Heat gun used on snare reso head

[Lee-Bro]

It's a lazy Sunday and I'm watching old episodes of "How It's Made" and the episode showing how (some) drums are made @ Grover is on. I was half paying attention until they said "...He blasts it with a heat gun to shrink the plastic and remove any wrinkles..."

I've never heard of anyone using a heat gun on a head. Have any of you done this? For reference, here's the episode at the mark: https://youtu.be/weV2pElw5p8?t=152

*btw, that heat gun looks a lot like a hair dryer from a hair salon.

 

[Rotarded]

I have, and successfully! BUT, if you use an actual heat gun, you need to be careful or you will melt a hole in the head. Mine has dial ajustible heat settings. Start low and carefully increase temp, but do not get closer than about an inch from the head.

 

[larryace]

Practice on an old reso first. I would think a hair dryer would be safer. They burn my skin if I get them too close.

 

[AzHeat]

If I ever need to pull the reso hoop off, I’ll usually shrink the head with a heat gun. Work great for bringing it back to life. Have also used it on batter heads with varying success. Single ply heads work well for the most part, but I only tried it on 2-ply once and screwed it up. Maybe I should have shrunk the under side Mylar first. Don’t know, but that one’s going to be tricky.

UV1s are also tricky. They resist shrinking, but will with a bit of effort. That said, there’s a fine line between the moment the head stops shrinking and suddenly expands and warps. I’d say stay away from those.

Great trick for when you play in a rental studio and the guy before you beat the heads into the ground. A few minutes with a heat gun and things sound decent.

 

[davezedlee]

they make the heads brittle, which might not be a good thing for heavy hitters

that said, i used to put mine in an oven with a digital thermostat at 200 degrees when funds were tight and i needed to coax some life out of heads for my beater kits

 

[vyacheslav]

Sometimes it's hard to get the wrinkles out of a snare side head at the snare beds, especially if the edges are fairly deep. In situations like this, I have use a hair drier to remove the wrinkles at the snare beds. Don't get too close and keep the dryer in constant motion. Only takes a few seconds on each side.

 

[markdrum]

This is a good technique to remove some dents from heads as well. I've done it with a cheap heat gun from Harbor Freight. As noted above be sure to keep the heat gun moving so that you won't weaken the head or possibly melt a section. I also keep a ceramic dinner plate nearby in case I need to put the heat gun down. That drives my wife crazy!