Questions about kick drum heads

spawn2031

Junior Member
Hey guys, so first off I am not a drummer, I just have a quick question about the heads. I am getting ready to start making vinyl graphics to cover the front kick drum heads and need to know sizes. I know that they come from 18-24" in size at 2" increments but what I don't know is how much of that is actually viewable. For example, if someone says they have a 20" kick drum and I send them a vinyl sticker that is 20" in diameter is that going to be enough to cover it entirely or should it be 21 or 22"?
 
If you're doing this as a business, I suggest you buy the heads and experiment to find the best size of your vinyl sticker. I mean, don't you want to do some research and ensure you're using correct measurements before selling to a customer?

Also, do you expect the customers to install the vinyl sticker themselves? How hard is that to do? Sounds hard to get right.
 
for a 20" drum head you want it slightly smaller, say 19.5. i agree you should buy at least one head to experiment.
 
You probably do not want to cover the whole head unless the graphic is the whole head. It will change the tone. Just some food for thought.
 
I've already been doing this with guitar bodies so I have a really easy to apply vinyl that is super thin. It's been going really well with those so I figured drum heads could be next. The graphics that I plan to use would be intended to cover the entire head and yeah I was worried about the tone of the drum changing. I did ask an old drummer friend about that and he seemed to think that if there was any tonality change that it could be overcome by tightening or loosing the head.

As far as ease to apply, I guess that would depend on how good you are at applying vinyl graphics. I do plan to make a youtube video showing the application to put people's minds at ease.

As far as for cost, I think I can beat most of them out there. I haven't checked out the site that was linked yet but I'm looking at selling a 20" from roughly $40 ish and someone could use their own graphics or pick from ones I make.

So from what you guys are saying, on a 20" drum head the actual "viewable" area would be slightly smaller, so if I did a 21" graphic so the person would have a little room for error and just trim off the excess then I would be safe for full coverage.
 
You'd do best to measure it yourself because only you know how far you want to go to the edge. I don't think you want to deal with the collar of the head at all. You could go to a guitar center with a measuring tape. It would probably be better to have the head off the drum to measure, you need an exact measurement.
 
It most definitely will change the tone of the drum, whether that is good or bad is another story.
 
I did ask an old drummer friend about that and he seemed to think that if there was any tonality change that it could be overcome by tightening or loosing the head.
That's not correct. How thin is your film? Drummers are used to film thickness measurements (i.e. 10mil, 14mil, etc), so will be able to roughly translate the additional thickness of your film into potential tonal changes.
 
So from what you guys are saying, on a 20" drum head the actual "viewable" area would be slightly smaller, so if I did a 21" graphic so the person would have a little room for error and just trim off the excess then I would be safe for full coverage.

TBH, if I was buying a graphic for my drum head I wouldn't want to have to do any trimming at all. You'd be better making it an inch smaller rather than an inch bigger.
As has already been said, you should get yourself some heads (18"/20"/22"/24" are the most common bass sizes) so that you can try it out yourself. I'm sure you could pick up some cheap used no-name heads online rather than buy new ones.
 
My 22 inch Gretsch Renown bass drum has a measurement of 21.5 inches inside the hoop. I hope that helps. And if buying various sizes is not an option visit a music store and measure some of the drums there
 
the outer diameter of a drum shell is always 1/8" undersized from the size shown. eg: a 20" drum has an outer diameter of 19 7/8." this allows the head collar to fit around it, which is normally the size shown.

going inwards from this measurement though is the collar of the head. the part that curves from the flat, perpendicular surface, around to go around the outside of the drum. when tightened onto the drum this will conform to the bearing edge of the drum, the peak of which will be in from the outer diameter of the drum. the exact measurement will depend on how thick the shell is and what kind of bearing edge they have. so the flat part could be anywhere from 19" to 19 3/4".

if you want the graphic to go all the way to the edge, it would have to be printed onto the head before the collar is formed and pressed into the flesh hoop (the metal ring that the head is pressed into).
 
if someone says they have a 20" kick drum and I send them a vinyl sticker that is 20" in diameter is that going to be enough to cover it entirely or should it be 21 or 22"?

