I wouldn't do that. You will devalue the drums for resale and it's just not part of the design of modern drums. Poor DW worked for years to get drums to sustain like a Carlos Santana guitar solo! ;) I think the general idea behind all of it was that you could always attenuate the sustain, but you couldn't really add it. Thus, the Moon gel and all the new drumheads that have muffling built into them.

But, as they say...."They are your drums to do with what you want." :)

Lots of cool vintage external mufflers out there. Would this be an option?

Brian

The internal tone controls (mufflers) were eliminated from American manufacturers' drum making for one reason. The reason was for increased profit by removing at least two labor functions and the cost of necessary parts while not increasing the price of their drums. The internal tone controls allow for the drummer to instantly increase or decrease the amount of muffling and ring-cancellation with no effort. Ringo's tea towels were temporary mufflers. Cloth strips under the batter heads are going to stay in place until you remove the hoop and the head first. Rogers drums was the first manufacturer (I think) to address the shortcomings of having no internal tone controls by supplying external versions that clipped on to the hoops of snare drums and tom toms. Once the industry leapt off the cliff like lemmings, there was no turning back except for reissue attempts of vintage spec drums.

I would try cranking the bottom head up on the 16 or just put some tape on batter and resonate side.

That's got to be one of the better lines I've heard in a while!

Although to be serious, the resale for DW Performance series isn't good in my area. I'm not sure adding a muffler would harm the value... in fact, I'm not sure most of the local drummers would even notice.

On the other hand, Salty's suggestion of external mufflers might be worth looking at. Not sure what one would do the snare drum's rimshot, but I can always take it off if I don't like it.

A good external muffler won't impede a rim shot if it's properly positioned. The Rogers external mufflers work very well and can be adjusted for as much or as little muffling as you desire.

Here's two suggestions, #1 Clear Moon Gel, #2 cotton balls, real cotton balls not synthetic cotton balls, for a 16" tom 7 to 8 or more if you need more ring taken out,. cotton balls placed inside the shell, and one moon gel for the top head,

I use these Wambooka gel pads -

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113671091354

They're clear and are almost unoticable and they don't ruin your drum heads.

Oh, and they work well on my cheap cymbals as well. They bring that lovely brassy harsh sound down a bit!:o

But :Santa: is about to end my cymbal problem because he is bringing me a beautiful assortment of Agop Istanbul cymbals for Christmas! WooHoo!x-mas3

Have to agree with leedybdp. Vintage Rogers or Tama external mufflers can be adjusted and placed where you want them. No fuss, no muss. Take them off if you don't like the effect. Move them around to get different degrees of sustain.

Brian