A little Liquid Wrench under the head of the screw will do the trick. No, they are usually cranked so tight they won't come off. Chances are the previous owner(s) in past cleanings and general upkeep, over tightened the screws.

Thanks for that,but I think they came like that......

The drums I had all came from different sources,so doubt they all overtightened.......

They are Philips heads are they not? For not a lot of money you can buy an impact driver, that has several interchangeable bits. The ones I have date from the late 60's, when I was doing motorcycle mechanics and they came with 6, including 3 Philips. They have a worm drive in them. You hit them with a hammer , lightly or heavily---you'll find out how much is needed and the worm drive snaps the screws loose. It almost always works on locked screws, I've never broken a head off but occasionally and usually if the head has already been chewed, the relief in the screw rounds out.In that event, knock the head off with a cold chisel or a grinder and take off the lug. Soaking the remaining stud in penetrating oil, will loosen the threads a bit. You can then usually unthread the stud and replace that one with a new screw.

There is salting between the disimmilar metals(cadmium or zinc plating on the screws and lead in the pot metal lug) and that often causes the seizure.

Am I reading this right,...

..Liquid wrench !!...Easy-Out !!...Cold chisle !!... Grinder !!.......All these things wil ruin the wood shell forever !!

Use a small torch and heat the bolt to red hot and remove before it cools, works on ball joints too !!

Red Hot...burning wood? FIRE!

I'll stay with liquid wrench.

We're not talking about soaking the wood, a drop or two does the job. You're talking about heating metal until red hot which causes wood to char and catch fire, especially with wood that has a flammable finish.

Someone close that window! Common sense keeps escaping!!

Even a drop of liquid wrench will stain the wood, it will soak into the endgrain at all layers because the hole lets it !!

The cut`n torch suggestion was just a better way to destroy the drum than the other four !!

A screwdriver with a longer shaft and LARGER handle and the screw will come out, if`n it don`t twist and snap,..it`s a (1/8" maybe) bolt and stands no chance against brute strength !!

If the head is stripped, you drill it with a bit that`s the same size as the screw shaft,..when you start, use a smaller bit first,...then drill straight and level,..it wont take long but when you hit the shaft with the same sized drill bit,...the head will be off !!

Pull the lug and grab the rest of the bolt with lock`n plyers cuz you wont be useing it again !!

I should add that if you`re not expierenced with a drill,...FIND SOMEONE WHO IS cuz you can screw it up fast !!

First of all ,i didn't say easy out----I said Impact Driver and the fact that I have used one of these to remarkable success for 45 years bears testament to their efficacy. An easy out, is a counterscrew bit(lefthanded ,usually) that you turn into a drilled hole, smaller than the shaft of the screw or bolt. You turn it counterclockwise for a right-handed thread and it being left handed turns into the small bore you have drilled and bites---removing the stubborn screw. That only works with extra goods such as liquid wrench(penetrating oil) and great precision but it could work, for this application. I don't usually mention this technique because it is hit and miss and more miss with small screws. It takes a great deal of precision and experience to make it work.

Cold chisel. The screws are backed by washers , which are replaceable. A sharp( always use a sharp chisel) 1/4" thin cold chisel would take the head off of that mild steel screw in an instant and barely leave a mark. If as is often the case the user is inexperienced or the chisel is dull or cheap then only the washer would get damaged anyway and the offending useless screw or bolt is history.

Grinder. High speed angle grinders with a small wheel would take the head off in no time and again the only potential extra damage would be to the washer.

So. the lug comes off and there is a stub sticking out of the lug. A little more liquid wrench(penetrating oil) or not, as deemed by the rebuilder and a secure grip on the stud with Vice Grips( 6 " needle nose would work best here) will free the stud. Only ever buy genuine Vice Grips. There have been many attempts to make Vice Grip knockoffs but there has been no success. It is one of the rare instances where a patented genuine tool has yet to be copied and equaled by their greedy copiers. oh, yes and then there are Slingerland drums.

OR you could put a blow torch on the head and heat it up. Now , I don't know about you but in my neck of the woods propane torches ,oxygenated propane torches and oxy acetylene torches will transfer a considerable amount of heat through the metal of the screw and washer. This technique can work----I've used it many a time on 2 inch bolts on farm machinery, to break free wheel nuts on diesel trucks that have been frozen on with 2 years of salt in Canadian winters. I've used it to get broken manifold studs out of engine blocks and to free up Combine cutterblades . It does seem a bit extreme for a drum shell-----it could work , as long as the flame is feathered lightly but you have to bear in mind that the lug bosses are fairly thin white metal , which is not too far off solder in formulation and has a very low melting temperature, plus if you scorch the wood and cause breakdown in the glue the integrity of that portion of the shell could suffer and the lugs could pull the shell at that point in future. thanks for the heat oddball.