Something weird is going on with my bass drum batter head.

I'd be curious to know if the head alone is rotating, or if the head and hoop are rotating together. I don't know why it would have just started, but I can easily picture the claws exerting rotational force on the hoop, and the hoop spinning the head.

Like I say, though, I don't know why it would have just started.
I can't imagine the head rotate without the hoop. I still think it's the hoop that makes the head rotate. It's about time now to reveal the cowbell that is fixed to the hoop and that you probably hit a little hard 🤣
Haha, though I hate cowbells so I don't own one. My pedal is the only thing attached to the hoop.

Speaking of, there's no way the hoop is rotating. That would be impossible, given that I always clamp my pedals fairly tightly onto the hoop. If the hoop had somehow managed to rotate despite the force of the pedal clamped to it, my pedal would have rotated as well.
 
Yeah I'm with this guy. Since it was a ps3 that did it for me I tend to think it might be the drum head itself, maybe the extra inner ring is extra slippery or something.

Just play it, let it rotate, you're using felt beaters anyway. If it still gets destroyed it probably deserves it anyway.

FWIW those falam slam patches aren't the best anyway, they seem to take away the attack. I use the clear Evans patches, much lighter and I've never burned through one, at least not using my felt beaters.
I'm not using a standard PS3. It's a smooth white PS3 (with pinstripes, as opposed to the solid white version designed to be used as a front reso head). I had to special order the head, and it comes with a different kind of beater patch than the Falam patch. It's much thinner than a Falam, kind of an opaque whitish material, and it does not kill the high end attack at all.


They don't sell those patches individually, they only come with that particular head. I even contacted Remo customer service to ask about getting another one since I use a double pedal, and they wouldn't sell me one. So I went to Guitar Center and bought the closest thing I could find, which was from Aquarian.
 
Haha, though I hate cowbells so I don't own one. My pedal is the only thing attached to the hoop.

Speaking of, there's no way the hoop is rotating. That would be impossible, given that I always clamp my pedals fairly tightly onto the hoop. If the hoop had somehow managed to rotate despite the force of the pedal clamped to it, my pedal would have rotated as well.
Yeah the pedal will stay where it is I agree. Put marks on the head, on the hoop and on the drum and see what rotates vs what. Also, does it continue and rotate forever? Like 360 degrees? Always in the same direction?

(I have no clue tbh)
 
Yeah the pedal will stay where it is I agree. Put marks on the head, on the hoop and on the drum and see what rotates vs what. Also, does it continue and rotate forever? Like 360 degrees? Always in the same direction?

(I have no clue tbh)
This has happened twice, both times rotating in a clockwise direction. The first time, I recentered the head just before it had rotated enough so that the Remo logo was almost to the top right lug. The second time it went as far as when I took the pic in my initial post. Had I not intervened, I'm not sure if it would have stopped or if it would have continued to rotate.

So far, I have not noticed any rotation since I recentered it again last week. I did tune it slightly higher than before to exert more pressure at each tuning rod, so I'm hoping this solves the issue.
 
It keeps rotating clockwise, and I have no idea why. I've had this head on my bass drum for almost 2 years now, and until a few months ago it didn't move. Then all of a sudden I noticed the Remo crown logo was creeping over toward the top right lug, so I pulled out my kick, loosened all the tension rods (none had come loose, BTW), recentered the head and tuned it back up. That was about 6 weeks ago. Now as you can see, it's clearly rotating clockwise again.

I really have no idea why. My pedal is on perfectly straight, so the beaters hit the head at a perfect 90° angle. And all the tuning rods have tension, so it's not like the head is sitting on the drum loosely. It's really not that big of a deal, except my beater patches are rotating along with the head and are slowly going out of alignment with my beaters.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas what might be causing it?

View attachment 124823
It’s the Remo heads! Lol that or a ghost O.O
 
The head itself seems to be fine, and it seats cleanly so the drum doesn't seem to be out of round. But I will definitely check and clean the bearing edges (if necessary) next time I recenter the head. I've never waxed my edges, but that makes me think it would make them more slippery rather than less.
Did we outsource drum heads as well as everything else? “Made in China!”
 
Great responses so far.
One possible solution might be get some sand paper and rough up where the ps 3 inner ring is touching the bearing edge to see if the head would bite and hold.

Another possibility, since you are not losing tension it sounds like the t rod and insert are ok, it possible that the spring or whatever is applying pressure to rod or insert is loose or disconnected so the head is able to move in that split second when the head moves forward then vibrates then decays? Might want to see what the inside of the lug casings look like in the affected area.
 
Great responses so far.
One possible solution might be get some sand paper and rough up where the ps 3 inner ring is touching the bearing edge to see if the head would bite and hold.

Another possibility, since you are not losing tension it sounds like the t rod and insert are ok, it possible that the spring or whatever is applying pressure to rod or insert is loose or disconnected so the head is able to move in that split second when the head moves forward then vibrates then decays? Might want to see what the inside of the lug casings look like in the affected area.
Interesting ideas. I might try those if the head continues to rotate. But as of now, it's seemed to stop. Though it's only been a week, so who knows?
 
Well, after several months my bass drum batter head decided to start rotating on its own again. I still have no idea why. But it’s sounding really good right now, so I kinda don’t want to mess with it. Even though the off center logo and rotating beater patches drive me a little batty.

This is how it looks now, after taking it off, cleaning the bearing edges (which were already pretty clean BTW), and reinstalling and retuning it with the Remo logo lining up exactly with the Gretsch badge, which I did in September, I believe.

I really can’t explain what’s going on.

995F47B4-4968-4A46-B121-44F00CC006E6.jpeg
 
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Head has to be too big

lol

Can you roll / spin the head easily with hoop off? Does it "float" a bit erm... too much?

Maybe it's the Taiwan shell.
 
Get some surf board wax, pull the head off, clean the edge good, apply some surfboard wax on the edge, and seat the head again. I had this happen once years ago, but my hoop loosened up over time from some loose rods. This is odd unless the hoop is loosening up.
 
Head has to be too big

lol

Can you roll / spin the head easily with hoop off? Does it "float" a bit erm... too much?

Maybe it's the Taiwan shell.
No, the head is tensioned and it doesn't budge if I try to rotate it. But for some reason I think it's doing these micro-rotations when the beater strikes, which add up over time.

Get some surf board wax, pull the head off, clean the edge good, apply some surfboard wax on the edge, and seat the head again. I had this happen once years ago, but my hoop loosened up over time from some loose rods. This is odd unless the hoop is loosening up.
I'll have to try that. All my rods are tensioned, so it's weird that it keeps rotating. But it sounds like the surfboard wax trick should work.
 
No, the head is tensioned and it doesn't budge if I try to rotate it. But for some reason I think it's doing these micro-rotations when the beater strikes, which add up over time.
does do it only with double pedal/usage?
Maybe the Good Lord is tell you to go Single? +/-
 
🥶 Is this a drum forum?
 
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