heads were donated by Evans and Remo and time donated by Evans or Remo reps and local artist. I must admit the the drum didn't sound appreciably better. I gave the old head to a kid in attendance who had such badly dented heads on his drum that it was barely recognizable as a head.

Did I mention that I am cheap and I don't play all that much?
 
For toms, I keep my head until they start going dead. Usually 6-8 months.
For snare, I don't keep the head if I don't like it. If I do like it, I keep it until it wears out, usually 3-6 months.
I keep my bass drum heads a long time, usually 10-12 months.
The reso head is the same for all, except tripled.

I usually just buy one head (bass and snare) or set (toms) at a time. Occasionally I'll buy 2 snare heads to compare.
 
1. How often do you change your drumheads? What are the reasons you change them?

2. When you do make the decision that you need make a drumhead purchase, how many do you buy at a single visit to the store or when you order online and why is that the number?

1.whenever they sound bad/dead. this is usually every 2~4months for my snare, aroun 4~6months for toms, and around 6~12 months for bass drum. I change my resonant heads every 3 times i change my batters. i also change snare wires around every 3 times.

2. if its from my local store i buy as many as i can that they have in stock for the certain head i am after. if online i will buy them all when needed. i buy the whole set just to keep an even sound throughout my whole kit - for example i don't want 1 amazingly alive sounding 10" tom, compared to a semi-dead 16" floor tom....
 
I tend to change heads when they are either sounding "played out", or if they get damaged. I change the snare most often, ever three to six months depending on my playing schedule, although I've had my latest (Power Center Reverse Dot) on there since May and it still sounds great. I change the toms much less frequently, but I reckon in terms of gigs rather than years, and my EC2s lasted for about nine months to a year of gigging (spread out over four years, including a year and eight months where I didn't play them at all, due to being relocated overseas). Kick heads, I play until damaged (usually nine months to a year of gigging). I have had the same resos on the toms since I replaced them last in 2002, and the snare side head was new in 2006. I just changed from the stock kick reso to a new, ported one after close to 12 years.

I buy snare heads singly, unless there's a great sale, then I snap up two or three. Same with kick heads. Nobody seems to sell a 10-12-14-16 tom pack, so I always buy the 10-12-16 and buy the 14" separate, always at the same time. I only replace single tom heads when something unexpected happens to the drum (like having a tree fall on it and pierce the head... a story for another day).
 
I'm a pretty active player so I change certain heads often. I change my snare head about every 6 to 8 shows for two reasons. Usually it's because it loses some bite and starts to sound flat, but it also depends on how it looks. I like the kit to look good from my view point too so I sometimes change a head if the coating wears off and it looks bad. That's one of the reasons I was interested in a coated white film head. They look better longer and sound great. I change tom heads when they start to lose some tone or when they get dented, usually about every 16 to 20 shows. The kick drum head gets changed about once every 4 to 6 months.
I buy heads in bulk usually, trying to get multiple snare heads (usually 3 at a clip) and 1 or 2 tom heads. Usually just 1 bass drum head. It's that number because of cost reasons and because of trying to have some in reserve so I don't have to purchase as often. Hope this helps.
 
I'm a pretty active player so I change certain heads often. I change my snare head about every 6 to 8 shows for two reasons. Usually it's because it loses some bite and starts to sound flat, but it also depends on how it looks. I like the kit to look good from my view point too so I sometimes change a head if the coating wears off and it looks bad. That's one of the reasons I was interested in a coated white film head. They look better longer and sound great. I change tom heads when they start to lose some tone or when they get dented, usually about every 16 to 20 shows. The kick drum head gets changed about once every 4 to 6 months.
I buy heads in bulk usually, trying to get multiple snare heads (usually 3 at a clip) and 1 or 2 tom heads. Usually just 1 bass drum head. It's that number because of cost reasons and because of trying to have some in reserve so I don't have to purchase as often. Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the responses. The reason I am asking this forum, is we did a fairly extensive survey and found that the majority of young drummers wait until the head breaks before buying a replacement. I imagine that many of you if not all of you are also teaching drums. It seems that they believe that as long as they have an intact surface to strike, that's all that is required.

I think we need to instill, "Pride of Sound". There is a marked difference in sound when we put on a fresh drumhead. I think our ears become accustomed to the sound of the head as it wears, similar to a cymbal as dirt accumulates on it.

As many of you know, we are also the largest manufacturer of guitar strings. A guitar player changes their strings when they become difficult to tune or they begin to feel dead. They can feel the difference in feel because they are touching the strings with their fingers. Of course drummers have a stick between their hand and the drumhead. That's not quite as easy to feel when the head is going dead. There is a huge difference in sound.

As this thread points out, there are many variables that affect when to change the head from how often your playing to the style of music, to technique, etc...

For those of you that do teach, how many are teaching equipment maintenance? I think if you have the student change a played out head to a new during a lesson will be a very eye opening and more importantly ear opening experience. Rick
 
Thanks for all the responses. The reason I am asking this forum, is we did a fairly extensive survey and found that the majority of young drummers wait until the head breaks before buying a replacement. I imagine that many of you if not all of you are also teaching drums. It seems that they believe that as long as they have an intact surface to strike, that's all that is required.

Rick

I find in a majority of cases concerning young drummers and many not so young, that they have a definite fear of turning the tension rods of their drums. This might sound ridiculous, but many drummers will take the position that the drums might still sound "alright" even though they're in desperate need of tuning or head replacement. This is why so many do not stray far from what they are comfortable with unless it's an emergency and they HAVE to replace the head or heads.

Many of these drummers never had any formal lessons or direct "one on one" formal education on what a really greatly tuned drum kit should sound like and how they too can achieve these results.

Dennis
 
Back
Top