Replacing Drumheads

[Drummerbock]

I was just curious how often you should replace ur drumheads. I've used drumheads form the '70s (literally) n theyre still fine. And I don't see the reason to replace them if theyre still in good shape. But I also don't beat them to death. So theyre are not dents or holes in my heads either. But yea, how often are you sup[posed to replace them?

[backtodrum]

I replace mine once a year or more often is they need it. I hate dented heads so I will replace it immediately if I dent one. A head will start to sound dead and won't tune up if you let go too long. I probably change them too often. I am referring to my toms and snare heads. My kick head has been on my kit for three years now.

[ThePloughman]

Im thinking about every 3-5 years with my current set ups. There are six sets of drums that all get played about equally. Snare drums get replaced with much more frequency due to the fact I play with brushes a lot..... and brushes wear more than sticks.
If you are playing a lot, every day practice, regular gigging,...... you probably should replace sooner.
Anything from the seventies......... needs some R&R.

[Drummerbock]

well, the snare heads not from the 70's lol. but the toms are. n they still tune fine and sound great. and im pretty cheap, so im not gonna replace them. but since ive never replaced them, I didn't know how often to replace them.

[drummer]

Depends on how much you play, how hard you hit, how old they are, etc. Drumheads stretch because they're constantly tensioned. When I'm playing full time, I change drumheads once a month (mostly the top ones). Part time, I usually replace them once every few months. I change the snare drum head out the most. I just love the feel and tone of a new snare batter head.

[ratmycue]

from the 70's are you kidding me!!
you are joking... no one can be that cheap. lol can they?

[PHROGGE]

Rumor Has It All The Stones Hit Records In The 70's Were Recorded With The Same Remo Cs Black Dot Bassdrum Head(ecept "miss You" Which Was Recorded By Kenny Jones Of The Who)

[PHROGGE]

Seriously Every Year On 3/23 My Ludwig Classics Get New Heads As A Birthday Predsent On The Day They Were "born"she Seems To Appreciate It ...still Singin Sweet After All These Years You See They Were Made 3/23/1972!!!!!

[Dawgkikker]

Good advice here guys. Is it possible for a head to sound dead after only a few weeks ? I can't seem to get my 12" to resonate. I have tried tuning both heads and it just sounds flat.

[saturn]

if you play very often (3-4 times a week) you have to replace every 3 months

[Drummerbock]

saturn, when you say 3-4 times a week, do you mean like practicing 3-4 times a week?
or like playin gigs 3-4 times a week?

[saturn]

it is the same almost

[saturn]

when you see that the head has holes then you have to replace and when you play often in 3 months you will have those holes. (sorry if i can't explain well, i hope you understand)

[ThePloughman]

Bare spots where the coating is worn off?

[Drummerbock]

saturn, you really confused me. and i play almost every day. n my heads are fine. (on my 2nd kit, the one im using now, theyre almost 9 months old)

[saturn]

ok. so i mean those spots.
When you play on old heads and then you replace them, it is very easy to listen to the difference between the old and the new heads. So the time that the head loses that specific (new) sound is about 2-3 months when you play 3-4 times a week.
Maybe in 3 months you won't have those spots but the head for sure will not sound the same like new.
This one doesnt mean that you have to replace your drumheads every time unless you are a proffesional and you play in studios and gigs all the time. In this case somebody else would pay the heads for you, even your sticks

[Drummerbock]

ok saturn that makes more sense. i havent played that kit in a while, but ill look to change the heads

[jguzman361]

what about resonant heads? do you change them? how big of a difference does it make?

[saturn]

I see no reason to change resonant heads (back heads) except if you want to try another head.
I have to say that Drummer (above) is right

[LAdrummer]

Has anyone ever experimented with using a marching snare head (woven fiber/kevlar) top, and possibly bottom too, on a regular drum kit snare (5X14)? If not, does anyone have theories on how this might sound? I'm curious because I like the idea of the head's durabililty, articulation, ...all the qualities of a marching snare but on a brass shell or solid wood snare. I appreciate you're feedback.

[EchoesMyEternity]

I think that I replace my drum heads about every two or three months - even if they don't have dents or holes in them. The thing about drum heads is, as someone else already said, if you have them tuned really tightly on your drums (snare, toms, bass), then that's the faster that they stretch out. Also, when you're beating on the drum head with your stick, even if you're not putting dents in them, you're still stretching them out.

Try this, when you take off an old head off your tom, hold the metal rim of the head with your index finger and thumb and thump on the head with your other hand. You'll notice that the head is very loose and sounds very papery. Then, take a new head and do the same thing. You'll notice that the head isn't hardly loose at all and, in most cases, you can actually get a note or tone out of the head. This is why replacing your heads often is necessary - you start to lose the tone out of your drum when you let your heads get stretched too loose.

I saw the discussion about resonant heads, here's the thing about resonant heads. Yes, they don't need to be changed nearly as often as batter heads. However, when you strike a drum, a column of air shoots through the drum, off the resonant head, off the batter and resonant again and then it tends to disburse - often the eyelet on the side of the drum helps. These bursts of air that hit the resonant head, in time, stretches that head out too. This is much more noticeable on resonant bass drum heads - especially when they have no port. So, you do have to replace resonant heads, but much much much less than batter heads. I probably replace mine once a year or every 15 months.

As far as a marching snare head on a regular snare drum...

Marching snare heads are made out of Kevlar, the same material in bullet-proof vests. The reason of this is because they need to be extremely durable and very responsive and loud to be heard over a marching band. My understanding is that these heads can only be played on a marching snare drum (which is incredibly deep - like 12 inches) for two reasons.
1. In order for the head to be responsive, it needs to be tuned incredibly tight on a drum. The head is not going to sound good at all when it isn't tuned tightly on the drum because of the material it is made out of.
2. Tuning this head so tight puts an incredible strain on the drum. If you were to take a Kevlar head and put it on a regular snare drum, I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be able to tune the head because you'd have to crank it down so tight that you'd either strip the tuning rods out of the lugs on your drum, or it would put such immense pressure on the drum that it may cause the drum to go out of round.

This is just speculation, but it's educated speculation because I played the snare in high school marching band for parades and what not.

-Jon

[pastor_bob]

Good explanation on the marching snare head Jon.

And welcome to Drum Chat LAdrummer. BTW, where are you from? LOL

[backtodrum]

My question is, why would anyone want to put a marching head on a kit snare drum anyway? I think that the current trend of Kevlar heads on marching snares now sounds like hitting a table top with sticks. It doesn't sound good to me at all. I realize they are trying to get them to cut through the band, but in my opinion they don't sound good cranked that tight. Why would someone want that sound on a kit snare?