Coating and Re-Coating heads?

I was thinking the other day, what makes the process of coating a drumhead so special? I love the sound of coated heads, but I can't really find any information on how drum heads are coated in the first place. How could one replicate the coating process?

I'm thinking it could be as simple as using a broken in head, and maybe sanding the head just a pinch, and then using textured rustoleum. Or maybe go more complex, and spray the rum with adhesive and then blast it with the rustoleum.

Coating is far from invincible - it starts to wear off the head in a very short time, so it can't be a process that's too complicated or difficult to duplicate, or at least approach?
I have old clear drum heads out my ears, so I'd really like to experiment with this, but I want to see how many of you guys think It'd be a waste of time?

Ludwig used to make spray on coating in a can. But later discontinued because of toxic fumes or similar (Bermuda's podcast)? Then i thought i had heard that back in the day, you could show up at certain factories & get heads re-shot for a small fee ?

http://youtu.be/4otLapz2omQ?t=4m, that's how it's done

double_G said:

Ludwig used to make spray on coating in a can. But later discontinued because of toxic fumes or similar (Bermuda's podcast)? Then i thought i had heard that back in the day, you could show up at certain factories & get heads re-shot for a small fee ?

Click to expand...

Indeed they did...



Although I'm not 100% sure as to why it was discontinued. May have been environmental, but also may have been a case of not wanting druimmers to be able to refresh heads when they might otherwise buy one instead.

But I know that Ludwig currently uses a water-based coating, which has no environmental impact by itself. In fact, the person hand-spraying each head wasn't even wearing a mask, which prompted me to ask about it. I recommended that Ludwig consider re-issuing Ruff-Kote, maybe just to dealers so there'd be some profit for Ludwig even when the dealer refreshes a competitor's head. If drummers aren't buying Ludwig heads, why not get in on some of the action anyway?

Not sure that the manufacturers would re-coat their heads. Primarily, it's a lot of coordination to introduce and monitor a single item into an assembly-line environment*, not to mention whether shipping both ways would keep the cost below that of a new head.

Bermuda

* Even where Ludwig hand sprays their heads one at a time, it's asking a lot to bring in an outside head, slip it in the stack of heads to be sprayed, and then make sure it is retrieved and sent back to the owner.

So do you guys think a coating of spray adhesive, followed with some textured enamel would do it? Or is there some sort of secret formula?

This may work. It's available in a flat finish.

http://www.krylon.com/featured-products/dual-paint-plus-primer/

My Dad used to have a paint that was used for marking trees from his job. It was a white, rough finish, just like a drumhead. I used it a couple times. It worked for making the head white again (but the sound was still dead from use).

It was probably similar stuff to the Ludwig Ruff Coat.

That was 20+ years ago, and before he retired, they started using different paint. Probably for the same reasons Ludwig discontinued the Ruff Coat. ALL the good stuff that worked well had lead in it, but it was really bad to breath it in in any amount, let alone years of being around it.

If you want to just keep a head looking new-ish, and help the coating last longer, you could try a workable fixative. You can get it from art stores. It's used to stop charcoal, pencil and pastel work from smearing after it's done, but you can still go over it.
It shouldn't affect the sound much at all.

EarthRocker said:

So do you guys think a coating of spray adhesive, followed with some textured enamel would do it? Or is there some sort of secret formula?

Click to expand...

Probably a secret formula. It would make sense LUDWIG got their head coating manufacture to put some of the spray coating material they use in a can. RUFF COAT was not some off the shelf stuff you could by at the hardware store, that secret would have been leaked already.

If it is just 'off the shelf' stuff (like GRETSCH silver sealer) relabeled in a can, issue a DRUMMERWORLD APB, lets find it.