Wooden Bass Drum Hoops

2bsticks

Platinum Member
Help me out with this. I hear conflicting answers about which side of the bass drum hoop faces out. Is it the flat side out? meaning facing away from the drum, or beveled side out? Which side faces inward towards the head?

Hoop in question is for a Taye bass drum.
 
The flat side rests against the collar of the drum head.

Beveled side out.

To me it depends on the type of hook only. Rounded or flat. Ludwig style (rounded) or Tama Yamaha style (flat)
 
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So the Taye hook is squared which leads me to believe the flat side would face away from the drum? curved end toward the head collar?

This is where I was getting confused.... :)
 
So the Taye hook is squared which leads me to believe the flat side would face away from the drum? curved end toward the head collar?

This is where I was getting confused.... :)
If your hooks are flat and you squeeze them against the rounded side of the hoop : you'll distort them.
 
If your hooks are flat and you squeeze them against the rounded side of the hoop : you'll distort them.
How much tension are you putting on a kick drum!? I've never put so much tension on a kick drum that a flat hook would be distorted on a beveled hoop.

Ultimately I don't think it matters much - as long as there is positive contact from the hoop on the collar of the head, and there isn't a specific reason aesthetically for one side or the other to be outward facing, either way would work.
 
I don't have either hoop tightened down tight. I guess if the claw is square I will leave the square side out?
 
I don't have either hoop tightened down tight. I guess if the claw is square I will leave the square side out?

Just look at the claw.

The only square hoop I've owned was on my Tama Rockstars, and I don't even know what kind of material it was made out of (feels like a plastic/fiberglass combo or something). All of the wood-hooped drums I own have had rounded edges, rounded claws with a square back. I always put the square back up against the rim of the head.
 
How much tension are you putting on a kick drum!? I've never put so much tension on a kick drum that a flat hook would be distorted on a beveled hoop.

Ultimately I don't think it matters much - as long as there is positive contact from the hoop on the collar of the head, and there isn't a specific reason aesthetically for one side or the other to be outward facing, either way would work.


This is how I got my first Tama Rockstar, hoops rounded side against flat hooks, all the hooks were slightly distorted. The Yamaha birch custom I play on (studio) suffers the same. I restored an old Lud Rocker, all the hooks were distorted, though it was the contrary (rounded claws against the flat side of the hoop).
 
This is how I got my first Tama Rockstar, hoops rounded side against flat hooks, all the hooks were slightly distorted. The Yamaha birch custom I play on (studio) suffers the same. I restored an old Lud Rocker, all the hooks were distorted, though it was the contrary (rounded claws against the flat side of the hoop).
That's fair - I wouldn't have thought that metal would be that easy to bend, but clearly it is.

Well then, there's the answer - look at the claws, and adjust accordingly! :)
 
That's fair - I wouldn't have thought that metal would be that easy to bend, but clearly it is.

Well then, there's the answer - look at the claws, and adjust accordingly! :)

I used to play on a fancy Tama kit (not mine) where half of the claw hooks were deformed in a way that suggested extreme tension, so much so that several of them actually broke... strangely, both batter and reso were tuned very loosely.
 
That's fair - I wouldn't have thought that metal would be that easy to bend, but clearly it is.

Well then, there's the answer - look at the claws, and adjust accordingly! :)

Stamp claws on low / mid level kit aren't very strong...
 
I have always thought that the aluminum hoop being flat would fit the flat side of the hoop and the rounded side fits inside the rounded claws. I haven't see flat claws although they may exist. One mans opionion.
 
You want the hoop to have as much contact as possible with the aluminum collar of the drum head to promote even tension all around. Therefore it's ALWAYS the flat side toward the head, regardless of claw shape. Plus, the beveled edge has a nicer, more finished look, so you want that facing out.
 
ALWAYS flat side of hoop against the head.
Then go ahead, but I assure you that flat claws (Tama Yamaha or Premier style) against a rounded hoop edge won't work well and won't stay flat long. Basic physics.
 
The most important aspect is a solid contact between the wood hoop & the head collar. Some wood hoops have a relief cut to the ID of the face designed to interface with the head collar. This is to provide clearance for the head material, & applies mainly to thicker / more substantial bass drum hoops.

Secondary is the snug seating of the claw form to the hoop form. In an ideal world, all should align perfectly, but that's not always the case.

Seating of hoop to head collar, with sufficient head material clearance, is always the priority.
 
Received this from a guy who has done lots of repair work and drum building. He just finished repairing a Taye bass drum hoop.

The chamfered side of the hoop goes against the head. This provides clearance for the collar of the head. Most hoops today have some sort of chamfer for this purpose. Vintage hoops often do not, because they are thinner. The square side absolutely faces out.

As I checked out the repaired hoop I noticed it had a rubber protector to protect against pedal rash. The protector was installed at the flat side of the hoop. So in this case I guess it is flat side out.
 
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