The max I would go as a general rule is 1" under for lettered graphics.

A 20" head for example will yield 19.5" useable, but that would be cramped for some graphics. I just measured an 18 and a 20, the max I would make it is 1" under and even that might be too cramped depending on the graphic. Im sure you have a computer program which allows for a circle and the graphic inserted, see what looks cramped and what doesn't.

Now if you're talking about a skin which covers the existing head entirely, then go with the .5" under, 20= 19.5 18=17.5 etc. At the -.5" formulae there is a 1/16" to be played with, vinyl being what it is, that 16th could matter.

My experience with vinyl is that it would be difficult to accurately place a 'skin' type graphic over the entire head surface. At the thicknesses you'd be talking to not seriously affect head tone it would be difficult for the average Joe drummer, the stuff stretches.

The market IMO is in need of fugitive graphics, a band name/logo that could easily be slapped on and taken off. If one is going to graphic a BD head as in 'permanent', they'll usually send it off to get done professionally/right. The do it yourself stuff should be fugitive, with benefits the benefits being multiple uses and an allowance for error in the application.
 
I did some measuring and I suggest making the head graphic 3/8" smaller than the drum diameter. Most modern drums are about 1/4" undersized. That would allow a 1/8" fudge factor.
A thin frame of drumhead showing around the graphic would be barely visible from a few feet away and it would look good from close up.
 
I really appreciate all the information here guys. Very useful and helpful! My main thought for going oversized with and then trimming down is due to my experience with wrapping guitars. I found that if I cut it to the exact measurements something always screwed up, a line wasn't quite perfect etc.. when I started allowing for a "bleed" then I could allow the graphic to go under the hardware (in this case pickups) and then the graphic looked seamless when it was reassembled, which is the effect I am hoping to achieve with these as well.

From what everyone seems to be saying is if I make a 20" graphic for a 20" head then a little bit of it around the edge will be covered by hardware.

Sense I am not a drummer, please tell me if there is something completely messed up by this work flow .. this is how I envision an installation going...

1) Remove the head entirely
2) Apply the graphic section at a time.. I know that doesn't make a ton of sense but since I have a lot of experience applying vinyl I know of a process that works perfectly and makes it very easy to do.. which I would video and document for customers.
3) Trim any excess unwanted vinyl (if there is any)
4) Remount the head.

To answer a few other remarks left as well....

Thickness of the vinyl would be about 3mm, heat moldable and a "little" on the forgiving side

I also do have this other material that is completely reusable. Kind of the material that Fathead uses for their wall graphics. That stuff would make applying these a breeze but it's much more expensive per foot so I'm trying to stay away from it. I'm trying to make an option for those who don't have the cash to have a drum head done professionally.
 
Thickness of the vinyl would be about 3mm, heat moldable and a "little" on the forgiving side
.

3 mm! That's quite thick and very likely to impede or affect the sound of the bass drum head. It vibrates to produce resonance, so by necessity is quite thin 10 or 15 mil at most.

Most drummers would not like such a thick design on a head.

And heat moldable? meaning heat is needed to apply to bass drum? Also not good.

I suggest you look at a bass drum head in a music store and check out its thickness and function.
 
3mm, in vinyl measurements isn't quite the same as 3mm on a ruler. I should have said that first.. doh. It's the thickness of your average sticker.

As far as heat moldable, that just means that you can get it to stretch and mold into curves very easily with a heat gun, if you needed to, although I don't see why you would need to with a flat skin. I guess what I am going to do is find me a guinea pig to try this on and see how it really goes.

Thanks a ton for all your info and input guys, as I said before, I really do appreciate it!
 
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