Earlier this week I emailed Aquarian Heads to complement them on the new Z-100 coated snare heads and to also get a little info on the construction of them. Roy Burns emailed me back in a couple of hours and asked me to call him back. The man truly cares about his business and seems to want to know how they are doing, and he wants to know how he can make his products better and more relevant to the marketplace.Bowing

Knowing what I wanted, he knew my interest is in MIJ drums and still yet took his own time to speak with me about the needs and gain some understanding of these old, thin, rickety shells we so love. We spoke about the construction and type of wood these particular drums are made of. We also talked about the heads themselves and the way they sound.

This head design is more about the coating than the thickness of the mylar or the collar design or ring. The Z-100 coating is kind of a coarse coating, if that makes sense, that lends itself well to brushes. I assumed, erroneously, that it was only designed as a snare head. Mr. Burns informed me that is is available in all sizes, up to 22".

I stumbled on them at GC on a promo, along with Evans single ply snare heads. They are 10 mil single ply heads. This seems to be their answer to the Ambassador, but I find it to not be as stiff as the Ambies, more pliable, not as tight feeling, even though my hand is not as, shall we say....attuned to the feel as most of you. Cooked Egg

Anyway, my point is, since the other heads I found, the out of production Taiwanese Remo Encore, that seem to be well suited to these shells are no longer available, this may well be the head for the thinner shells. And they are a bit less than the Remo heads.

Mr Burns genuinely was very interested in what I had to say about them and was eager to hear that they seem to be well suited to these old drums. Good for us, but finding them may be a challenge, so find a shop that sells them or find them online and order up a set, next time you need to re-head.

Also, it seems to fit these shells better than some other heads, so that is a plus. Many modern heads tend to be tight on the collar and are difficult to tune.

Mr. Burns, if you read this, I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me, and thank you for showing genuine concern for what matters to us.