Well, now I'm really curious. :)

I'm shopping for heads for the Club Dates I'm about to start restoring, but I have a '50s Gretsch round badge kit (22/16/13/14sn) with a warm, woody sound... and I can't help but wonder how much warmer and woodier it would sound with calf.

If I can find some flesh hoops, I think I'm going experiment with calf on the Club Dates. If I like the sound, I may go to calf on the Gretsch kit.

Do you know how to get in touch with Jeff Stern about buying some hoops? [EDIT: Scratch that. I found him after a bit of Googling.]

Thanks again for the advice.

I've done my retro kit - made to look like old school, actually patterned after the set in the Gretsch logo (26" Slinger kit, two floor toms) in calf and there's no turning back. The floor toms vary more than the rest, but I was never happy with plastic floor tom heads so it's worth some messing because when they're on they sound like jungle drums - way, way lower than plastic. A couple of people have said the floor toms sound like they have reverb on them, and they do sound like that.

I've got two sets of RB's that I should do, but there's always so many projects and I think you know what I mean.

My old RB's never seemed to like the way any plastic heads fit, especially the kick, and I don't think I've ever heard the way they were meant to sound so I'd really like to do them.

My Slinger 26" kick sounds very much like the timbre of thunder - I can't tell you how much I like it - you feel like you're driving a train!

This is encouraging.

My 13" RB sounds great with Ambassadors, but the floor tom has never sounded quite right to my ears. It's always felt "slappy," with not nearly as much resonance and depth as you'd expect. It sounds like calf heads might be just the solution. I've been meaning to put new heads on it anyway, so when I get around to it, I think I'll go with calf.

And don't even get me started on the snare--though I hear I'm not the only one who has a hard time getting a round badge snare to sing. I called up Greg Hohn, Toronto's "Drum Doctor," and he explained that Gretsch didn't do the best job cutting their snare beds back then. (If I recall correctly, he said they typically weren't deep enough.) I wonder if a calf reso head would solve that problem by molding itself to the bed during the drying process. Hmm...

But like you said, Mastro, there are always too many projects--the biggest and most rewarding of which is raising my beautiful newborn girl! :) That said, she's going away for a couple of weeks with my wife this summer, so I think I'll be spending many an evening on the back porch polishing hardware and tucking heads while they're gone.

What size is your RB kick? On my 22" RB, I use a clear Pinstripe batter with a Remo Muffle Ring, and a coated Ambassador reso with a small hole (it's 4" or 6"; I can't remember which). Aside from the Muffle Ring, I don't use any tone control. It sounds amazing--punchy, boomy, with a warm tone and eons of sustain. It tunes up in seconds. I've actually had non-drummers compliment me on my bass drum tone. It might be worth experimenting with if you're not totally averse to plastic heads.

Congrats on your baby!

What you say about the floor tom is EXACTLY what I've experienced. Exactly! I haven't done my Gretsch yet and am dying to. I never had a problem with my Gretsch snare - I just accepted the fact that it goes "CHUCK!" not "CRACK"... it sounds like what Charlie Watts uses (for some odd reason).

There's a couple of pages on my site about my floor toms here:

http://musicmusicmusic.cn/calfheadspg1.html

It's a 22", I've tried Ambassadors (they sounded good in the early 70's) but the last one I bought was too tight - I needed a rubber mallet to remove it!

I'm pretty much set on calf at this point 'cause it seems to be the path I'm on.

Thanks.

Thanks! She's already a rhythm addict, so I've decided that the Club Dates will be hers if she wants to be a drummer when she grows up. It makes it that much more rewarding to put the work into restoring the kit. (Not that I'm pushing her into it, mind you... but I can dream about father-daughter jam sessions, can't I? :) )

I checked out your web page on the calf head project. Loved it!

Thanks a lot!

Just wondering why you would never use "Earthtones" again? I put one on my 18" kick and it sounds fantastic, but I never used calf.

I would use them if given the choice of plastic or them, and I don't doubt that your kick does sound fantastic.

Here's why I'll never buy them again:

- having used calf, I think it's much, much better sounding... that's why historically drummers used calf over goat

- wooden flesh hoops don't add a nasty harmonic like the aluminum does

- I don't like the way they are mounted... the Earthtones all developed severely steep collars. I don't like high pitched drums generally, and I don't tension my snare tight, but the collar on my Supra stretched so much that now the rim only sticks up maybe 1/8":

[IMG]http://i415.photobucket.com/albums/pp231/kaaawa2000/head.jpg[/IMG]

And there's no way of re-tucking the head to make it right, I just re-tucked a head that's probably from the 50's and the collar's like new

- after talking to Earthtone I don't think they've tested or used their products, they were 100% clueless about what a slunk head was, and even the function of a snare bottom head. They are a middle man for the heads which are made in Brazil.

- I can put together a new snare head out of calf that I can re-tuck years from now for $25 or buy another Earthtone that will be useless in a year for near double

- with calf and wood hoops, when a large head, like a kick breaks you can cut it up and make smaller heads from the broken head

- you can buy 48" cow hides and cover your whole kit from the same piece - how cool is that?

- calf has a better sound with the tip of the stick - goat is thumpy