Two days into it now, The drum arrived with an Evans Genera HD batter head. I played it for a while but knew right away that wasn't gonna happen. It had a nice dry sound with little sustain. That's not what I want in a drum like this. LOL. I have ply drums for that. So off goes the batter and on goes a Remo CS, Not quite a two ply. Kinda a ply and a half. Well. in the middle anyway. That started opening the drum up. Played that for a while.
The reso head looked like the original head so I replaced that and changed out the mylar straps for cord. That gave the drum a nice high pitched snap with moderate sustain. Getting there. Let it sit over night. As expected both heads stretched so brought it back up to tension. Played it some more and messed with the tuning. Eighth of a turns. Play, record, listen. with my ears, head phones, studio monitors.
Starting to sound good. Now the wires, 16, & 20 strand steel. 24 strand brass. Didn't like the brass on this drum. Then 42 strand steel. Not too tight. I back the wires off and tap around the edge of the drum. When I can hear the snares activate I'm pretty close.
See what I think tomorrow................................