Man, that is one of the problems with these shells. Just crank 'em down a little, not trying to pull the lugs through the hoops mind you, but pull them good and tight then back off right away. After that, you should be able to tune them. It seems the thin hoop heads are the best to use, but it is a crap shoot getting these to fit well. I really can't tell you what heads are going to fit better than the others as it is a kit by kit thing with these.

Remo heads fit much better in these situations,at least they have for me.

Thanks guys, I put the original Kingstone head back on the res side and it fits just fine. No way the attack is going on. ( I even sanded the shell) I learned one thing for sure, you can trash one of these thins shells in a hurry if you are not careful. Now I can learn more "stuff" (how to repair this shell)

If standard heads are snug on the drums, you could try Aquarian American Vintage heads. They're made slightly oversized to fit drums built before the late 1950s, whose shells are about 1/8" bigger than today's standard sizing. Even though your drums aren't older vintage, it sounds like your drums might be sized similarly.

Modern shells are actually built about 1/8" short of their listed size. A 14" drum manufactured today actually has a diameter of 13 7/8". Before the late 1950s, drums were built to their rated size. A 14" drum was exactly 14" across. Aquarian recognized a potential market and started producing a line of heads that fit these older drums.

What happened to the shell?

Too much pressure for this thin shell, the lug moved towards the rim making the shell splinter between the lug and rim. Bummer, made me ill when I seen it.

The snare? Well, lucky you...I am about to do a vid on how to fix this type of problem. Or, if you like, I have a 6 lug shell and you could swith out the wrap and hardware...It would make it playable again. Either way, you get the 3 ply snare. Please post a shot of the damage. This is one of the reasons I lacquer the shells, it strengthens the wood.

BTW, I have never had one do that to me, even with undersized heads. Did you crank it really tight?

The drum I had the head issue with is a 13" tom and I really did not crank on it . I was turning the rod 1/4 turn at a time 180 apart. I could feel the one rod was alot tighter than the rest and thats when I saw the deal. The snare is done , pretty smoky sound.The 16 floor has blown out holes for the leg bracket. I repaired it by taking a piece of 1/4" luan and cut the center ply out with a band saw and what was left is 2 pieces of 1 ply . Glued and clamped, sanded, 3 coats on deft. I`m putting all the hardware on the base tonight, sanding and painting the hoops this weekend. should have this kit tweeked in by monday. BTW what glue should I use to put the wrap back on the floor tom?

I save all the old heads that come on the old stuff I buy- sometimes thats all that will fit on some old drums- if you need, I bet a lot of us have some vintage heads you can at least use on the reso sides. I use VASELINE on the bearing edge and the inside of the drum head rim- then I push slowly until it seats down on in- then crank it into tune. Hoshino's are truly tight for modern heads - it took me an hour to get modern heads on a full kit using this method.

*Lesson* don't just throw away vintage heads- they come in handy!*